Blog: Pop Cultureddd

..just when I'm a little more than utterly despondant. A Monday you'd rather leave behind. Wishing your life away looking forward to time spent with a loved one. Dreams and aspirations that must be kept secret. Trying to make the best of something that just won't do. This beautiful remix I've had floating around for a while has just reminded me of the hope of a life that I'm working so hard for and keeping ambition in mind it could all still fall into place. Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Air France remix) [...]

The suggestion is that if you don't go, or you don't know about this band, then I judge you, harshly. I love The Chapman Family .

Doves do nightmare funk.

Always Like This "Good and nice." I think it is absolutely beautiful. Shed a tear at the end of a warm summer's day at the knowledge that now you've experienced it and it was so sweet, you'll never get it back. Bombay Bicycle Club and their MySpace.

Personal idol. Once introduced and given a little bit of an education on it, you cannot deny the power of grime. I've never wanted to share Pop Cultureddd with anyone before. To be honest, I don't like sharing, full stop. But my other, infinitely better, other half is fairly knowledgeable on the grime scene and I've been trying to cajole him into doing an occasional feature post. But, try this for starters... Wiley - Wot Do U Call It [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Pleasantly bowled over. I'd not seen The Young Knives for a long while. Possibly three years. I'm not sure. But I've forgotten how much I enjoy them. Witty, roaring, slick and yelping. I have not been to a gig in a long time that made me grin with surprise and delight. On the rounds of promoting their third album The Young Knives seemed fairly confused to have ended up in Darlington. And as the third band I have seen in this venue this year, they were not alone in this reaction. But Darlington should be really [...]

Oooo. Get me! Living up to a promise. Who'd have thought it? Believe me, it is not going to happen often. Don't get excited. Funeral Party - Carwars [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Lick and wet those lips in anticipation. Herve has gone and made the current chart number one listenable for rollicking snobs like myself. It is hardly surprising. It does what it should do. And it does it well! This should make going back to work after a four-day weekend a lot less painful. Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone (Herve's See You At The Festivals remix) [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Sorry about the shitness of the video and please do not succumb to their advertisments. I won't be able to sleep if you do. And if I don't sleep then I'll die in 11 days or something. Thus, no more Pop Cultureddd . Liking Funeral Party though! I'll try and find something a little more concrete that the internet has not sucked the fun out of yet to promo this wicked band better.

I had been complaining that no-one had really picked up on the terrific single, Alone by Dan Black, as a potentially cataclysmically awesome song to remix for quite a while. I suppose somewhere in the ether my upsets resonated. The boyfriend named dropped, again, but I don't mind this remix. Maybe it is a grower. But right now I have a feeling in my waters that more could extrapolated from this song. It could be fantastic. Dan Black - Alone (Clouded Vision remix) [via YouSendIt for 7 days] [...]

Patrick Watson @ Soirée de poche - Slip into your skin from La Blogotheque on Vimeo . What can you say? I'm dumb-founded.

It would almost be rude not to mention this track. I love Franz Ferdinand . Love the Franz. I sometimes forget the sheer reiablity that their debut album brought to my life. You need some awesome, kick-arse indie? Not mediocre, sub-standard Radio 1 indie? Oh well, you must try a bit of Franz Ferdinand. You like that? Well see them live. Honestly, I cannot impress upon you how momumental Franz Ferdinand are as a live act. But who could have predicted the tenth track on their latest album, Lucid Dreams ? I [...]

I'm still on it. "Hi, excuse me, hello, sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to ask what CD the track that is playing now is from.." "Oh yes. That'll be The Brits 2009 compilation." "I don't mean to be rude, but its not. I'm not questioning you, but I'm just telling you, it isn't from that CD. This is why I was asking, as its not on any of your Now Playing displayed CD's." "Are you sure?" [...]

This is more a call to Rob Jones than a review of the actual event itself. So... Dear Mr Rob Jones, I am a little-known blogger, occasionally, but mainly I am a music and gig addict (not to mention the band t-shirts, lets not go there, one draw no long suffices). I happened to blog about you a year or so ago. And upon seeing that you were billed as playing at Darlington nearly deafened nearby dogs when I yelped with delight. I arrived not long after 11:30pm, [...]

Disorder and chaos. I mean, it really has got to be expected. After all it is The Cribs . It seems a while ago now but Sunday 8th February saw myself and my lovely boyfriend in Bradford. Snow falling, lapping the city center for a restaurant, and my boyfriend jumping in icy puddles. A few hours to kill before The Cribs and we were excited. The boyfriend is a big fan and takes to putting on his Cribsmas DVD whenever I'm not in the room and then convinces me to leave it on with promises [...]

I am constantly singing and dancing to this. In the depths of quiet I will burst into song! Dan Black Alone from chic & artistic on Vimeo .

What deserved rise to fame these boys are eventually finding. Its nice. Friendly Fires 'Skeleton Boy' by Clemens Habicht from Nexus Productions on Vimeo . P.S. Vimeo is where it's at! Fuck YouTube.

It certainly seems to have been a hellishly long wait. And with that wait has been all sorts of nagging doubts about what their return would bring. I felt like a nervous teenage girl readying herself for her first house party. What if I don't like it? What if it is different from what I expect? What if it is just a bit rubbish and I sit in the corner looking out at the definition of disappointment? Will it mean that there is something wrong with me if I'm not enjoying [...]

I realise all has been quiet around these parts for a while. But I always suppose that Pop Cultureddd is not an outlet for personal crises' and a journal of my thoughts. But my desire for writing, experiencing, listening, chatting shit about and generally centering my life around music again has been restored. Last night I, with my hottie on my arm, went to see The Rakes at Inside Out in Darlington, hosted by the clubnight Amplified. I'd never been to a gig in Darlington and was riddled with doubts about what to expect. [...]

Any activity is better than no acitivty at all. And on today I noticed that on Alfie's MySpace there had been uploading of 'new' tracks. For about 5 minutes all sorts of possibilities rushed through my head. But the basic conclusion was that Alfie were going to get back together. I nearly put on one of my five Alfie t-shirts to dance around in with joy. They'd tour again and I'd eventually be able to fulfil a life long dream of seeing Alfie live. But no. It was just someone updating the songs on the MySpace [...]