'Well take apart your head...

...take apart the counting, and the flock it has bred' - Degausser, Brand New

Last night was immense. I got off the train and, not really knowing exactly where I was going, followed a VEG (Vaguely Emo Guy/Girl) which led me safely to Manchester Academy. Got in with time to see Kevin Devine play a set including a cover of 'School' by Nirvana. He was pretty good. The Academy was possibly the hottest venue I'd ever been in, just standing still I was sweating like crazy. Not cool.

Brand New were amazing. Starting off with 'The Shower Scene' from 'Your New Favourite Weapon', they played about 40 minutes or so of old stuff, including 'Me Vs Maradona Vs Elvis', 'Okay, I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't' and 'The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows'. This bit of the set was really good, but what happened after that led the gig on to another level. Kicking in with a new song called (I think) 'Gasoline', where Jesse just screams his lungs out for the whole thing, this led into a 50 minute or so showcase of 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me' including 'The Archers Bows Have Broken' and 'Jesus'. Most impressive, though, was the ending 3 songs, 'Degausser', 'You Won't Know' and 'Welcome To Bangkok' all strung together into a 15 or 20 minute long masterpiece of music. It was probably the best ending to a gig I've ever seen.

And that was pretty much it. My throat is so sore today from screaming along I can hardly speak at the moment.

'These constant broken heartbeats...

...sound like breakbeats going round and round to me' - Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats, Los Campesinos!

So, Aleks has left Los Campesinos!, although not with immediate effect or before finishing their second album (which, for those who aren't subscribed to the blog, sounds bloody exciting).I was going to post a nice picture of Aleks when I could find one on the internet and say, you know, thanks for the memories and such like. Which I will still say, below the pictures that follow this. There was going to be some whole retrospective of how she liked my 'You! Me! Dancing!' t-shirt, and Pete and I once took a cherry pie all the way from Bath to Exeter for her, and that I once gave her a hug (I think I kind of forced it on her, and for that, should she read this, I apologise. I was either a) drunk or b) far too excited about something else) at a gig by Blood Red Shoes. But that would be self indulgent. Anyway, whilst searching 'Aleks Campesinos!' on google image search, I stumbled across these, which are far more interesting than anything I could say:

(I'm alarmed by Gareth's cheesy grin. He looks a bit like a jock.)
(Ellen looks a bit like a stern prison guard from Bad Girls or something.)The band is still carrying on, by the way, and getting a new member/some new members in to replace Aleks.

So, good luck to Aleks with her medical studies and whatever the future may hold. Ummm...that's pretty much it, really. Yeah.

(All photo credits go to someone called Cristoph! on Flickr.)

'I followed the rabbit...

...and now I am lost and alone' - Return Of The White Rabbit, Ash

Ash have gone disco to surprisingly good effect.



Quality's a bit crap, but it's all I can find at short notice.

They're releasing a single every fortnight from September/October time for a year, numbering 26 in total, covering each letter of the alphabet (presumably in alphabetical order). They'll all be available on both digital download and 7". This isn't one of those 26, and is available for free download from their website, and on 7" come June 8th. You can download it here in exchange for your email address (you can also hear it in better quality there).