manc_ill_kid - His Bedroom

I am a musician myself, although I rarely play live. My last gig would have been that Deep Fried Wolfknuckles show last year. Anyhoo, I do make use of the SoundCloud website to store my recorded offerings. They're mostly covers of popular indie tunes with occasional original songs, recorded by myself in my bedroom using free PC kit and a small collection of guitars.

This is a list of all the tracks I have on SoundCloud, covers and originals.

Ash
Angel Interceptor
Girl From Mars

Boo Radleys
Find the answer within
Reaching out from here
Wake up
Wilder

The Buggles
Video Killed the Radio Star

Carter USM
Lets get tattoos

Cast
Finetime
Sandstorm

The Charlatans
The Only One I know
Just When You're Thinking Things Over

The Jesus and Mary Chain
Just like honey

Johnny Utah and the Buckeye System
Bacon sandwich and vodka
Running Battle

manc_ill_kid
Bacon sandwich and vodka
ill and ancient
Naked chicks on post-it notes
Running Battle

Mexican Kids at Home
Female Thief

MJ Hibbett
Lesson of the Smiths

The Pipettes
Your kisses are wasted on me

The Smittens
Sapphire

Stone Roses
Waterfall

Sultans of Ping FC
Wake up and scratch me

Town Bike
Trouble fucken rocks

The Plimptons - Could I be loved (2009 video)

The Plimptons - Could I Be Loved
Director - Jason Sweeney



Aye, so the Plimptons are this comedy rock band from Glasgow who've been going since last century, they're mostly Adam J Smith and Martin Smith and a who host of other people usually called Smith. I kind of managed them between 2004 and 2007 releasing their albums 'Songs of Ignorance and of Inexperience' and 'Pomp' and making countless (six) music videos.

I've barely seen those guys since I moved to London, and don't recognise many folk in the video, expect the bass player who looks terrifyingly like I used to look like.

Ahh, I remember when we thrashed Glasvegas in the demo competition. Every so often I realise that the reason The Plimptons aren't topping the album charts right now is cos I must have done something wrong as their manager, mistakes I must have made, and this is why I must never manage a band again.

Lizzy Parks - The Luminaire

Not really sure what to expect tonight, just needed some jazz to unwind after a hard week of job hunting and unsuccessful interviews. We're at the Luminaire tonight.



On stage is Lizzy Parks and her band, hammond organ, double bass, jazz drums and trumpet.



Its all got a noice jazz soul vibe, the trumpet with more jazz thans soul, too much noodling. The missus says Lizzy sounds like old skool Amy Winehouse, but I'm not enough of a connesseur to tell. Fine fine hammond.



For an encore they did a fine version of Psychedelic Sally.

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Kate Winter Quartet - Jazz Blow - Oh Bar

I was wandering destitute through the streets of Camden, stumbling into the familiar surrounds of the Oh Bar only to find that tonight is jazz night.

There is a quartet on stage, I'm indulging my mishearing to think the compare chap called them the Edgar Wynters Quartet, but alas its really the Kate Winter Quartet. Its rather nice lounge jazz.

Girl singer, piano, standy up bassy thing, and drummer using brushes. Its a treacly smooth voice although there are bread crumbs in the treacle. Pretty sure these are all standards.

I was almost in tears when they played 'Have yourself a very merry christmas', sometimes life paints itself as though you are in a movie.

Some polite french chaps take seats at the table next to me. They look very much me and Milo did back in jazz fridays in Glasgow, polonecks and black jackets.

Ooh some neat walking bass solos, my gaulic tablemates lead the audience in applauding, cleary having read the same jazz bluffers guide as we had back in the day.

The singing girl's scat singing is okay, but my view of such things has been jaundiced by a skit on Fresh Prince with uncle Phil doing it.

There were moments where the noodles and the solos were a little ramshackle, I've had the same problem myself, but aye, these moments were brief.

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Yaaba Funk - Afro-Kokoa - The Big Chill

Afro-Boho, shoreditch jungle rhythms in a flatcap. Regular drums and bongos, at the same time! Almost ska-ish guitar, then the sax kicks in. I though it was all right but it turns out they were just sound checking.



Hours later they kick off on stage. Its the first time I've seen this kind of music played live. The three piece sax section really catched me, well that and the general rhythm that's got everyone moving.



Male / female vocals, a little too shouty for my tastes, but broadly euphoric.



It gets a bit political a few songs in, Obama and political freedom.

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Loney dear - Old Blue Last

Not sure who this last chap is, headline billing, sounds Swedish, looks like my cousin Jimbo.

He's got a backing band out in the crowd but for the first song they're not really up for joining him so he has to resort to magic.

He plays a chord and gets the audience to all sustain it, Ab. Its a weird sensation, I'm at gig, but the sound is coming from all around. Sure, it drifts in and out as folk give up and then are roused once more as the chap on stage strums and plays along, but it wraps round me disconcertingly.

The band join him onstage for the next song, tuning up whilst he regales us with a tale of their exploits earlier in the day.

Its very light music, drifting and acoustic, but I'm not into it. There's a couple stood right in front of me, really caught up in each other's eyes, almost oblivious to the music. Giggling and chatting, gazing at each other's faces. They distract me too much from the music, so I leave.

Martin Carr - Old Blue Last

This is the first time I've seen Martin Carr since November 1996 at Manchester Uni with Julia Roe. I missed out on the Bravecaptain thing during the past ten years, save some track on an NME cover CD.

Anyhoo he's on stage right now, hair contained in a bobble hat, acoustic guitar cappoed on second fret and Mary providing backing vocals. Its quiet, laid back stuff. Some fancy fingering, but the strings are buzzing like a bad 'un.

It sound like you'd imagine acoustic Boos b-side demos would sound like, his voice so familiar, and wee flourishes where you can imagine the trumpets would be.

The audience were a bit noisy, a few bursts of silence breaking out during quiet bits, but then the chatter rising again. I wonder what other shows he's got lined up and what new material recorded.

When I got bored of the final band of the night, I found myself crossing the street at the same time as Martin Carr and for a few brief moments I considered the person I would be if not for him and his music. No Boo Radleys, no gig at the Manchester Academy in '95, no first girlfriend, no emotional scarring, no learning to play those songs on guitar, no endlessly going to gigs to try to find the magic like that show at the Academy, no gig review blog. And none of this...

Adam Donen and The Drought - Old Blue Last

So I'm stood near the bar at the Old Blue Last, sweating a wee bit, a few feet in front of me is Andrew the photographer and just to my right is a bloke who looks like Ed Byrne.

On stage is a chap with big permed hair, scary starey eyes and for this song, an acoustic guitar. Adam Donen presumably.

They have a slightly dischordant sound but nice thundering bass and celtic-ish violin, although in this case it would be called fiddle.

Its a little bit too blarry for my tastes as though hs shouting at the audience, but I don't get it.

Nice baaa backing vocals, and organish keyboards.

They had a book of poems and a CD, and album for sale, I neglected to buy a copy.