The new Santa Rosa equipped Apple laptops can’t come quick enough for me really (click for big):

I’m hoping that it’s a one-off, but as that’s the first time I’ve seen that happen in the 18 months I’ve owned the laptop it’s probably a sign of impending doom. Time to take advantage of my Applecare warranty….

Pelican (and These Arms Are Snakes) last night were pretty good, although I missed the first half of TAAS’ set - thanks to walking miles in the wrong direction - but as I’ve seen them before I wasn’t too bothered. Pelican sounded awesome live, they played a good set which I enjoyed whilst throwing pints of Grolsch down my neck.

What wasn’t much fun was finding out that Bank was in fact shut just as we cruised through it on the tube. In my inebriated state I missed the next stop and so had to trek halfway across London via two other stations whilst busting for a piss. Fletch will probably say that’s my own fault though for living out in t’sticks…

10:08 <fletch> Acton!!!
10:08 <fletch> get that!
10:09 <fletch> Zone 78
10:09 <fletch> takes a week to get there by mule

Just in case you’re not on the mailing list, with some stuff trimmed:

Antelope Album and Tour
Antelope’s long waited full-length, “Reflector”, is now available from our website and will be available in stores on March 26. Antelope have also embarked on a massive tour, 40 shows on 42 days, in the USA. Check the tour page for dates and details.

Medications
Medications just wrapped up dates in The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany and Spain. They are currently writing new material and are looking to record a new album this spring and will be playing shows in Brazil in April.

The Evens in Brazil, Argentina & Chile
The Evens just wrapped up tour dates in Australia and New Zealand and are now headed to Brazil, with shows in Argentina and Chile as well. Tour dates and details are posted on our tour page.

Ian MacKaye on Soft Focus w/ Ian Svenonius
Ian MacKaye is featured on “Soft Focus with Ian Svenonius”, an interview show appearing on the new Vice Magazine webTV station, VBS. Over the years Ian has done hundreds of interviews and has more recently been booking speaking engagements, usually in the form of informal Q&As, but here — thanks to Ian Spiv’s hilarious personality and the long friendship the two of them enjoy, is a unique and sometimes hilarious conversation of politics, policies and nonsense.

Joe Lally European Tour Updates
Joe Lally has updated his March tour itinerary for Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and France. His destination following Europe will be Japan in June.

Lungfish interview/documentary and Daniel Higgs Tourdates
Publicradio.net has produced a fascinating radio documentary on Lungfish which includes music and a very rare interview with Daniel Higgs. Lungfish is not currently active though Daniel has been busy with solo projects including a recent album on Holy Mountain Records.

Daniel Higgs is currently playing solo tour dates in the UK which can be found on our tour page.

Dismemberment Plan Shows to Benefit Cal Robbins
The Washington Citypaper is sponsoring two shows featuring a re-nited Dismemberment Plan on Friday and Saturday April 27-28 at the Black Cat in Washington, DC to benefit Cal Robbins (there is no indication at this time that The Dismemberment Plan will play any dates beyond these two shows). Cal is the young son of J. Robbins and Janet Morgan of Channels. He was born with a genetic motor neuron disease called Type 1 SMA, or Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This is a serious disease that has no cure. For more information on Cal’s condition or to donate to his treatment fund you can go to: www.desotorecords.com/cal or www.jrobbins.net

Lovitt Records is releasing a full length from Glos entitled “Harmonium” at the end of March. Glos features Keeley Davis (former frontman of Engine Down and bass/synth player for Denali) and Cornbread Compton (former drummer of Engine Down, Biology, and currently Heavens) and Maura Davis (former frontwoman of Denali). For more info go to www.lovittrecords.com.

Lovitt recently released The Ben Davis & the Jetts / Des Ark split LP/ CD entitled “Battle Of The Beards”. Ben Davis & the Jetts and Des Ark might be wildly different but it is rare to find a collaboration that works this well; the album features 5 tracks from each band as well as two collaborations.

Des Ark plans on recording a new full-length for Lovitt Records in April with Jonathan Fuller in Richmond, Virginia.

Haram has been writing new material and is planning on recording a new full length in the near future. Jeff Kane recently left the band and was replaced by long-time friend Kevin Longendyke (City of Caterpillar). The band is also a five-piece now, with the addition of Ben Tankersley. Haram will be playing out live with the new line-up in April.

Fin Fang Foom and Ben Davis & the Jetts will be touring Europe together in June, look for tourdates at www.lovittrecords.com.

Bats & Mice who are back to their original line up of Ben Davis, David NeSmith and Jonathan Fuller, have begun recording their next full-length for Lovitt Records.

New Stuff from Magic Bullet
Magic Bullet has released a DVD about Skateboarding in Fredricksburg, VA called “City By The Battlefield”, and has released a new split CD featuring Massacre of the Umbilical Cord and Control, and has released the vinyl version of the This Will Destroy You release.

After missing them tour almost as many times as I saw Bluetip play, I finally managed to see Retisonic at the Barfly in Camden Town. They put on a good show and I managed to fire off a few photos from the front, but as it was pretty packed in there (the Barfly is fairly small) and I was bunched up against the right speaker, this meant two things: my left ear was ringing really fucking bad by the time their set finished, and I didn’t do too well on the photo front in terms of quantity. I did manage to catch this moment though.

Cursive headlined not long after that and I moved out of position in order to drink a few warm glasses of Grolsch somewhere near the back. They aren’t really the same band as they were when I saw them a few years back in Manchester (circa Domestica) so I wasn’t all that excited about hearing them play but I’m actually glad I did. They sounded good, put on a good show and played one or two tracks I like so I was happy. The beer helped as well though, I’m sure.

The tube journey back out of Camden was pretty much as interesting as the gig itself, with a championship greyhound gracing the presence of one tube station (or so the owner claimed - Scanman would have had to have been there to verify) and then some film school kid ‘entertaining’ the cabin of a tube I was on with a selection of slides he’d drawn for some project. If there’s one thing London isn’t, it’s dull….

A trip to the physio this morning meant that I was diagnosed with a damaged disc in my lower back. Apparently it should heal in ‘about four weeks’, so in the meantime I’m dosing myself up with Ibuprofen and Paracetamol to numb the pain a bit whilst at work. Sitting in cheapo office chairs is apparently one of the worst things that I could be doing though :(

Not much else doing at the minute, unfortunately. Some good gigs coming up soon mind (Dan Sartain, Retisonic, Joe Lally, Trans Am…), which should mean some action on the photography front. Still debating what to do about a portfolio so I’ll probably continue to use Flickr for the time being…