Iron and Wine

Last night I saw Iron and Wine and Calexico at the Bristol Academy, not usually my favourite venue but last night it didn't matter. Iron and Wine were so good, brought a tear to the eye. Calexico were really good too, but Iron and Wine were on a higher level.

The gig also reminded me of something I've been thinking for a while, especially when I listen to GYBE! or when I saw Broken Social Scene. Alot of interesting music is coming out of the States and Canada at the moment. By interesting I mean complex arrangements, weird instrumentation, large ideas. I think this is because of how music is funded and taught in schools in Northern America. Their school orchestra's are just that - orchestras - not the cobbled together mish mash of saxophones, recorders, flutes and guitars you see in English schools.

The UK has historically, in my opinion, punched above its weight musically, the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Pink Floyd for example. But now I think we as a nation are being relegated out of the top forty. I can't really think of any UK band that has the level of intricacy of the raft of US and Canadian artists. Gorillaz maybe, Mogwai certainly rock but it's not in the same league as GYBE! We do innovate still (dubstep would be a good recent example) but it's not on the same scale as what comes out of the US.

We are also in severre denial of our musical heritage. Not many Morris troupes left are there?

I guess my point, dear reader, is if you have a kid get them to learn a weird instrument. There can never be enough hurdy gurdy players.

Djing

So last night I was djing at the Hijack Poll Winners Party. It was ace! I want to play out more!!

We played a mixture of latin funk and heavy metal. It was very fun. Getting in at 5 and waking up at 10:30 wasn't so great...

Making me think of buying a couple of CDJ's, those Denon's were fun...

Photo's of the night here, here and here.