Raygun - 93 Feet East

Last night saw the end of Raygun's first headline tour as they played the hallowed turf of 93 Feet East on Brick Lane in London.

Ray bounded onto the stage in his usual manner, strutting his way around the space with the hip wiggles of Mick Jagger and dance moves of James Brown.

The crowd, consisting mostly of industry people (think hundreds of fake glasses and trilby's) seemed cold to Ray's advances for the first couple of numbers yet the ice was truly broken when the band gave a cracking performance of their 1st single 'Just Because' .

This jovial mood continued into the rest of their set as heads bopped to the addictive 'Rocket Blast', the extremely funky 'Waiting in Line', and monumental (deserves to be massive) 'Lord Forgive Me'.

For the first time, the guys also showed that they aren't all about disco by playing a slower track called 'Fools Rush In'. Heartfelt, desperate and ultimately beautiful. This track has 'music-festival-sing-along' written all over it.

Their first single 'Just Because' is due to hit national radio in the next week. Fingers crossed you'll be hearing a lot more from Raygun. We all deserve it.

Raygun's Myspace

Lily Allen - Fuck You

I was a bit surprised to hear that Parlophone had decided that Lily Allen's 'Fuck You' is worthy of single status. The song itself is ok but sounds very simliar to 'Alfie' from her first album 'Alright Still' and doesn't say much more to me than 'ooooh this song has lots of swearing in it and is abit controversial'.

Anyway, the video is pretty cool. Christ know's how this song is going to get radio play, but then, i'm sure Lily doesn't give a crap about that.

Not too bad is it? Whilst hunting out this vid I stumbled across this one

below made by a gay French website called 'Gay Clic' posted on the

International Day Against Homophobia.

Calvin Harris

Right, first up, I LIKE CALVIN HARRIS.

It's taken me a while to be ok with this fact but I think the time is right to come out in the open with it and get on with the rest of my life...PHEW.

'Dance Wiv Me' was one of the big tunes of last summer for me, who'd have thought that the odd pairing of an urban east london rapper with a pasty scottish chancer would work so well?

So what next from Mr Harris? This....

It's called 'I'm Not Alone', has been described as 'eurphoric' and I absolutly can't get enough of it. It's full of deep trancey synths and has a distinct taste of the orient.

If this is the direction Calvin is heading in, then i'm following. Thoughts?

UPDATE - Sony keep taking the track off youtube, so if you want to here it CLICK HERE

More of the same please

This is not at attack on anyone or anything, and I really want to push this point across, it is mearly something I have noticed which I find slightly stunted and dissapointing.

This something is the music consuming habits of the Great British public. Now, yes, obviously this is a vast sweeping statement and doesn't cover everyone but I have noticed some worrying trends that have effected my life and I want to write about them. Indulge me please...

1. Commercial Radio
Commercial radio playlists are afraid to take any sort of risks. Day in, day out, it is the same songs over and over played one after the other with such little audience interaction that the DJ could well be classed as a Jukebox.

But why is this so? Well, commercial stations know their audiences. Listeners want the same things on repeat until they are so amazingly familier with the tracks, they have seen the video, know all the words, have it on their iPods and can even do the dance. Some stations are so terrified of upsetting their audiences that when they do eventually add new tracks to their playlists (gasp) they edit out slightly 'different' sounding sections to make the audience comfortable. Audio valium? Audio pipe and slippers?

2. Covers band
As you may know, I play in a covers band in the sussex area. We played a gig last weekend at a venue we have played a fair few times before. We've been working hard on some new tracks recently and were really excited about busting them out. You see, we have the understanding that audiences want to hear new things, that if we just turned up, played the same set time and time again, got paid and left then we wouldn't continue to get further bookings. Who would want to see a covers band play the same set every few weeks? ..... Apparently lots of people.

One of the regulars at this particular venue came up to us after the gig and asked why we didn't play 'Brown Eyed Girl' or 'That one we do where you talk a bit', (I think she meant rapping.) I asked what she thought of the new tracks and she just looked at me and repeated the above sentence again. Sigh

I can understand the comforting aspect of the familiar in everyones lives, there's nothing like getting into your own bed or sitting on your own sofa (and it's good to have a constant in your life), but when it comes to entertainment why is this so?

I relish listening to new music, discovering new trends and can lose days on Hype Machine and Spotify just exploring new sounds. What is wrong with musical progress and why are people scared of it?

?