Nothing Rhymes With Pirate

At lunch today, the conversation turned to music and stuff they play at Cheese (retro/indie/british classics), Creamfields and KissFM mix CDs, "big" nights that happen here - Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Nick Warren, Fatman Scoop..

I dont know how many times I would've said "rubbiiiissssh"

Then Robin and I sang to Cassie's 'Me & U' that was playing on the sound system.

I just bought Kylie tickets for a concert here in November!

I was replying to a thread on my old RA Forum stomping grounds commenting about the DJ Yoda FabricLive thing as this other dude, who was so on my wavelength, was saying that people like Klever, Tittsworth etc should do FabricLive stuff. Then I was all like "YEAH! A-trak should do the next one!"

I hit up google to see if he's played at Fabric, as I thought that I read he had recently off the Fools Gold Blog.. and lo and behold, the lucky punters in London get to see him next week playing at Fabric and YoYo.

And then this caught my eye:

Friday 2nd – FABRIC LIVE (ATRAK FABRIC LIVE MIX CD COMING IN APRIL 2009)


Like WOAH.
If this is true.. SUPER EXCITING!! Especially with his own release album out soon as well! YEEEEE.

Thanks to Euan for bringing this to the attention of people!

MUXTAPE

Euan's mUxtape

And after a hours of sifting through folders trying to find decent things that are less than 10MB:

My mUxtape

The Britney album.

We don't get much (if any) gossip about her. Unless you buy Ahlan! or some UK gossip rag, but i'm too cheap for that. And not bothered to google anything about her.

Anyways, I think the album is pretty good on the whole. She's done a Madonna 'Confessions on a Dancefloor' type thing.. low points being 'Radar' and 'Why Should I Be Sad'.. but I think 'Toy Soldier' and 'Freakshow' top it.. and 'Heaven on Earth' reminds me of some 90s/00s track I cant pinpoint.

The End.

Just as London isnt built for the heat.. Dubai isnt built for the rain. As I checked out the kerbs on my way into work, I noticed that some of the roads dont even have a kerb, the roads dont gutters nor do they have drainage outlets.

Its been raining on and off for the past 4 days now, with the heaviest down pour waking me up this morning. Most of the streets are flooded (especially the residential roads leading away from the villa).. I have discovered a new fear I have of massive puddles on the road. I imagine the car driving into it, then suddenly falling into a deep hole. Its from a movie or tv show.. can't remember where. All the other drivers are freaking out, with everyone driving slower, increased usage of hazard lights and generally taking longer to get anywhere.

What shat me this morning was when I was driving away from the villa and following a 4WD.. the stoopid thing decides to slow down to almost a stop to go through the flooded bits. Umm, you're in a 4WD and I assumed you'd go through at relatively breakneck speed so I could drive behind you and not fear my engine would flood. The same morons go over speed humps and the same speed.

I actually dont mind the rain.. its a welcome change. I still miss the seasons though.

With the Islamic New Year long weekend just gone.. and then the suprising Pres. Bush holiday, I realise that I have never seen so many movies in this space of time. The closest was probably when Alison and I used to skip Tuesday lectures one term and went to Belco Mall for tight-arse Tuesday movies. I've watched:

I Know Who Killed Me
The Ex
Ratatoille
American Gangster
You, Me & Dupree
The Kingdom (not really, slept through most of it)
Waitress
The Weatherman
The Lakehouse<

9 movies in 5 days. The first 5 were watched within 20hrs.

I was just flicking through the office music server and found this:
( Top 100 Dance Tracks 1990-1999 )

It really sucks that I forgot my headphones today.

Note that my music collection kinda stops in September since I moved to a land that has no idea what ghettoclub or even electro is. And my lack of internet to get the tips on sweet jamz. Plus I'm missing out on all the cool summertime stuff that is released for the festive season. WAH.

( THE LIST )

My final week of work was breezing through quite nicely. I was wrapping up my Oakdale report, doing all my "lasts", sorting out my files and deleting all bludging evidence off my computer.

They had organised for farewell drinks to be at 4pm on Friday in Paddington.. and with no suprise, it was 410pm and I was still sitting at my desk (Giving me a "final deadline - for old times sake" isnt cool at 2pm). RS was practically half-way out the door when Jess noticed that I was still working.. "Umm, Ross? Did you want us to send this out?". He then realised I was still there and decided to stay on with me while everyone left. I asked for him to give me 10mins, which he did.. hovering over me at all times. I ended up getting kicked out, which was really frustrating for me as he kept making it out that he would be embarressed if I wasnt there and he was. Image infront of everyone else? I dunno.

I made it, which was no big deal.
Quick speeches.. and the giving of the massive card and an Oroton A4 business folio, which will look very swish when I go to meetings. (Better than the dodgy pen/pacer thing that I heard that they had initially bought me!)

Photos: Goodbye SIHQ

I will miss that place. The working relationships, the friendships, the gossip and the insider-jokes. Its like being the seniors in high school. You've got your cliques and niche all sorted out with a level of respect and trust by everyone else. I'll be the little fish in the big pond (a really big pond! With 10 times more people than I'm used to!). Its a really small world in this design/construction industry and no doubt I will see them all again.

------
After drinks, Dayna took me out to the Modular party to see Robyn playing at the Oxford Art Factory. Its a new venue and they've used to space where Central Station Records used to be on Oxford St (under Qbar). I was thinking that they'd just keep the 2 rooms the way they were (where the clothes was in one room and the records in the other), but they had completey decked it out with lights, glass, mirrors an art and it was TOTALLY AMAZING!!! May possibly be the best venue that I have seen in Sydney at the moment. (Big call, I know.) Robyn did a great set in her Muscles' "Ice Cream Is Gonna Save The Day" tshirt.. and the girls of SYLK definately had the best dance moves of the night!



Photos: Robyn / SYLK

(I copied Ed.. he he)

$130 for Daft Punk tickets arent bad.. supported by SebastiAn & Kavinksy, The Presets, Cut Copy, Muscles, Bang Gang and Van She.

Tash & I went to see Gwen Stefani last night at Acer (after a trez derishus dinner at the local vietnamese noodle joint in Flemington - Yeeeeeaaaah).



It started off with jail bird Harajuku girls running through the crowd and then getting caught by the police.. and Gwen appears in a gold cage from the middle of the stage and opens with Sweet Escape and then I think she did Rich Girl.. and then it gets a bit hazy but she did all the big ones like Hollaback Girl, Luxurious, 4 in the Morning, Yummy..What You Waiting For as the encore.



Oh! And she did Cool after she decided to do a major sprint into the crowd and came up onto the sound stage. SO CLOSE.



She then went up to the sides of the area and sung amongst the crowd. It was pretty cool. How toit is her body, srsly.



She spoke a lot to the crowd.. talking about her baby Kingston and stuff. She even said "fuckin" a couple of times, which probably didnt sit too well with the masses of 'tweens' in the crowd. I had 3 teenage girls next to me, which was pretty funny because they were doing count-ins to yell "I LOVE YOU GWENIE" and swooning at the male dancers.. not funny was the almost elbows in my face (she was an air-puncher) and the partial deafness in my right ear from high decible screaming. Costume changes were minimal and subtle, which I s'pose is good or else you get those massive long breaks inbetween. So much hotpants though - it was great! She's great!

(I'm all systems ON with the blogging today. (Another plug for iUTDWMD or add us as your LJ friend!)



Tash & I went to the John Mayer concert last night at the Ent Cent.

( it was pretty funny.. )
Anyways, it was good! His voice is so romantical (LB thinks thats my new word) and very much like on CD. Heaps of indulgent guitar solos. He could've dressed up a bit for the occasion though! And maybe some visual screens wouldn't have gone astray. Is a bit of pyrotechnics too much to ask for these days?

I'm not really 100% on my top 10.. but I'm feeling a bit rushed as we're leaving in the morning to head down to Melbourne and I havent packed yet. But I wanna get this out before new years. Sooo many different influences this year (particularly with changing genres by the end of the year!).. and so much great great stuff. Still think I've probably missed heaps of stuff.

Mark Ronson – Just Ft. Alex Greenwald
This song got the ball rolling on me stalking everything he’s worked on and reignited a favour for Here Comes The Fuzz.
Really looking forward to getting my mitts on Versions due out in April.

Lily Allen – Littlest Things and Sunday Morning
Couldn’t decide which song! This was me really jumping on that MySpace bandwagon. Lyrics off her Alright, Still album, like, “speak” to me. Haha. Seeing her at that “exclusive” promo gig at club77 was very very cool. And did someone mention that she’s produced by Mark Ronson? Hah!

Justin Timberlake – Sexy Back
J.Timb was on FIRE this year. Definitely one of my top albums of the year. Picked up heaps of the remixes (bootlegs, blends..) and none that I completely dug.
(On a side note, Low Bee’s Pawtry Remix of ‘My Love’ rocks)

Spank Rock – Bump
YoYoYoYoYo is another album that hits my tops. I was a bit cut that I missed seeing them at The Basement gig (I shed a tear as we walked past towards the big screen at Customs House to watch the World Cup).. but am seeing them at the BDO sideshow in January! ‘Bump’ is like the epitome for me. Booty bass and Amanda Blank filthy rhymes. Yes.

Yelle – Short Dick Cuizi / Je Veux Te Voir
Girl yelling in French to a nasty electro beat and paying out another relatively famous TTC member.

Cansei De Ser Sexy – Lets Make Love and Listen to Death from Above
I thought these people who are “Tired of Being Sexy” was going to be Baile Funk because they were brazillian.. but they were more indie-popish and I still liked them. Spank Rock remix FTW! (although its not that much different from the original)

Simian Mobile Disco – Hustler
Electro stormer. I’m sure Milkbar Nick got sick of me requesting it every time he played up here. Haha!

Cassie – Me & You
Yes. I like RnB. I admit it. Are you happy now?
I’d hear this song at least 3 times a day on the radio during work hours.. still doesn’t bore me to tears.

Rick Ross – Hustlin’
Everyday I’m huussstlin..
I think this track opened me up to listening to hip hop again.

MSTRKRFT – She’s Good For Business
Simple beat. A vocal to tell everyone “I gotta shake it with you.. you gotta shake it with me”
I was a bit disappointed with their Modular tour.. I think they could’ve done a lot more than play big bangers for an hour and then 4 cruddy remixes. Ok, maybe not cruddy, because they have released some excellent doozies.

( Honourable Mentions... )

Sound Effect of the Year: Airhorn.wav

Dayna has given me access to her music blog.. so I can post cool stuff if I want to. So this is giving everyone more reason to have eyes on http://iusedtodancewithmydaddy.blogspot.com/

EDIT: If you're a LJer, DONT syndicate this now. Its spewed up all the old posts... so take it off your friends list till we work out whats going on with it!

Oh.. and all the random Frenchy stuff is from Vinnie.. a Parisien dude who works with Dayna.

P.s I worked out a way to cut the crap.. and that toolbar at the top becomes of use!!
Just change the view to 'journals only' and its sweet. Sahweetah.

Does anyone else find the new Mentos Ice Ad, like, pretty disgusting?

------
Big thumbs up to Robbie Williams - Rudebox album and Amy Winehouse's new one too.


(maybe a little bit biased since Ronson produced tracks on both albums and pimps the shit outta them on EVR)

------
Murph and I walked up to the Shoe Warehouse on Burke Rd at lunch. I didnt intend to buy anything, but got a pair of black "work" shoes and a pair of white Apple Pie "sandshoes" (as Mel refers to them as).



We stopped by Macacs to get Sundaes on the way back to the office.
Chocolate ones. With Flakes.
I havent eaten Maccas in almost 8 weeks (a conscious health decision).
I'm not counting the sundae in my parameters as it wasnt a burger. Or fries.

How I miss those salty french fries.

...but the war won!



WARNING - Stacks of prattle and photos.

( LJ-esque regurge )

Photos: All the good stuff that happened

A touch of sad. A lot of happy. A bit stressful. Too much food. Not enough sleep.. and a helluva load of good music.

We've cracked out the french disco here.
Some old Cassius, Blackjack Presente.. soon some Daft Punk, Air, MC Solaar and when Bob Sinclar used to be good.

I also recieved Employee of the Week last week. So I have the honour of choosing what we have for lunch today!

Sun is shining.
Weather is sweet.

Impending post-lunch deadline = bad.

A show Dayna & I have been anticipating for a long long time! A massive RECOGNIIZE to her for worming our golden tickets! We drove past at about 630 to see there were about 50-odd people already queueing up outside 77. They were even sitting on chairs and things! But we went back to Dayna's, had some dinner and watched TV.. riding on this gueslist to get us in.

Walked out of Kings Cross (where I walked past Libby.. holding hands with a BOY!) and down William St to be presented with a massive line that went all the way down the hill and back up past Hotel William! A bit of a scary moment at the door with the doorbitch going "umm.. you're not on the guestlist.. I cant give you a wrist band because we only got enough made for everyone and if I give you them, then the other people on the guestlist wont get one" Stupidest thing ever. She ended up calling the promoter who said Dayna was on the "band list" - which turned out to be an A5 sized bit of notepad and pencil names on there.

So... WE'RE IN!

Found our little spot and hung out. Dayna got speaking to some kids who were like "umm.. do you guys know what this song is?".. "yeah, its Rock the Casbah". She came on just after 1030.. smoking a fag and drinking her cider.. did 8 songs.. thanked everyone for "all the support over the last.. umm.. year!"... danced around a bit and got escorted off as soon as she was done. Its been a week of short & sweet performances!

"I don't have 5 more fuckin' songs, man!"

Photos: Lily Allen (Live) @ Club77

So.. I'm pretty much turning onto Enmore Rd and I'm all like "Oh crap.. I thought I was planning ahead and shit and chucked my camera battery in the charger.. and I end up forgetting to get the bloody thing".. but thats ok.. maybe I'll take heed from the immortal (//cough//) words of John Mayer in "3x5":

Didn't have a camera by my side this time.. hoping I would see the world through both my eyes

I'll tell you what I saw. A big guy with dreadlocks. The guitarist to the right of his head and the bassist to the left. He was doing an alright job of blocking some of the strobe lighting though. The ONE time they have allowed photos at The Enmore. Grrrrr! Arrrrgh!

Rewind a little bit pre-show.. where I met up with Skye and Doug at The Duke for a bevvy. Marvelled at the awesome PacMan table setup. Went for a moonlight stroll where we saw some poor girl crashed out in an alley way, lighting the roach, getting bungled by a sensor light and Doug almost setting his face on fire (i think? Ha ha ha)

"You're gaa'arn fhookin luv this one.."
/insert 'I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor'

The show was short. The show was tight. There was some swaying, finger tapping and alternating knee bends. Couldn't quite get to the sidestep 1-2. The couple next to me were crazy. Keeerrrazy. She was, like, swinging her hair around (almost got lashed a couple of times) and there was dancing in the aisles. I like how everyone sings in the accent.. and they say things like "boom" and "scoombag". There was no encore though. I msg'd Dayna about that and she was all like "I like it. It says: yes, we're that confident that we're that good.. we dont do encores". I can dig that.

------
ITS LILY ALLEN DAY.

..with the lovely mechanisms at YouSendIt, I'm letting you.. yes, YOU.. download some of these incredible tracks that I really like at the moment.
Like.. LIKE-LIKE.

Yelle - Short Dick Cuizi : Shoulder-shakin, hip-thrusting electro beats with a girl screaming in french. A current dancefloor hit with the likes of Ajax, Milkbar Nick etc.

Gorillaz - Kids with Guns (Hot Chip Remix) : Hot Chip are.. hot! Hunt down their album 'The Warning' too. You'd probably recognise 'Over and Over'

Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler : Electro BOMDIGGITY.

Spank Rock - IMC/Touch Me and Race Riot on The Dancefloor : Cut from a live performance last week. Anticipating the show at The Basement on Sunday :-D

Just kinda going through and I feel I could post more. MOOOORE. And delve into some pop or rnb or nu-jazz or something.
But I'll leave it at that for now.
They expire in 7 days.. but I just noticed that they now have 100 downloads, instead of the usual 25.

So get your rave on.

P.s Check your PodCasts too because this week's RA one is by Headman.
All the ladies love a bit of Headman

So it all starts on Friday.. I mosey on down to Paddington after work to get a haircut (almost 6mths overdue). Dont worry, its nothing too drastic.. just re-shaped and took some weight out etc etc. I then went over to Kings Cross to see my sister's new apartment. Pretty prime location on the corner of Ward & Bayswater in a Melrose-Place type setup set off the main road. "Cosy" little one-bedder.. watched a bit of tv.. and then got booted out with a green shopping bag with a half cooked roast lamb, some veggies and my clothes smelling like the shepherds pie we had for dinner. Stopped by Tonic for 5secs (literally).

Worked on Saturday. Long day due to the big sales already starting. milkbar_nick dropped by but then went back to his hotel to rest. We couldn't get into the Hellenic Club :o( I went home to get changed and then met Nick back in the city. RAIN! GRRR! ARRRGH! We went into china town for dumplings (which later proved to be really really fatal.. haha!). Noticed the time and hi-tailed back to the other end of the city with 10mins to spare for Laundry's 9th Birthday Free Drinks Hour (plus the mystery free shot at the door). Those Smirnoff Twists are really lethal. Everyone was there! Saw a bit of PQM and then down into the Cave for Ajax, which we had to pull ourselves away from to get to Tank. Booo. Walking along, I was feeling alright with a hint of "Hmm, I think I should be a lot more drunk than I'm feeling..?" Got to Tank, saw Nik warming up for Carlos ("y'know.. DJ Sneak..")... parked with a drink.. had a bit of an "episode" with Patrick (GRR! ARRGH!).. then Nick started playing and I sat down for a bit and started to feel pretty drunk. Yes everyone, I "accidently" got drunk. Still a cadbury, but not really as bad as I used to be.. which is odd. Anyways, I had to smarten up fast as I was intending to drive back home AND its double demerits this weekend (I was totally crapping myself about blue zones on the way home). Wandered out to the mainroom every now and then to see Sneak, but I wasn't feeling it... seemed a bit too hectic. So after Nick's set, we headed back towards Laundry, but I decided to go home as I was a bit paranoid about making sure I rested enough for my big SunDay.

Woke up pretty fressh (thanks again caztothextreme for that supermega box of Berroccas) and hit work. Mmmm.. Big Mac medium meal with extra McChicken mayo for the fries. Was able to leave work at about 530 [insert mini-fiasco about Dayna and hairspray] and we (Dayna + Leanne) headed towards the Hordern to meet up with Tash + Doug for We Love..Sounds!

a) Happy it stopped raining.
b) It was FRICKIN' cold, man!

What I saw:
1. Luke Fair - Some nice beats. Couldnt really get into it as I didn't feel to be in the right "frame". Was looking for him to drop some massif "CHOON", but it didnt happen, so left.
2. Annie (Live) - OMG. It really was unbelievably crap. The album is just ruined now. Ruined.
3. The Presets (Live) - Always a pleasure to see them. So I've heard 'Girl and the Sea' 3 times live in about 6months and each time they've played it differently. *applause*
4. DJ Sneak - Just the final bit as we squeezed back into the Forum to secure a spot. Very different from the night before (maybe what he should have been playing at Tank?). Big room house. Funky beats. Touch of boompty every now and again.
5. Tiefschwarz - Just to be upfront, Ali (the shaggy-haired one) + Basti (in his red wifebeater) are teh sex. Found their 2hrs a little bit all over the place.. jumping around from tech to minimal to electro.. but from our balcony position over looking the stage, it was all a big perv really!
6. The Youngsters (Live) - I can see where they were going and what they were doing (rock/breaks/electro.. with Audio Bullys type vocals on top), but really wasn't in the mood as the long day seemed to finally be catching up on me.
7. Digitalism (Live) - the final set at The Forum and the 2nd time I've seen them in 8 days. They had a 2hr set in Canb, which they were able to spread out more with 'the journey'. This was only 1hr so they got straight into it, cutting out all the minimal stuff and smacked you across the face with hard edge electro, rocky beats and everyone having a gurn to Zdarlight near the end. I enjoyed the ANU gig much more, especially as I didn't have any little photowhores there who were BangGang-Dance-Bashing me.
8. James Zabiela - the last 1/2hr. Again, different to when he played at Academy last week. Less squelching and boring noise and more proper "tracks". He played that song again as his finale (Milky.. y'know which one I mean..)

Photos: Laundry's 9th Birthday / Tank / We Love..Sounds

Today has been nice. The sun was shining. The weather was sweet. Yeah. (although a bit chilly still)
tashrocks was here from the night/morning so we spruced and went with my Dad and The Boarder to have dumplings down the road. No burns this time luckily! I've got my eating tactics down pat. Popped in to say hi to Nicass down at Bob + Yolla's.. battled the lift politics and shopping down at The Mall.. and basically just relaxing. I'm making the roast lamb tonight and I have the last hour of the finale of the Amazing Race to watch. Yesssssss.