Wow - what a fucking week this has been.
Finished my last exam at Edinburgh University ever last Monday and it has been pretty much brutal since then.
The eggs, flour, ketchup, beer, cider, honey, sandwich fillings and pretty much any other liquid substance you can think of came out in force…mmm…tasty.

Yup - good times
But I couldn’t get through a post on here without some relevant music, so here you go:

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
Justice Vs Simian - We Are Your Friends
[Buy] [Justice] [Simian]

The first major night came on Wednesday with the last Itchy Feet of the year. For those that don’t know, Itchy Feet is a night that travels the UK with a bit of a swing/50s feel to it. DJs and a live band in The Five Aces made for an awesome night. Shamefully my camera broke so no pics from me, but there are plenty on good ole’ facebook which I’ve stolen a selection from (thanks guys).

Louis Prima - Angelina
Louis Prima - Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing)
[Buy] [Homepage] [Wikipedia]

Now into the dance and electro nights at the Caves which were fucking beautiful. First up was Spaced with Cagedbaby on the decks. Huge night. Awesome succes. There is no live recording of their set from friday, but here is Global Guest Mix of theirs from 21-04-2007 (thanks to UMP3).

Cagedbaby - Disco Biscuit
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
The Presets - Are You The One (Cagedbaby Mix)
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]

Saturday night we were all back to the caves for the last RIP with Freestylers on the decks. Took a bit for everyone to get back up for it after the afterparties of the night before (and yeah Penny Blacks for that breakfast pink at 7am), but it all went off with a bang and everyone hit their groove well before the Freestylers came on. They destroyed the floor as expected. Awesome. Again no live recording, but here is their live set from Future Sound of Breaks on 28-03-2008.

Freestylers - Painkiller
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]
Pendulum (feat. Freestylers) - Fasten Your Seatbelt
[Buy] [Homepage] [MySpace]

We then had Goldrush for two nights in GHQ and EGO. Awesome? Yes, but photos are on facebook. They aren’t all fit for a public blog…

I know this has been my first update in over a month. Finals have been ridiculously busy, but rest assured I have plenty of stuff to get up here in the next few days. Stay tuned.

On Friday night I saw Sam Amidon and Valgeir Sigurðsson at St. Barnabas’ Church in Soho; unobtrusively nestled into the dirty back-streets – from one angle it is disguised as a town house – it provided a beautiful and interesting setting for the music.

Sam Amidon was the big draw for me, and he rendered beautifully his reworked traditional American folk songs. He was accompanied by four other musicians, including Valgeir on bass, the others sharing duties on bassoon, cello, violin, accordion and banjo. They expertly played the sensitive arrangements written by Nico Muhly, which really added an extra dimension to the set, and reaffirmed my reverence for the genius young composer (New album Mothertongue is released on Tuesday). Shame he wasn’t there.The excellent new-folky David Thomas Broughton, another friend of Sam’s, sang on a couple of songs, at the same time performing unfathomable actions to accompany his words. ’Twas bloody great.

Valgeir was good too, although I hadn’t really heard the music beforehand, so I didn’t find his songs as affecting as Sam’s. I’ll give them a further listen though. My friend said that he felt the music - elaborately conceived, electronically inflected instrumentals mostly from the album Ekvílibríum – was better suited to the candle-lit chapel than Mr. Amidon’s.

Anyway, the point of this post is to say that music in churches is good, better in fact than music anywhere else. I recommend this gig in St. Pancras’ Parish Church, (put on by the cool people at Miles of Smiles) at which the aforementioned Mr. Broughton plays… I will certainly be in attendance, and I’m looking forward to some more ‘liturgical dancing’…