Back of the Net

All the tracks are now in and up to listen to at Soundcloud for the WIAIWYA compilation, It's The Taking Part That Counts. Contributions to this global pop sportsday come from St. Etienne, Darren Hayman, The Sunny Street, DJ Downfall, White Town, and many more - including, I might add, myself.

More details about the release, each individual artist and the tracks themselves will be posted up regularly at the dedicated blog, so do be sure to check in there regularly and see what's going on.

An Evening with A Little Orchestra

How Does It Feel To Be Loved presents a whole evening in the company of Kilburn's favourite twelve-piece orchestral ensemble, A Little Orchestra.

The event will take place on the 26th of January, from half past seven until around eleven, at the Buffalo Bar, just outside Highbury & Islington tube station.

The orchestra will be set up and playing throughout the night and joined by several guest singers and other instrumentalists, including . . . Shirley Lee (of Spearmint), Haiku Salut, Simon from The Loves, and Matt and Sharon from A Fine Day for Sailing.

The evening will be topped off by a performance from The Madrigals, a five piece from London, influenced in equal parts by traditional English folk and Electrelane.

Tickets cost £4 in advance (link) or £5 on the door. Don't forget to tell the Big Other you will be coming.

Pipettes // Geneva // January 20th

Join The Pipettes for our first gig of the new year at L'Usine, 4 Place des voluntaires, Geneva, Switzerland, on the 20th of January. Also performing live: Jakokoyak, Kid Chocolat, Plyci, Andres Garcia & the Ghost, plus DJ sets from Love Motel, Luz, Alain Weber, Bjorn Borg, Tanz/Tanz, Luluxpo AND MUCH MORE! This is a Poor Records night. Doors will open at 21:30. It will cost 15 CHF. See you there.

555 Was Right from Da Start

When I was growing up in Brighton, the almost simultaneous purchase of two 7" singles, stumbled across in a local record shop at the age of about 16, had the most profound effect on my taste in music and my ideas about music generally. One of them was 'The Weight' by Hood, the other was 'The Last Wasps of Summer' by Steward. When I realised that both of these records had been put out by the same label, I immediately set about trying to collect everything this label put out. That label was called 555 Recordings - at that time 555 recordings of Leeds.

I was never once disappointed with a single purchase that bore the 555 tag, indeed I was consistently surprised, delighted and inspired. When I later discovered that these records rarely broke into sales figures with more than two digits, I was a little bit shocked. This, to me, was pop music. This was pretty much exactly what I wanted pop music to be. Why couldn't everyone else see that?

I mention this for two reasons, one being that Stewart and Jen are currently putting all the early 555 singles up on Bandcamp in a pay what you want kind of way in order to raise money to buy a trained autism service dog to help them look after their daughter, Tallulah. You can read more about the dog and what it would mean to Stewart, Jen and Tallulah on Jen's blog here. But even if you don't give a damn about the child of two people who are, after all, probably complete strangers to you, I can't recommend enough at the very least popping over to Bandcamp and having a listen to this stuff, and maybe checking back every now and then as Stewart puts more stuff up. I'd never heard the track I've embedded above before (and, believe me, I had a lot of 555 Records by the time I left Brighton) but as soon as I heard it I completely fell back in love with the label again.

The other reason I mention this is because the record shop in Brighton where I bought those two 7" singles - and most of the rest of my 555 collection - is closing down and holding a massive sale. Edgeworld Records is/was by far the best record shop in Brighton (and there's some fairly stiff competition) and the people who worked there and ran the place knew more and cared more about music than pretty well anyone else in town. All of their stock is being reduced by 10% every week, so get 'em while they're hot, basically. It's on Kensington Gardens, North Laine. Look up for this sign...