Woke up tuesday morning fashionably early, very unusual for me, had a big Sebadoh session in the morning. Now that's lo-fi, 51 songs in an hour and a half, fucking ace. Not one song over three minutes.
Went to the old music history lecture in the afternoon. Did the 60s. Basically far too much music happened in the 60s to cover in one two hour lecture. In twenty years time you'll probably be able to do a degree in it. My fave artist to be missed was the lovely Francoise Hardy. Hot plus a very sexy voice means you've got me.
Then it was off to the library with Alex, Julius & James to finish off our general news stories for Thursday's hand in. Then I jumped onto the train to the lovely Shepherds Bush Empire in London to see those Scottish indie darlings, no not Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura. Due to my inconsiderate timekeeping and desperation for the toilet I missed all but one of the first support acts songs, however the place was still pretty empty when I got there. I grabbed myself a good spot just near a staircase, with guaranteed viewing space no matter what kind of lanky fucker might stand in front of me.
The second support act, yet first to my eyes was the wonderful Magic Arm, a new discovery to me. His style was very Iron & Wine crossed with Bonnie Prince Billy and added electronics. Very nice. The surprise of his set was a slighlty off kilter version of LCD Soundsystem's Daft Punk Is Playing At My House. It's on his MySpace right here. Does anyone even use MySpace anymore. That's a question for another day I think. A good 25 minute break passed before Camera Obscura graced the stage with their presence. Finally they arrived on stage to a very loud yet polite applause. The set was full of hits from their latest album My Maudlin Career, highlights including the gorgeous James, the title track and new single The Sweetest Thing. They even stepped back in the time machine and played Pen & Notebook from their first album. I had to leave before the encore, boohoo, but not before picking myself up an insanely soft t-shirt with a drawing of a swan on it. How very twee.
On the train back i managed to read some more of my very very interesting/really filthy (delete as applicable) book Atomised by Michel Houellebecq. I'm not surprised it was controversial when it came out, I felt a bit sick in my mouth at some points when reading it. Arrived home, didn't feel tired at all, so decided to watch some Attenborough when I got in. I love David Attenborough. Then I checked my general news story against the house rules for the UCA, then I blogged a bit. Had an online Friends session with added Jaffa Cakes, it was bloody fabulous.
Had to power through the early hours to make sure I didn't miss the nine am meeting at the train station for our trip to the National Portrait Gallery to see The Beatles To Bowie exhibition. I was first there, I was wide awake, poorly Alex arrived at nine and tall James soon after. We grabbed the nine thirty train to Waterloo station and set on our way. After an entertaining train and tube journey, mostly revolving around the conversation of a certain tube station we arrived at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition had some really cool pictures, loads in black and white, which I really love I think this is mostly due to it looking like it actually happened ages ago and it being part of history. There were even pictures of our lovely Francoise Hardy. Unfortunately we couldn't take our own pictures, no camera allowed, although I highly reccomend it despite the high entrance fee.
Before grabbing a much needed bite to eat, our tutors Gareth and Ben took us around all the musical sites of London town. It was all very exciting, yet I'm not sure I really took it all in due to being awake for over 24 hours now. This tour also took us to record shops, my personal heaven, my debit card's hell. I managed to limit my spending to 45 of the queen's british pounds. Tired record purchasing is bloody great gives you some energy filing through those racks at a super fast pace. Getting those bargains and rarities. Pictures below. (P.S. Sorry about the poor detail of the first picture, damn red lightbulb.)
Exciting I know. That Stereolab ten inch in the first picture might be my greatest find ever, in good enough nick aswell to say it was a used copy. The tour was now over so it was time to fill our empty tummys. We did this at the ever fulfilling McDonalds. It was great. We even made a McDonalds Tower.
Me and James then hopped on the train back to sunny Epsom, after leaving Alex to go to his band practice. Went home after getting off the train, set my alarm for Thursday's hand in and crashed out.
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