Hey! Happy 2008! hope you all had an ace time over the holidays! Sucks to be
back at work!
This month, we're all about:

MAGNETISM, THAT ELECTRICITY..

Live Sets from:
The Marcia Blaine School For Girls ( Highpoint Lowlife, Stuff Records)
The Village Orchestra ( Highpoint Lowlife, Stuff Records)
Fisk Industries ( Highpoint Lowlife, Mush Records)
Mandelbrot ( Highpoint Lowlife )

Saturday, January 26th 2008.
The Luminaire, Kilburn, London.
8pm - late. Cost £6.

The Highpoint Lowlife Label showcases it's diverse roster with a night of noise,
bass and rhythmic destruction. Starting with the unbridled feedback and guitar
pedal manipulation of Mandelbrot, through the low end skewed hip hop of Fisk
Industries, building up to a pressure point with The Village Orchestra and
Marcia Blaine School For Girls, and culminating in a turntable DJ set from
Production Unit!

The Marcia Blaine School For Girls
based out of Glasgow, the MBSFG have been steadily building a solid reputation
for unconventional electronics, rearranging elements of dancehall, techno, rave,
hip hop and minimalism, and moulding it together into their own distinctive
sound. The MBSFG have released a slew of records in recent years, with releases
on Highpoint Lowlife, Stuff, Static Caravan, Dalriada, Benbecula and Awkward
Silence, and also help run and DJ one of Glasgows most prominent underground
monthly clubs, 'Numbers', now resident at Glasgow's legendary Sub Club.

The Village Orchestra
TVO is one third of the Marcia camp, and takes in a multitude of influences from
sprawling ambience through to detroit techno. Expect a devastating dancefloor
oriented set for this show.

Fisk Industries
Mat Ranson has been developing his Fisk Industries project for the past few
years, and is truly on top of his game at the moment, as the bass gets deeper,
the beats get dirtier and he pushes himself into further realms of evil
instrumental hip hop. His recent sets have been nothing short of floor shaking
in their cavernous resonance. With two EPs on Highpoint Lowlife, and various web
releases, all of which were collected on a double disc album by Mush records
last year, Fisk Industries will be showing off his latest works, set for release
in 2008 on a new album.

Mandelbrot
Keung's Mandelbrot Set project released their debut album on HPLL on 2006, a
pummeling take on shoegaze and postrock - as the band has mutated and changed
through several lineups, the one thing that has remained consistent is the
creativity and originality of his process and sound. Utilizing upwards of
thirteen effects pedals for control of his guitar, the sounds which emanate from
his setup are anything but recognisable. Taking pointers from the physical sound
of Sun O))), the complex textures of Tim Hecker, and combining the sort of
beautiful melodies which David Pajo/Papa M was known for, Mandelbrot juxtapose
disparate elements into a completely new primordial sound. Joined on stage by
Lina on violin, the combination is intoxicating.

Production Unit
Another member of the MBSFG, and resident DJ at the Numbers club, expect some
booty shaking mashups of techno, electro, hip hop, grime and whatever else he
can throw in the mix!

It should be a night to remember! Tickets available from:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/22883

thanks!
thor

The Highpoint Lowlife December newsletter 2007
Wherein lots of details are shared about new releases, downloads, upcoming live
shows and some more chat!

++ New Releases

thanks for the incredible support of both the Tigrics and Erstlaub releases!
In just over a month, we've sold most copies of both limited releases, enough to
cover the costs on them (doesn't happen often!).
There are around 20 copies of each left, so even if you have downloaded the free
128kbps mp3s from lastfm but don't have a copy of the limited physical releases,
resplendid in beautifully designed DVD size covers, you can purchase a copy
from:
Erstlaub - http://highpointlowlife.com/releaseinfo.php?id=25
Tigrics -  http://highpointlowlife.com/releaseinfo.php?id=24

a sampling of new reviews:
Erstlaub:
"Erstlaub's first full release for Highpoint Lowlife is an ambitious piece with
vast evocative scope. Superbly assembled, this is certainly ranks amongst the
label's most fascinating releases."  Milk Factory

"it's an entrancing listen so far -- definitely worthy of consideration if you
find yourself booked for a sensory deprivation tank, or just like to listen to
slow, meditative drone music." Wired Blogs - Listening Post

Tigrics:
"Synki is an epic journey into stunning electronically enhanced sound forms and
found sounds processed into dream-like sequences, some lasting just a few
seconds, others extending over twenty minutes, all demonstrating incredible
evocative nature." Milk Factory

"A veritable universe of field noises-stone scrapings, hydraulic creaks,
geological clatter, swishes-abstracts itself into alien form throughout, with
some of it often mutating into swelling loops. One might expect attention to
lapse over such a lengthy duration but not in this case. Bereznyei keeps the
level of invention high and hypnotic throughout, with the soundscape maintaining
its rhythmic momentum despite the incredible variety of sounds that constantly
reconfigure it." Textura.org

++ Web releases

We have an ace two track web EP for you this month from Monostation, who you may
know from their own self-released 3" EPs and also their Smallfish records
release. The EP is called Red Rust, and for anyone who knows their previous
drone based material, you'll be surprised by who Detroit-sounding these are in
comparison! Grab them from:
http://highpointlowlife.com/webrelease.php?id=26

++ Upcoming Shizzle..

First this weekend - you can catch myself DJing at the Murcof gig at Corsica
Studios this coming sunday the 2nd December. I'm well stoked to be asked to play
as i missed the recent Planetarium show Murcof played, and i heard it was ace!

XMas party! Next saturday, December 8th, we're back in the one and only Foundry
to host our annual xmas shindig - Mandelbrot will be headling the night,
composed this time of two members - main man Keung, and joined by Lina on
violin. In support, we'll have Brassica (who you may know from his Achrid output
on Benbecula) doing a live DJ mashup; Mat/Fisk Industries will be taking out his
new laptop to provide some weird ambient interludes to the evening by way of his
Zephyr Skate Team project, and providing the dj backdrop to all this will me
myself and iMax from Slow Sound System. It's gonna be loud, brash and fun - if
you're in London, do come along!

January - more heads up on what promise to be an audacious start to the new year
-
"Magnetism, That Electricty.." is the name for a new compilation release we're
currently putting together - a three EP collection album, featuring brand new
material from Mandelbrot, Fisk Industries and the Marcia Blaine camp. We've
launching the record at The Luminaire in London, on January 26th, where we'll
have all acts in attendance and playing live - Mandelbrot, Fisk Industries,
Marcia Blaine, and a very special technoid dancefloor set from The Village
Orchestra! After the live acts, the Marcia lads will be taking to the turntables
to show London why their Glasgow based club, Numbers, is so on fire at the
moment! Tickets available from: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/22883

thanks!
thorsten

RAR!
More new musics than you can shake a twig at!
Today is the release day for Erstlaub's pretty damn awesome 43 minute drone
epic, "On Becoming An Island", a digital treatise on isolation and solitude.

The physical release is another in the series of beautifully designed covers by
Mathieu Ranson - limited to 100 copies, artwork based on topological maps and
housed in a white DVD case, with handnumbered postcard inserts.
http://highpointlowlife.com/releaseinfo.php?id=25

You can have a listen or download a 128kbps mp3 of the release over at the
album's lastfm page: http://www.last.fm/music/erstlaub/On+Becoming+An+Island

Dave Fyans/Erstlaub also asked several of his favorite producers and friends to
contribute to a companion remix EP, entitled "Dark Archipelagos". The results
are stunning! 7 tracks, with remixes from The Village Orchestra, Orphax, Bovine
Life vs. Aimilia Mouzaki, wo0, Christopher McFall, and Wouter Van Veldhoven.
Check em out and download at:
http://highpointlowlife.com/webrelease.php?id=25

Check out Dave's blog for his comments at: http://erstlaub.co.uk/wordpress/


Tigrics' 'Synki' release has been receiving some lovely appraisals.

The Milk Factory had this to say about it:
"Synki is an epic journey into stunning electronically enhanced sound forms and
found sounds processed into dream-like sequences, some lasting just a few
seconds, others extending over twenty minutes, all demonstrating incredible
evocative nature. The dream reference is clearest on tracks that go beyond the
nine minute mark. On Ja'tzkin, Enabel, Coming Thu and Synki & Bug, Tigrics
creates extremely complex and inventive patchworks which continuously evolve and
morph into new instances, only to switch to entirely different frameworks
altogether, moving from micro structures to vast ambient spaces to intricate
rhythmic formations, mimicking in some ways sleep patterns where periods of calm
follow moments of intense agitation. It is easy to get entirely lost in the
meanders of Bereznyei's music, but these sonic labyrinths feel strangely safe
and welcoming.
The shorter compositions interact with each other in almost the same symbiotic
fashion, yet as stand-alone pieces, their boundaries are more clearly defined.
On Igric, Qip'd or Silvarvany, Bereznyei brings his vast expanses down to
miniature level but somehow preserves their intricate detailing and complex
layering, rendering them as epic and magnificent."

There are around 40 copies left at my house - grab em while you still can!
http://highpointlowlife.com/releaseinfo.php?id=24
free 128kbps mp3s available from: http://www.last.fm/music/Tigrics/Synki

Quite a few new projects on the go at the moment, but i'll keep schtoom about
'em until they have release dates.

One for the diaries on the horizon is a Highpoint Lowlife label showcase at the
Luminaire in London - January 26th 2008. Still a few months away, but with the
Marcia Blaine School For Girls taking over the club for the evening, and opening
acts from Fisk Industries and Mandelbrot, we expect it to sell out pretty quick!
You can grab tickets from: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/22883

Oh! also worth pointing out is a new release on Shitkatapult records, an
audio-visual collaboration between O.S.T. (Chris Douglas, also known as
Dalglish) and Transforma, entitled coincidentally enough 'Synken' (no relation
to our Tigrics release!). I received it in the mail yesterday - havent had a
chance to watch it yet, but planning on it this week.

thanks loads!
thor

Hi all,
We're back for an 11th year of indiepoppunk wonderfulness, starting this
Tuesday night, followed by 5 more Friday or Saturday nights before
Christmas 2007...



** Offbeat - Sheffield's legendary indiepoppunk night **

- voted as the UK's ultimate indie disco by BBC Radio 6 -
- An alternative to mainstream indie nights! -

Tuesday 25th September
Saturday 6th October
Friday 19th October
Friday 9th November
Friday 23rd November (Belle and Sebastian Special)
Friday 14th December

all dates...
9pm to 1am
@ The Raynor Lounge, Sheffield University SU,
Glossop Rd, Sheffield
admission £3.00 on the door
includes free lollipops and stickers!

playing classic and current leftfield indie, pop-punk, C86, new indiepop
underground and lo-fi sounds from the likes of ...

Belle and Sebastian - Pavement - Interpol - Architecture in Helsinki -
Arcade Fire - Smiths - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Camera Obscura - Yeah
Yeah Yeahs - Slow Club - Bright Eyes - Tilly and the Wall - Organ -
Shins - Half Man Half Biscuit - I was a Cub Scout - Spinto Band  - Los
Campesinos! - Delgados - MSTU - Sonic Youth - Pixies - Mclusky -
Polyphonic Spree - Of Montreal - Ballboy - Buzzcocks - Long Blondes -
Wedding Present - Hefner - Decemberists - Dead Kennedys - Rilo Kiley -
Fall - Graham Coxon - Field Mice - Kenickie - Sleater Kinney -
Futureheads - REM - Animal Collective - Postal Service - Joy Division -
Bearsuit - Hidden Cameras - Stereolab - Nirvana - Pastels - Mates of
State - Morrissey - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - White Stripes - Elastica -
Super Furry Animals - Bis - Ash - Talulah Gosh - At the Drive-in -
Pipettes - Helen Love - Idlewild - British Sea Power - Moldy Peaches -
Ride - Jesus and Mary Chain - My Bloody Valentine - Urusei Yatsura -
Undertones - Shop Assistants - Eels... and many more

* more information, including past playlists and admission details for
non-students, at www.offbeatsheffield.com
www.myspace.com/offbeatsheffield
groups.myspace.com/offbeatsheffield

--
C.B.Stride@...

*** daytime: 0114 2223262 ***
***     FAX: 0114 2727206 ***


"Watford FC Supporters - South Yorkshire branch"

hello!

Just a quick one - we're starting a new monthly event!
Similar to our original club in San Francisco called ":node", this will be a DJ
based laid back night, focussing on a broad spectrum of music. We'll have guests
down each month, friends, band members, bloggers, each bringing their own
eclectic tastes along in an open listening environment - from electronic to
drone, dubstep to shoegaze, microsound to noise.

The night will be called "Not Clickable", a name we've been using for our
irregular live events in the London for the past few years. Our first event will
be this coming tuesday, the 25th of September at the Strongroom Bar on Curtain
Road, shoreditch, London - one of the standout bars which isn't completely
overrun with asymmetrical haircuts! Adjoined to the Strongroom Recording
Studios, the bar has a nice sound system, a courtyard and a fine selection of
Belgian and US microbrewery beers.

The night will be hosted by myself and Mat/Fisk Industries, and joining us for
the first night will be will be Beaker, one of the lads from the Marcia Blaine
School For Girls, and The Milkman from the rather awesome blog, The Milk
Factory.

If you're in London, do come down and say hello!
More details on the site at http://highpointlowlife.com/ or at
http://www.last.fm/event/338857

In release news, I've just received all the DVD cases and blank discs to start
assembling the Tigrics and Erstlaub releases - i'll put them on the site very
shortly with graphics and a paypal button for pre-orders. Each release will be
limited to 100 copies of audio CDR housed in beautifully designed hand-numbered
art-cases - Tigrics will be in slimline 7mm clear DVD case with clear acetate
stickers on the cover and back for artwork drawn by Robi/Tigrics himself. The
Erstlaub comes in a solid white DVD case with topographical drawing based
artwork designed by Mat/Fisk. Each release will cost 6GBP including postage. You
can mail me back on this address to reserve copies now..

thanks!
more soon,
thor

Thanks Kim. I've had a couple of recommendations on Dell, and our next-door
neighbour has just bought one as well, he seems happy with it.

----- Original Message -----
From: <kim_at_monotreme@...>
To: <chemikal@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: [chemikal] Digest Number 2875


> Hi Rob,
>
> Try Dell. www.dell.com. They have PCs and laptops in a wide range of
configurations at good prices. I've had my laptop a couple of years and have
been very happy with it.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kim
>
> Posted by: "Rob Strong"
>           robstronguk
>          <http://profiles.yahoo.com/robstronguk>
>
>  Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:56 am (PST)
>
>  Has anyone here (preferrably UK-based) bought a new PC recently?
>
>  Mine (six years old, Windows ME) makes a noise like a overworked tractor
>  when started up, routinely fails to load Windows on the first, second and
>  sometimes third attempt, has trouble shutting down, the DVD drive (DVD
>  writer? hah!) doesn't work, crashes when asked to do more than one thing
at
>  the same time etc etc etc. I've spent the last week repeatedly
uninstalling
>  and reinstalling stuff to no avail, and I don't know enough about how the
>  bleedin' things work to go any further.
>
>  So I'm thinking about buying a new one. Any tips on:
>  a) features/software I might find useful
>  b) good places to buy from
>
>  would be much appreciated.
>
>  Two further guidelines - I can't afford to spend a fortune, and I never
play
>  games/watch TV etc, so massively powerful graphics aren't important.
>  And, before some smartarse says it, a Mac is no use to me.
>  That's three further guidelines then.
>
>
>
> ------------------
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Hi Rob,

Try Dell. www.dell.com. They have PCs and laptops in a wide range of
configurations at good prices. I've had my laptop a couple of years and have
been very happy with it.

Cheers,

Kim

Posted by: "Rob Strong"   
           robstronguk
          <http://profiles.yahoo.com/robstronguk>

  Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:56 am (PST)

  Has anyone here (preferrably UK-based) bought a new PC recently?

  Mine (six years old, Windows ME) makes a noise like a overworked tractor
  when started up, routinely fails to load Windows on the first, second and
  sometimes third attempt, has trouble shutting down, the DVD drive (DVD
  writer? hah!) doesn't work, crashes when asked to do more than one thing at
  the same time etc etc etc. I've spent the last week repeatedly uninstalling
  and reinstalling stuff to no avail, and I don't know enough about how the
  bleedin' things work to go any further.

  So I'm thinking about buying a new one. Any tips on:
  a) features/software I might find useful
  b) good places to buy from

  would be much appreciated.

  Two further guidelines - I can't afford to spend a fortune, and I never play
  games/watch TV etc, so massively powerful graphics aren't important.
  And, before some smartarse says it, a Mac is no use to me.
  That's three further guidelines then.



------------------

Has anyone here (preferrably UK-based) bought a new PC recently?

Mine (six years old, Windows ME) makes a noise like a overworked tractor
when started up, routinely fails to load Windows on the first, second and
sometimes third attempt, has trouble shutting down, the DVD drive (DVD
writer? hah!) doesn't work, crashes when asked to do more than one thing at
the same time etc etc etc. I've spent the last week repeatedly uninstalling
and reinstalling stuff to no avail, and I don't know enough about how the
bleedin' things work to go any further.

So I'm thinking about buying a new one. Any tips on:
a) features/software I might find useful
b) good places to buy from

would be much appreciated.

Two further guidelines - I can't afford to spend a fortune, and I never play
games/watch TV etc, so massively powerful graphics aren't important.
And, before some smartarse says it, a Mac is no use to me.
That's three further guidelines then.

yup. and it's looking like it's gonna be a good
un. wish i could say the same for the weather
though.

if you like your acoustic lovelyness pop-tinged
be sure to check out slow club at the cafe
stage on friday and monkey swallows the
universe opening the main stage on saturday.



> Hi all,
>
> Are there any folks here going to Green Man? Rob, are we going to have
> our annual meet-up again?
>
> If anyone is going, be sure to see Eugene Francis Jnr and the Juniors
> (yeah, it's a crap name but I didn't choose it) at midday on sunday on
> the main stage, as it's a band I'm currently playing in -
> http://www.myspace.com/eugenefrancisjnr.
>
> Cheers,
> Rhodri x
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


,,o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`°º¤o,,,,o¤º°º¤o,,,,o¤º°`

electric blanket
w: http://www.electricblanket.org.uk
e: info@...

[detail] recordings
w: http://www.detailrecordings.co.uk
e: info@...

seal club
w: http://myspace.com/thisissealclub
e: seal.club@...

Not this year I'm afraid, Rhodri - I'm sure Andrew will be ready for the
Green Man experience in pretty short order, but we're making do with Moseley
this year as it's very close to home.

Have a good weekend

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rhodri Viney" <rhodriviney@...>
To: <chemikal@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:46 PM
Subject: [chemikal] Green man


> Hi all,
>
> Are there any folks here going to Green Man? Rob, are we going to have
> our annual meet-up again?
>
> If anyone is going, be sure to see Eugene Francis Jnr and the Juniors
> (yeah, it's a crap name but I didn't choose it) at midday on sunday on
> the main stage, as it's a band I'm currently playing in -
> http://www.myspace.com/eugenefrancisjnr.
>
> Cheers,
> Rhodri x
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

Hi all,

Are there any folks here going to Green Man? Rob, are we going to have
our annual meet-up again?

If anyone is going, be sure to see Eugene Francis Jnr and the Juniors
(yeah, it's a crap name but I didn't choose it) at midday on sunday on
the main stage, as it's a band I'm currently playing in -
http://www.myspace.com/eugenefrancisjnr.

Cheers,
Rhodri x

hey!

Mmm, new William Gibson book "Spook Country" just landed on my desk today! I
can't wait to start on it, but i'm still reading "Our Band Could Be Your Life",
so i have to wait a few days!! too exciting!

Other exciting things: New music, lots of it! and free too!

In chronological order:

Mat/Fisk Industries has a new side project working in a more abstract and drone
related field, under the alias of The Zephyr Skate Team. Built around a website,
the idea is to have the site as the album, comprising of free music downloads
and artwork. The pieces have come together as ambient off-shoots from his film
score work and unused Fisk Industries pieces. Some are fleshed out pieces and
others are small vignettes, with the aim being that the site will grow over time
as others pieces are added to it. Check it out over at
http://www.thezephyrskateteam.com/ - a new piece "The World Of Universals" was
just added today..

[hpw024] Pausal - Pausal EP
New web release just been added to the site - some really gorgeous shimmering
ambient drone works.

Pausal is made up of two good friends, Alex and Simon, who started recording
together in 2005.

Having both finished their respective University courses, Alex in Sonic Arts and
Simon in Multimedia/Computing, and living nearby to each other in Fleet, they
would frequently meet by accident and came to the realisation that they were at
a similar point in terms of the kinds of ambient and drone music they were
making and listening to, although both having arrived there from a different
direction, one from a background in electronic music and the other from a more
guitar oriented path.

Since then, they two have been collaborating and producing together, whilst also
putting on shows in the beautiful english countryside. The live shows are a
complete immersive experience utilizing large scale visuals created by Alex.

In the past they have shared bills with such people as Aidan Baker, Rameses III,
Signals, Mandelbrot, and have an upcoming show with Grouper and Gareth Hardwick.

Grab the 3 track EP from http://highpointlowlife.com/webrelease.php?id=24

[hpll023] Tigrics - Synki
*yawn*! yes - I'm mentioned it in every newsletter since last year, but *it is*
coming!! :)
Artwork discussions have resumed and we're on the case!

[hpll025] Erstlaub - On Becoming An Island
Woop! a new release on the horizon! Dave Fyans, who you may also know as Daigoro
from our Some Paths Lead Back Again compilation, has come up with a blistering
43 minute dark digital drone opus - its truly stunning! Mat/Fisk is on the
artwork preliminaries at the moment and its going to look rather stunning!

A few other things on the burner at the moment, but i'll wait till they're
finalized before announcing them. One London gig of note this month is
Mandelbrot Set playing at Drowned In Sound's  monthly DiScover club at Notting
Hill Arts club, playing alongside Public Relations Exercise and 4 Or 5
Magicians. More details at http://www.drownedinsound.com/event/view/23877

thanks, more next month!

thorsten

I'm off to see Slint and Aidian Moffats new group (?) in Glasgow next month,
it's a 90s revival show!

http://www.aidanmoffat.co.uk/index.php/site/news/

Woo hoo!


--
I wrote this on my Amiga One runing OS4, now with screen dragging
http://os4.hyperion-entertainment.biz/

no 'martina navratilova' though...that was my favourite bit

----- Original Message -----

From: Dudley Colley

To: chemikal@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 4:05 PM

Subject: [chemikal] new shellac album

i think that is a bad, bad record

really angry i listened right to the end

Katrina wrote:
>
> finally!!!
> know most of the stuff on it already but sounds great and the
> packaging is beautiful.
>
>

i think that is a bad, bad record

really angry i listened right to the end



Katrina wrote:
>
> finally!!!
> know most of the stuff on it already but sounds great and the
> packaging is beautiful.
>
>

finally!!!
know most of the stuff on it already but sounds great and the
packaging is beautiful.

----- Original Message -----

From: Rob Strong

To: chemikal

Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 10:46 PM

Subject: [chemikal] atp then

Still pretty hazey and knackered after this, but I had a very enoyable weekend. For starters, the journey was so much easier than Camber Sands (3 hours rather than 5), the chalets are a quantum leap improvement on Camber (and we were incredibly lucky that ours was about 30 seconds walk from the main stage).

Mogwai were undoubtedly my highlight of Friday, great to hear Ex-Cowboy and Small Children again. Magic version of 2 Rights, very funny intro (from one of the Chunklet people?) - 'no-one but white dudes staring at pedals in the front 10 rows', 'Mogwai hate blind people' etc etc.

Saturday provided three unexpected highlights - Current 93, Apples In Stereo (playing to a packed and jumping third room) and Edan (likewise). Cornelius's stage set was pretty impressive, some lovely lighting effects, and Clinic were reliably excellent as usual.

Passed on the Shellac set on Saturday (the main stage sound was a bit woolly beyond the first 30 rows, and Shellac don't really work with woolly sound) but they were as entertaining as usual on Sunday afternoon. I really don't get why people seem to need to antagonise them at shows though, they have no problem with either musical or comic timing, let 'em get on with it. Slint had pretty good sound considering they were playing on the cavernous main stage, helped by a lengthy soundcheck at lunchtime. I was pretty knackered by this stage, and it was a long show, and I prefer Aerial M and Pajo's solo work to some of the Slint stuff. Band Of Horses were a pleasant accompaniment to a nice sit-down, Isis were brutally heavy and loud as always, and then Built To Spill finished the weekend off in fine style as only a band you've waited 12 years to see and whose set includes a strong contingent of favourites can (although they did appear knackered and pissed off, and no soundcheck meant tech problems for the first few songs)

If you'd told me before I went that I wouldn't see Battles, Les Savy Fav, Trans Am, 65daysofstatic, Why? or Modest Mouse I'd have been surprised. Amazing how sitting around in the sunshine drinking beer becomes more important

----- Original Message -----

From: Rob Strong

To: chemikal

Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 10:46 PM

Subject: [chemikal] atp then

Still pretty hazey and knackered after this, but I had a very enoyable weekend. For starters, the journey was so much easier than Camber Sands (3 hours rather than 5), the chalets are a quantum leap improvement on Camber (and we were incredibly lucky that ours was about 30 seconds walk from the main stage).

Mogwai were undoubtedly my highlight of Friday, great to hear Ex-Cowboy and Small Children again. Magic version of 2 Rights, very funny intro (from one of the Chunklet people?) - 'no-one but white dudes staring at pedals in the front 10 rows', 'Mogwai hate blind people' etc etc.

Saturday provided three unexpected highlights - Current 93, Apples In Stereo (playing to a packed and jumping third room) and Edan (likewise). Cornelius's stage set was pretty impressive, some lovely lighting effects, and Clinic were reliably excellent as usual.

Passed on the Shellac set on Saturday (the main stage sound was a bit woolly beyond the first 30 rows, and Shellac don't really work with woolly sound) but they were as entertaining as usual on Sunday afternoon. I really don't get why people seem to need to antagonise them at shows though, they have no problem with either musical or comic timing, let 'em get on with it. Slint had pretty good sound considering they were playing on the cavernous main stage, helped by a lengthy soundcheck at lunchtime. I was pretty knackered by this stage, and it was a long show, and I prefer Aerial M and Pajo's solo work to some of the Slint stuff. Band Of Horses were a pleasant accompaniment to a nice sit-down, Isis were brutally heavy and loud as always, and then Built To Spill finished the weekend off in fine style as only a band you've waited 12 years to see and whose set includes a strong contingent of favourites can (although they did appear knackered and pissed off, and no soundcheck meant tech problems for the first few songs)

If you'd told me before I went that I wouldn't see Battles, Les Savy Fav, Trans Am, 65daysofstatic, Why? or Modest Mouse I'd have been surprised. Amazing how sitting around in the sunshine drinking beer becomes more important