Paper Planes

Her baby is due on Grammy Night - Feb 6. She's been nominated for an Oscar too. She's looking totally hot, and just chillin' in LA [can't fly back to NYC, too pregnant] so she dropped into the Tavis Smiley show, and instead of talking about fluffy celebrity stuff she decided to use the whole interview to discuss the situation in Sri Lanka.

M.I.A is just too cool... Check it out.

Part one:


Part two:

Worst Day Ever?

I'm sure one day I'll be able to laugh about this but right now I can't. It's still raw. Perhaps because it hasn't been resolved.

What is 'it' you ask? Well, I've got a problematic front door lock. I came home from running some errands, put the key in the lock but the door wouldn't open. Just to make things worse, it's a hothothot summer's day here in Sydney, you know those days that make everyone a bit frazzled at the best of times?

Long story short, it quickly became clear my first option was to scale a couple of walls and fences and see if I could get inside through the backdoor. [Good thing I've been training eh?]

Once inside I tried to open the door. It wouldn't open. The lock was turning, but not moving. I was now LOCKED IN.

I called our Real Estate Agent and asked if I could get an emergency locksmith around here. He asked if it could wait until tomorrow. On the verge of tears, hot and sweaty, covered in bruises from my wall-climbing experience I flatly said that wouldn't work. I can't leave, nor can anyone enter. He called a gazillion locksmiths in Sydney and found one to come over.

Mr Locksmith, currently my favourite person in the world is here, outside the door drilling holes trying to get me out. He's been drilling for close to half an hour.

That lock is solidly LOCKED.

Party Jams

I'm making the most of my time off, these are the last days of summer for me. Soon I'll be dreaming about days off and having time to read books + surf the interweb...

So here, my friends, are my favourite recent web-music discoveries.

* The always excellent Allez-Allez has just posted a mix from Josh Deacon of Animal Collective fame. 

* XLR8R magazine commissioned a crazy set from Chavy Boys of London. Its total party-central. To quote XLR8R "Baltimore club music has a rep for being energetic, but from the sounds of this mix, which is primarily just that, the Chavy Boys of London must keep an entire fridge stocked with Red Bull - and pound a few down when commissioned to do DJ mixes for music websites" Listen to it here.

* A-trak has been twittering about this for a bit, and it's now been unleashed upon the world. Apparently the official single will be dropping in a few weeks but it's already received some big praise from Busy P [Ed Banger] and Pitchforkmedia. Head to Fools Gold to hear A-trak's remix of Sebastien Tellier's Kilometer.

Pro Nails

I have this quandary, I love getting my nails done, toes and finger nails matchin', but ever since I read an article in some trash mag about people who'd caught nasty bacterial diseases at cheap nail salons I've had the fear. [And I can't afford the pricey places - $80 for a pedicure is too much to make it a regular thing, whereas $40 for the set seems a lot more justifiable.]

But I don't want to get gangrene and have my feet/toes amputated.

Was this trash journalism or does this happen frequently enough for my unease to be justified?

Sunday Driver

In an attempt to clock up 120 driving hours required to progress from Ls to Ps these days I took my friend P for a Sunday drive today. After consulting google maps we decided to head south and check out the beach at Bundeena.

As we left the safety of the inner-city and got into the deep south there were a few things I noticed: firstly the drivers around those parts were really aggressive, there were lots of super super shiny new expensive cars on the roads and more confusingly, a lot of Australian flags. On cars, on houses, and when we got to the beach, on clothing.

I find this relatively new phenomenon of extreme patriotism alarming. I mean, I love Australia but this whole flag thing doesn't feel like it's about national pride, it's more about the mob mentality. When did this happen? I know it's connected to those horrible summer riots over the beaches in Cronulla a few years ago, but all those people already had flags ready to wave and force people to bow to and kiss.

So when did they go out and get them? Is this another Howard Legacy? Is the fascination with the flag somehow connected to our increasing Americanisation, because the Americans are so into their own flag and being so expressively patriotic?? Or is it something else? Is this culture of patriotism and flag-loving here to stay?

*** an after-thought, my friend Kate suggested I read the article David Foster Wallace wrote about flags in America just after 9/11. It looks like it was originally published in Rolling Stone Magazine. It's called The View From Mrs Thompson's. Check it out.

Let's Get Retarded

BDO. Big Day Out. It's always hot and sweaty. Dirty and Dusty. It's seriously 5 degrees hotter in The West. Everyone's always DRUNK and there are always a lot of Australian flags in attendance: wrapped around shoulders, as cap/top/pant material, in real or fake tattoos. The theme song for most people at the BDO would have to be that Black Eyed Peas ditty - Let's Get Retarded [or Get it Started if we're going for the radio edit.I would've embedded it but that function has been removed by their record label. Whatevs.]

It's a particular experience the BDO, but there's always one good reason to go. This year it was to see TV On The Radio, who were great. Along the way I also had some random observations and encounters:

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A very sweet girl came up to me and pointed to her very unwell looking friend ''excuse me, you look like the kind of girl who is always prepared, do you have any panadol? Gesturing to my bag you carry a lot of stuff with you, so I thought you might have some in there?"

I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or insult?

Funnily enough for the last few weeks since I had my wisdom tooth removed I have been carrying a chemist's assortment of painkillers: panadol, nurofen, even panadeine forte, but this is a new bag and I was nothing but disappointment for this girl. I'm not really a girlie girl. I carry a big bag but I don't have any make-up in it, no panadol, no emergency nail-repair kits. Nothing useful like that. Usually just an umbrella, a change of shoes, a scarf/cardigan, 1000 pens that don't work and maybe a note book or newspaper/magazine. She looked confused and I suggested she try the first aid tent.

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I LEFT EARLY BECAUSE

I didn't want/need to see Neil Young.I tried to be discrete about it, but one friend introduced me to a cute, but total hipster, male friend of hers saying "this is Anna, she hates Neil Young." He looked me up and down and dismissively said "oh, do you only like modern music do you?" Hell no brother, give me old school classics in any genre any day, just don't make me sit and watch Neil Young.

So I snuck out, found the train station and started the mission to get home.


Well what an experience that was.

I was sharing the middle section of the train with an intensely chatty [annoying] drunk American girl, a very drunk well travelled bogan from Melbourne, a quietly drunk Irish girl and a hilariously funny, fluro-sunglass wearing bogan from Queensland. And a quiet girl with a white plastic bag. There was also a very sober woman with a small child when we all got on, but after about 30 seconds of cuss language and groans about throwing up, she promptly got up and relocated. The next 25 minutes was a running commentary on throwing up and would've caused our Big Kev some concern, as it seems like his attempt to change the Australian culture of binge drinking hasn't been that successful.

Here's a transcript of just a snippet for you:

[Blue t-shirted guy gets up, opens door of train carriage, connecting to next train.] "It's hot in here. I need some air. I'm gunna be sick... This train reminds me of Egypt. I go Egypt a bit. I'm a pilot. Trains in Sydney are disgusting, I'm from Melbourne, this is the first time I've caught a Sydney train. Does anyone know what I can do to stop this nausea? [groan] How far til Redfern? I just need to get home, have a cold shower, throw up for half an hour and then pass out. [groan] Or maybe I should throw up first and then have a shower? Dunno. I just need to spew. You know when your gut really hurts after you chuck up? Well that's how I feel now. [groan] I just went into the toilets, spewed and then left. Didn't even find me mates. But I so need to be sick. Don't worry I won't be sick on the train. I was sick as we changed trains at that last station, but I won't be sick now. I need to spew... pause .. you know what it was? It was that half-strength vodka shit, that's what made me sick. That half-strength vodka. I'm never drinking again. [groan] I'm gunna be sick.

And on it went for the entire trip, with frequent interjections from the chatty American about inane things. The guy from Queensland and his Irish girlfriend were going on to do a pub crawl of the George Street/Darling Harbour pubs. Scruffy Murphy's and others. The girl with the plastic bag kept it close to her mouth and heaved a bit. I don't think she actually brought anything up but she was certainly close.

I just kept quiet and took notes.

Highly Suspicious

I've been a long-time listener and fan of My Morning Jacket. And they seem to get better and better with each album + tour. I really do love them and Jim James seems like such a nice fella. I've seen them on a few tours over the years and this week have now seen them twice in less than 24 hours and they are still spell-binding. Their older songs have a deep sentimental significance in my life.

But I have one hurdle that I'm struggling to get over.

Jim James [and possibly all of them] like their steak well done.

I just don't know how much I can trust someone who eats their steak well-done. I mean, he has the voice of an angel. He writes heart-felt and movingly beautiful songs. He sure can play, his band is tight, they like meat, but ... they eat their steak well-done??

Young Love

A profile in the New Yorker from 1996 of the Obamas, before politics, power, public life. It's them talking about their future, dreams, plans, each other. It's quite beautiful and insightful. Made me even happier that he's President, reading this.

Growing Pains

So you know how I'm 'in training' for the Sydney Marathon? Well I've come up against my first physical hurdle. I've done something to my hip. My physio diplomatically told me it's quite possibly from carrying heavy handbags and wearing silly shoes.
I can't be sure. But whatever the cause, it's killing me. All I know is my physio has suggested I use a BACKPACK and wear sensible shoes. I am, just quietly, horrified at the suggestion.
Then, to top it off, I've decided to grow my fringe out. So I'm moving from having thick bangs to a softer side part for winter.


But in between I've got to find something to distract from the shaggy growth. Suggestions? Colour? Accessories? A Perm?

Walk This Way

When I was a fresh-faced 18 year old, I'd just come back from travelling through Europe and moved to Sydney for University, I met a handsome dark-haired fella who's name started with J. [This was my thing for a long time, they were all tall, dark-haired and had various J names.] He was a bit older and sophisticated and knew a lot about film.

A little while into our romance I discovered that not only did he read a lot, have fine taste in food + wine, was hilariously funny, but he also was into jogging. [And he owned boat shoes. I was slightly disconcerted by this but tried to be mature about it. He'd gone to one of those fancy Eastern Suburbs schools, so I assumed the boat shoes were a legacy of that. And sometimes, he did in fact, go out on the harbour so it made sense.]

Anyway, I learnt a lot from him, he influenced and inspired me in many ways. And then one day he suggested we should start training for the famous Sydney City to Surf run.

This was hard for me, before I'd gone overseas I'd been really into kickboxing and used to train probably 5-6 times a week. But at that point in my life I was more into marathon late nights, drinking at the Judgement Bar and dancing at Club 77. You know, getting home when people are normally leaving for work. That sort of thing. Running just ... wasn't going to suit my lifestyle. It wasn't a priority.

Fast forward a few years and here I am, closer in age now to what he was then, and I've found myself getting a bit health-conscious. But I can't be bothered to diet, so exercise has come back into my life. All of last year I was getting up to join a couple of girlfriends with a personal trainer in the park at crazy o'clock in the morning. [Like, sometimes it was still dark.] We were totally hard core about it: trained right through winter, rain or shine, hungover, after late nights, flu-ridden or healthy. No matter what, training went on.

A couple of weeks ago while running along Bondi Beach at 7AM [and I'm on holidays right now!] one of my girlfriends suggested this year we should train for a marathon. Trade in some of our late nights and fondness of cheese and wine for running?? Much to my intense surprise this didn't sound so insane. And now, here we are, researching the various city marathons that happen in Sydney through-out the year. WTF?

The Needle and the Damage Done

It's that time of year when Sydney is flooded with crazy great gigs, and every time you speak to someone one of the first questions you have to contend with is 'what gigs are you going/been to'? Everyone's keen to compare notes, check who got tickets to the super sought after events and generally share the excitement of the combination of New Years Festivals [Field Day + Falls etc], Sydney Festival and Big Day Out touring rosters.

This year there were two surprises on the BDO lineup: Neil Young + The Prodigy. An unlikely combination. I'm not going to dwell on the BDO much - plenty of others will extensively deconstruct that one for you - but one of these artists has caused a lot of excitement, and it's not the Prodigy. Everyone seems to be loosing their shit over Mr Young. I mean, dude's done some amazing stuff in his time, he's created some seminal records, inspired countless people, he's sound-tracked some key moments in your life quite possibly. And by all accounts has created a solid gold playlist for this tour. That means all the hits. Everything from the Harvest and Crazy Horse years and his other key hits that you discover you know all the words to without even knowing that you did, like Hey Hey, My My, Cinnamon Girl, Rockin' in the Free World, Powderfinger... Everything you've grown up listening to. It's sure it be one of those spine-shivering experiences.

But I'm not going. Maybe I'll kick myself later but a few years ago he released a concept album 'Greendale' and toured the world in support of it. I went along to see him at the Entertainment Centre thinking he'd do a far chunk of the album but that he'd also colour the set with the crowd-pleasers. The party starters. I mean, that's what the folks had really paid for. It was one of those shows that everyone was giddy with excitement about. It was one of those rare music experiences that Mums and Dads could joyously share with their kids - and there were plenty of inter generational groups in the audience. It was beautiful to see.

So the lights went down and the show started. There was an elaborate set and then people came out with props and what happened next was some kind of horrific nightmare. It was a high-school Rock Eisteddfod musical show, with Neil Young as the lead. They ran through the album playing these little skits to literally illustrate the songs. After about 3 songs I turned around to see floods of people - pretty much everyone under the age of 30 - fleeing from the the audience. People weren't leaving quietly and politely, they were almost running to the exit. I suggested to the person I'd gone with that maybe we should leave, to which I was told in no uncertain terms that this was not an option. Instead I willed myself to sleep. I slept for probably close to 45 minutes - only to wake and discover the show was still very much continuing along in that concept amature musical theatre direction. It wasn't a bad dream. After about an hour and a half I was starting to get really edgy, this show was not only painfully frustrating but it was running really long, we were running the risk of missing the first ever show from a then little known but much anticipated band, The Presets. There was no way I was going to miss seeing their first show for this! Tears of rage filled my eyes.

Finally they reached the end. Before he could come out for the encore I was out of my seat and half way to the door. He came back on and started to launch into the hits. But by that stage it was too late. The damage had been done. I could never go back. I seriously considered writing a letter to him complaining and asking for compensation for the two perhaps two and a half hours of my life that I'd never get back. We made it to the second gig and they were great, which made the night worthwhile. Years later I can only just start to listen to his albums again and enjoy them.

He'll no doubt bust out and redeem himself, and I'll be the one wishing I could fill my heart with gold, or love, rather than hate. Maybe not hate but I haven't been able to forgive, you know the saying once bitten, twice shy.

All Tomorrow's Parties

The famous English festival, ATP has finally come to Australia. It's the music lovers music festival, with the best bits of a festival and none of the shit bits. No lines for the toilets or bar, easy to get around, good time-tabling so you could see a bit of everyone, all that sort of stuff. I know I've previously said that as a punter I'm not really into festivals, but All Tomorrow's Parties was really amazing. It was so chilled. Our very own Uncle Nick and his Bad Seeds curated the inaugural ATP festival. It was pretty great.

It was a funny crowd, a little bit older, my friend Sophie astutely said that the crowd was a bit boutique and a bit full of the people who were the coolest of cool 10 years ago. Slightly aged and chilled out, but still stylin'. A few hipsters were representing. There were few old school sun-hating folk [which was hilar because it was on an island in the middle of Sydney harbour, on a perfectly cloudless super sunny day in broad daylight with very little shade. The sun-hating, long sleeved, legs covered folk really had to work hard to maintain that style. The rest of us just got burnt.] There was also a smattering of older older folk - like your parents perhaps and people who loyally follow the Sydney Festival and attend all their events - you could identify them by their packed lunches [cheeses, crackers etc], and they were carrying copies of the weekend papers which they'd crack out and read in-between songs!

The older folk obvs aren't that tuned in festival etiquette. They swarmed on the small amount of shade and seats and refused to share. Many were seen to carry their plastic chairs around from stage to stage with them. Some even went so far as to carry them right into the crowd, up close to the stage and sit. This was big during The Necks and you can maybe understand why, but during Uncle Nick's headline set it was a bit much. I mean, he was hardly singing lullabies. 

Anyway, all in all it was a great day. Dead Meadow were amazing. The Stabs were a great way to start the day. Sitting under a tree, watching the boats bobbing on the sparkling blue harbour and listening to Robert Forster was beautiful. Seeing the full Saints line up play, with the famous harbour bridge just off to the left was amazing, although it was a shame that they decided to bust out all their boring ballads! Of all the songs in their catalogue!! Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were tight, a great way to end the night. I missed Fuck Buttons because I wanted to make sure those pesky old folk didn't rush the ferries I didn't want to wait for hours to get home. But James 'Blood' Ulmer was perhaps the highlight. He played in this quiet stage at the top of the island just as the sun started to set, spectacular.

Heartbreaker

Last night I saw Metronomy at the Popfrenzy night at Becks Festival Bar. They were excellent - so sweet and infectiously energetic. Awesome. Even though my new shoes were killing me I found myself unable to do anything but dance up a storm. Part of it was the performance they put on - all three of them were wearing these matching super cute black t-shirts with glowing white circles on their chests, and they had very charming synchronised dance moves that the busted out while playing their various instruments. I'm a sucker for synchronised dance moves, even more so when they're performed by fresh-faced indie boys. And they seemed very genuinely enjoying themselves, which is always a joy to watch and is entirely contagious.

I'm sure at some point there'll be some videos on youtube that you can watch... in fact I was standing behind a dude who was carefully recording the best bits - probably for your watching pleasure.



I don't entirely understand the point of doing this though, as community-minded and altruistic as it may be. If you missed out on seeing the gig do you really want to sit through a video of lights, the back of someone's head and motion-sickness-inducing bumps? Especially shot from way back in the crowd on a photographic still camera/phone. Not to mention sound-distortion that could even make the most industrial loving sound freak want to hear something with melody and clarity? For the record, Metronomy live last night sounded really really good.

But for those of you who missed out and want o get a sense of the show, here's a shot of what I could see from where I was, just near that dude. [Sorry, the dance moves and glowing tees didn't translate so well in this one.] Obvs this conveys the amazing dynamic light-show makes you wish you were there. I know. What can I say, I'm a naturally talented photographer ...

This is all part of the Sydney Festival madness - which started last weekend with 300, 000 people in the CBD enjoying Festival First Night. Apparently Grace Jones was amazing, I can assure you that DJ Medhi + Busy P were on fire. Santogold and Atrak got rave reviews, as did Sharon Jones. Basically all round a hugely successful and fun start to the festival. Except for 'The Sydney' - the dance that was created especially for the event. Let's not talk about that.

Some dude got so excited by the whole experience that he decided to climb a light pole. I think he thought that the crowd would cheer him and for a moment he'd be a total hero. I don't think he expected the enthusiastic response that he got. Check this out...



Anyway, so we're well and truly into festival season now and the gigs are continuing to flow thick and fast. Early reports on the Dead Meadow and Fuck Buttons show last night was that they were amazing. I look forward to seeing them at ATP. Brace yourselves people, it's basically back-to-back gigs and fun-times until Easter now.

SHINE SHINe

So here's a little taste of things to come, below are the highlights from Field Day 2009 in the Domain + Shore Thing 2008 at Bondi Beach. The extended artists interviews with our favourites are coming in the next couple of weeks.

SHORE THING


FIELD DAY

Reign in Blood

I was going to write something witty about artists with obsessive compulsive love for their sneakers or a post musing on the irony of nerds who become super stars, or something about the pattern of zero to hero and back again. Learning to drive feels like a constant process of that. As for the trials and tribulations of detoxing, well, I've got a book coming on that.

But today I'm feeling a bit more reflective - a bit more interested in things beyond the sunny streets of Surry Hills and Sydney in summer. I'm totally consumed and preoccupied with this whole situation in Gaza. It's one of those taboos that we're not really allowed to talk about. We can talk about any other conflict in the world, we can talk about sex, drugs, rock n roll. Even about abortion. But the whole Israel-Palestine thing is something that everyone prefers to side step. Elephant in the room perhaps?

I don't know quite why it's politically incorrect to talk about it.

Maybe it's something about a collective guilt and shame for what happened in Europe at the beginning to middle of last century. Or something about a collective unease and confusion over how the situation works - both sides provoke each other - and both sides have people who don't agree with the actions of the side they've been born on. It's just that one side has bigger, more deadly infrastructure behind it and so causes more damage. Both sides have casualties. It's just that one side has way more deaths of mostly women, children and elderly folk.

It's also something about our uneasy feeling that The Middle East is a foreign and wild place and they have cultural ways we don't understand and they constantly, subtly and sometimes overtly, get cast in our television programs and movies as The Bad Guys. As Terrorists. Even though you're educated and know that's not the case, but, well, maybe you feel a bit uneasy. It's all very confusing. Everyone seems very passionate about it - I mean this thing has been going on for more than 50 years so what's conversation going to do to change anything? Maybe it's easier to just ignore it.

Anyway, who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Is it that simple? And why is Speak the Hungarian Rapper the biggest and most eloquent spokesperson on this?

See The Light [Lite?]

So I mentioned before that Calvin Harris is really into water right now. He didn't quite tell me why he'd given up drinking alcohol - I didn't bother trying to delve deeply - his tone suggested that I wouldn't get a lot of extra information into his processes and reasons.

Before this, I'd already been talking up my intentions to detox in January. Usually late at night, oft with an alcoholic beverage in hand. Or the morning after such a night, while struggling through a hard training session. But when I saw his lovely skin I was quite inspired.

I've armed myself with Dr Joshi's 21 Day Holistic Detox book. I am about to join an exclusive club with the likes of Gwyneth, Cate [as in 'our' Cate Blanchett], the other Kate [as in Moss], Ralph [as in Fiennes]. Even Lady Di, obvs before she died.

I'm almost considering joining my soon-to-be-soul-mate-best-pal Gwyn's group. Goop. [Ok, now seriously - WTF?? "Í cringe when I add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to sweeten things??" Oh girlfriend, please, live a little. Oh, hang on, that's why she's a size minus 1 and I'm not. Right. Got it.]

Or maybe I'll change this blog into my own Goop-style group. I like food and I'm pretty ok with cooking, I can easily help you with things to make. I go jogging so I can give you inspirational style tips and insights. Boy oh boy can I shop,so I've easily got the Get side covered. The Do, Be and See are also totes under control. Frig. That's it. Talk about fashionable in the 80s - I've got a whole macrobiotic aerobic Lycra lifestyle concept ready to go.

[les] ARTISTES

It's been a super hectic month. December feels like a life-time ago. A blur of late-nights and sultry evenings. And [mostly cheap] wine.

Now we've landed in Two Thousand and Fine.

Over the twenty-four hours of New Years Eve/Day I interviewed probably about 20 local Australian + international artists, at Shore Thing and Field Day. An intense but fun way to end and start the year really. I'll publish the links to Fuzzy TV when the packages are edited - so you can see everything for yourself. But here's a basic run down on The Things I Learnt:

At the beginning of each interview, in order to test audio levels we ask the artists to tell us what they ate for breakfast. Most of them started with a short answer 'didn't eat breakfast', but if pushed to discuss their last meal, they could all talk AT LENGTH about the finest details. To a point that some of them talked for perhaps 3-4 minutes about the subtleties of mustard.

Also, what's with it? Almost every artist has a 'record label project'. And a bunch of them are budding fashion designers too.

Boys Noize is the nicest fella you'll ever meet. He and Jens from Digitalism went to school together and when he left his job in record store he recommended Jens for the job. Taught him everything he knows/gave him his first break. He also loves Good Charlotte [...sorry, no the last two points are a joke. Good Charlotte have totally bitten his style, ripped the skull - a work of a German artist - motif that he's been using for years and put it on the cover to their most recent 'remix' album.]

Calvin Harris has given up alcohol. I'm inspired - he has lovely skin. He's also got another big collaboration in the pipeline for next year, to work on his next rekkid. Which is going to be a 'dance/pop thing'. But he wouldn't say with who.

Walter Meego both have degrees in languages. Colin studied Spanish. Justin did a degree in Italian and also takes a lot of photographs.

The Canyons are set to be huge. Their set was really well received. They're lovely down-to-earth do-it-yourself fellas who play vinyl and dig crates.

Late of the Pier 's live show felt like a crazy warped drunken sea-shanty. Sam loves Australia and climbing trees. Potter is really into Chaucer. Faley is wanting to spend the year driving their record label, Zarcorp a bit more. They're into realising interesting 7" with artists they like. They love Erol Alkan and Cut Copy and can talk at length about either. Boredom is what drives their creativity. Just don't tell them they're cool.

Jamie Lidell loves birds, especially parakeets. He also loves poached eggs. During our chat he said he wants to do a collaboration with a whole lot of Jones'. Think Sharon. Grace. Quincy. Tom. He's going to call it Jones Inc.

A-Trak has a very good sense of humour.

Gus from Bang-Gang had a busy 2008 - the highlight of which was a mad experience in Russia, narrowly missing trouble from the Russian Mafia.

Side note: when you get all the Bang-Gang boys together things quickly get loose. Very loose. [Although this probably comes as no surprise.]

Bag Raiders are either stalkers/festival megalomaniacs/about to be huge. This is the 3rd time I've interviewed them at a festival since Parklife in October. They'd played 5 gigs in less than 24 hours by the time we chatted yesterday. Frig.

Yo Magesty are warped. Jwl B is all about fresh air on her titties at shows. [She takes her top off] and she has plenty to say to haters.

Hopefully I'll have updates on Santogold and Busy P next week.

Other highlights/charmers: The Presets, Ajax, Ladyhawke, DJ Medhi. Jens from Digitalism.

Total disappointment: Switch.