>*JOB INTERVIEW + PAT PAT & DIRTY PROJECTORS}\

This afternoon I had my first ever serious job interview. I had done two before, one for a call center and one for the cinema where I worked as a volunteer, but those I consider not that important. This one, however, was a bit more serious. It's not like I really want the job and it means the world to me when I get it, wouldn't go that far, but if I get the job it would be nice at the least. I'll be hearing from them in about two weeks so that leaves me with enough time to do things that I'm no longer able to do if it happens that I have to start working 4 days a week. But it's not certain yet if I get the job so I might still be without one after two weeks. It did go pretty well though. I was very relaxed and the two women I spoke with were really nice and normal. I liked the atmosphere. It didn't feel like this big official thing. It's not that I had to appear in a complete suit or anything. I don't like it when they want to turn these things into something more than they are 'cause at the end of the day it's just a simple conversation in which you tell about yourself. So it was definitely a good thing they were very laid back and didn't put any pressure on me or something. In two weeks I'll know what will happen next, whether they choose me or not. We'll see...

Last night there was Patrick Wolf and as I expected a little and was a bit afraid of the audience was pretty lackluster. I had felt this a bit before at Lowlands and it happened again. It's like some people are a bit afraid to show their massive love for Mr. Wolf because he wears these outrageous costumes and at times bump and grinds the stage with last night him even grabbing his crotch and rubbing his butt showing it off to the audience. :p I can understand if you happen to take a friend of yours with you, one that knows his music a bit but isn't that familiar with Mr. Wolf the performer, and he starts dancing Beyoncé style, you might feel like you have to defend Mr. Wolf as well as yourself a bit, telling your friend he's not always like this and even though he might show up half naked showing off his nipples he's still an awesome performer. So I can understand that completely. I have found myself doing the same, defending him by making clear that whether you might like his nipple touching or not, underneath all of that he's still a very talented musician. But Patrick is Patrick and his craziness and silliness comes with the package. So that response of the audience is okay if, that is, he's performing at some kind of festival where people aren't especially coming to see Pat Pat. But when I'm going to see Mr. Wolf in a sold out Paradiso I expect it to be filled with fans and enthusiasts, or at least some crazy fans at the front row. But this was not at all the case. The entire show I saw those front row people (I was standing something like row 5 or 6) just standing as if they were waiting for the bus to arrive. Okay they applaud and yes, you're allowed to experience a gig entirely the way you want. But don't tell me that as a Patrick Wolf fan the way you connect to his music is by standing still especially to his upbeat songs like Vulture or Bloodbeat. That's how you show your appreciation? That's what his music does to you, makes you feel? When he performs a song like The Sun Is Often Out, a very sad song that asks for the audience to be completely silent, it's perfectly alright. I loved that and I was touched by it the same way as when being at a Beirut concert where it's just all about the music and I don't feel like having to jump and go completely wild. I still loose myself in the music completely, but in a different way. But when songs like Tristan come up or Hard Times you just feel like dancing to that infectious and catchy beat. Those songs ask for that. But these people were still standing fairly still even during those songs. Fortunately I was surrounded by some people who were dancing and enjoyed themselves a lot and I guess those people saved the gig for me. To me the audience adds so much to the atmosphere and is able to hype up the artist performing so when that's not the case it starts to become rather dull. I've read that some people felt at the beginning Patrick didn't seem that much into it but what do you expect when you make your first appearance, you even get real close to the audience at a distance from where they are able to touch you, but nothing happens. I expected girls and boys screaming holding up their arms trying to grab a piece of Pat Pat. But no. It's like they weren't interested. And it's not like you have to be like that, wanting to touch the performer that you came to see, but at almost all concerts I've been to that's what happens when the artist gets that close to his audience. Arms reaching up for Alice Glass of Crystal Castles, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, I've seen it happen. But not when Patrick does the same. At least not at Lowlands or in Paradiso. It should make for an exciting moment, but here nothing happened. I remember my first Patrick Wolf show at Shepherds Bush Empire in London where this crowd of mostly teenagers went completely wild. Most of them dressed up, some having their hair dyed Patrick Wolf style and during the show even starting a mosh pit! Where are those Dutch crazy Patrick fans?! I would love to see them at his shows. Perhaps they just don't exist? Still Patrick was in great form and he even played Pigeon Song as well as The Libertine. Didn't expect that to happen. It made me crave for more of his old stuff. But when he played Tristan and I even held my arms up I felt a bit stupid considering around me the enthusiasm was completely lacking and it made me seem a bit weird like I'm being this outrageous fan when all I was doing was holding my arms up just a bit. Those people need to know they almost completely drain the performance from all its energy nomatter how hard Wolf and his band are trying. Luckily Patrick started to get really into it especially after such songs as The Sun Is Often Out and Pigeon Song which did get really enthusiastic responses. Maybe the Dutch fans like his slower stuff more, the darker sound, those songs in which he shows his great musicianship. That has to be it else I just can't explain. But like I said, Pat Pat found his groove and started to make some jokes and even took some shots of some kind of liquor :) Someome I guess ordered it for him 'cause all of a sudden I saw this guy walking towards the stage with these small glasses on his tray. First I thought he was the empty beer glass collector, but turned out he was on his way to bring Mr. Wolf some alcholic beverage. Mr. Wolf changed outfits two times, each time wearing cool black boots, just like me :p Unfortunately his song The Magic Position couldn't really interest me that much anymore, maybe because I've seen him play it before and it's the obvious favourite amongst a lot of his fans, but personally I don't think it's one of his best or most fun songs. I much rather prefer Tristan or A Boy Like Me when I want a Patrick song that can really make me dance and jump around. Apart from the lackluster audience I had a good time and thought the show was great. Patrick has a really strong voice, knows how to play instruments well and is able to entertain his audience in a fun tongue in cheek way. I would love to see him again although I would really like it if he did a show playing only old songs. I recall reading once that Bloc Party did a surprise gig somewhere in Australia where they performed the entire first album live. That must have been a great experience. I would love for Patrick to do the same though I doubt that will happen, unless he once again decides to retire. But I don't see that happening anytime soon and don't want to see that happening either. Unless of course he then decides to unretire like he did before. Then it would be great. :D

This is why I love Dirty Projectors soooo much. Watch them perform on Jimmy Fallon's show. Thanks to Stereogum!



Also they did a very intimate performance of the song for The Roots before they recorded the show. It's even more amazing than the performance on Fallon.
One person even had to say this about it:

'This video makes me feel like I've wasted my life. It's that beautiful.'



That's quite a big thing to say, but I feel there's some truth in that. It does kind of make me feel that way. I either want to be in Dirty Projectors or start my own band a la the Projectors. They have one of the best jobs

>*EDITORS' NEW SOUND_+

I applaud Editors for heading into a new direction. This is what a band like Franz Ferdinand hasn't yet dared to do. They made comments in the past before their last album came out about going into a complete different direction hinting at some electro if I'm not mistaken. When the album came out, however, it turned out they had not abandoned their signature sound at all and their new tunes weren't that groundbreakingly different as they had supposedly claimed. Not that there was something wrong with that. I love Franz Ferdinand's sound, why change? But it's nice to see a band try out something new and Editors have done just that which can be quite the risk. New song Papillon is a clear break away from the songs on their previous albums and sounds very energetic and exciting and much more electro-ish. The album will be offically out next month but I hope to hear it in full before :D Here's the video.



Here they are playing the song on Later With Jools Holland where they made an appearance on Friday:



They also performed another new song, the nicely titled Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool or whatever that's supposed to mean :)

~#THIS LAMB SELLS F*CKING CONDOS_+

What an excellent night, I'm so glad I went. Owen Pallett aka Fanal Fantasy was magical. I was completely drawn into his performance. At first he said he was a bit sick and because during the first two songs it was hard hearing his vocals because the music was so loud I was afraid he would not sound 100% and would hold back a little. But soon it became clear that when Mr. Pallett feels slightly ill this doesn't necessarily mean this has an immediate negative effect on his voice. He sounded just as perfect as on the record or in my case on the mp3s ;) He referred to the light show several times cause it made him confused of where he was especially because he did not feel to well. But it must be said that the lighting was really good and in my opinion added a lot to the performance. I had never been in this venue before and was very surprised of how small it was. It made for a very intimate setting. Marissa Nadler and Nick Talbot of Gravenhurst were really good as well, but I'm not sure why they were supporting Pallett. Their music is much more moody and sad sounding than his. For some reason when I see Owen I always have to think about Patrick Wolf. Not sure why. Perhaps because they performed together and seem to be good friends. I took a polaroid picture of Owen, a really bad one :D It makes it appear I was standing really far away from him when that wasn't at all the case. But it was definitely too far away to take a clear polaroid picture of him. So next time I'm at a concert taking a polaroid picture I'll make sure I'm more at the front. I'll scan it tomorrow if I don't forget to. That was a really cool thing, by the way, 'cause this really was a not too much physical movement type of gig. No moshpit or wild dancing. I even kept my bag with me. So I could have quietly taken a lot of pictures although I did not take any other pictures than that polaroid. I just didn't want to disturb myself. I was enjoying it way too much. When you are able to see Final Fantasy go. He's just very relaxed and really is able to connect with the audience. He made several mistakes and when that happened he just laughed them off. He was being very casual about it and he should. It was one of the best gigs I've seen this year high up there with those gigs from Beirut, Franz Ferdinand and Metric which says a lot. I didn't expect I would like it THIS much. I definitely love him more right now. I was completely under his spell.

(%WHAT I WEAR)&

I'm at my parents' place because these two guys came to replace these grids or gratings or whatever they are called in English (Dutch: rooster). And because normally there isn't anyone home around this time of day I've been asked to drop by and let these men in. So that's what I'm here for. They are here already for 30 minutes and will work until 2 pm, at least that's what I heard one of the guys say. I believe right now they went for a smoke. Hmmm. Maybe I should keep an eye out and make sure they do their job well. Perhaps I should offer them some coffee as well. Be a good host.

Anyway here are some more pictures from that really cool shoot Mariano Vivanco did for Dazed And Confused. Styling by Nicola Formichetti and starring Kendra Spears, AJ Abualrub and Roy Pratt.





And you know these blogs or websites where people take pictures of themselves showing what they wear. I thought for once lets do this as well. :) So here's what I have been wearing yesterday and also today. Just today I decided to wear my boots instead of the shoes you can see me wearing in the pictures.

So here's what I wore. In colour!

The shorts are my own and already like 10 years old and perhaps even older! I re-discovered them yesterday and they still fit :D



I like this one looks like I'm jumping:



Reminds me of this picture:



Of course it got a bit out of hand. As usual. :p












So as you can see I ended up playing around a bit. Would be cool to do a real shoot and shoot someone. Then I could really stand behind the camera. Now most of it is guess work.

It's going to storm! Nice :))

Franz Ferdinand's new video for Can't Stop Feeling. It's even funnier than their last No You Girls one.:



I want to go to Lowlands to see Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys :(((((((

<#21 GUNS & GRONINGEN + NEW FRANZ\=

21 Guns offically is the new Green Day single and has a video. Expect to see and hear this on TV/radio everywhere in the upcoming months.

21 Guns - Green Day from Marie B on Vimeo.

Plus, this project by a Dutch duo who call themselves DocterSterkenburg using both last names of the artists Jonathan Sterkenburg and Christiaan Docter respectively. It's an hommage to the Dutch city Groningen.

Come on, feel the Groningen! from MUZIEKTELEVISIE.NL on Vimeo.

For more visit their website.

Franz Ferdinand have done a second video for their song No You Girls. It's simple but all kinds of amazing. Just look and you know what I mean.



Thanks to Stereogum for pointing this out!

&$WE ARE ALL ANIMALS{)

According to some shouts on the Last.fm page of the concert of last night, not everyone liked it. For me, when I go out to a concert I just want to have fun, hear the songs I know played live and just go out of control. Dance to those tracks like I always do at home but now with the full band playing live in front of me. So I'm not one who's going to complain about the sound not being too good. I just take things for how they are. And honestly, I thought it still sounded very good. Don't know why they complain. But then again I'm a sucker for the drummer, I always follow his beat and those drums are always heard clearly, if not, there's a real problem. I was standing completely at the front. I was early, they weren't even open yet when I got there. What I didn't like is that on the ticket it says that doors open at 19.30 and the show will start at 20.30. Normally when that is written it means that the start of the show is the main act starting to perform. But apparently in Melkweg that's not the case, 'cause I Heart Hiroshima began at 20.30, who were supporting The Rakes. So I already was waiting for more than an hour before they came on. They played a pretty long set though. I enjoyed them a lot, but as always with supporting acts you feel you can't go completely wild yet. You always feel the crowd is a little hesitant and holds back, 'cause when the main act starts it's like boom, complete chaos, people jumping everywhere, but not with the supporting act, nomatter how good they are and I Heart Hiroshima were definitely good. That's what happened this time as well, but when The Rakes came on there was one explosion of energy. I loved it. The guy next to my left was completely into it as well just like me and all of a sudden this other girl and guy appeared with smiles on their faces dancing with a passion who apparently thought like, yay, the party has really started here, lets join these people. To my surprise, as always, don't know why I'm still surprised :) some of the girls behind me were standing pretty still as were the girls to my right, though I didn't pay any further attention to them, I was enjoying myself way too much. But I was forced to turn around and look behind me because I almost jumped on one girl's feet twice so that's how I found out they weren't moving too much or at least not as much as I do. But I was real happy 'cause I had still a lot of space to dance around. And I noticed that the singer of the band Alan Donohoe (until some seconds ago I had no idea what his name was, thanks Wikipedia!) and I have a pretty similar dancing style. His feet move like mine. So as usual I had tons of fun. Definitely worth the wait. And like the two previous concerts, Metric and Franz Ferdinand, at the end I was completely soaked. So I'm not wearing the same shirt again I wore last night. Jeans are still okay though, even though those ended up a bit sticky as well :D But I just like them too much, I want to wear them at least one more day. Highlight for me apparently was the song We Are All Animals, 'cause that's the one that was burned in my head when I was walking back to the train station afterwards. Did a late night photography session but at first I didn't know why my camera didn't want to go into focus. Couldn't figure it out. In the end it got back into focus, though, but then I was already close to the station to get on the train. Those out of focus ones do look pretty interesting though, because of them not being in focus. But next time I will take proper ones. Today I'm planning to watch Coraline at the Pathé. Starts at 14.30 and I will go and see if my MA supervisor is in his office 'cause I still haven't heard anything from him. I really don't know what to do... :(

So first the out of focus ones then those that are in focus. Bad photographer... ;)







Some pictures of last night. Not taken by me.

The Rakes:



I Heart Hiroshima:

#!FRANZ)_

I hope by tomorrow the buzz in my ear will be completely gone. I slept well last night so that's good. Here some more pictures from Monday night. As usual I didn't take them as it's impossible to hold a camera while jumping/dancing/shaking my head at the same time :)

!{AND SUDDENLY I WAS THERE%^

I know I've been so bad for going, but I wanted to and I loved it. Yesterday I saw there was a ticket left on Ticketmaster but I was like, hmmm, I don't know, it's a bit expensive. But today I was like, it's just money. If I want to have more I'll go and work and make some more. Why care?! Some people buy certain objects and they enjoy them for a while, I bought myself a night with Franz Ferdinand and I'll remember it all my life. First off, I felt I was the only one who really went into it completely. At Metric I had some competition, some guys shaking their heads wildly all the time. But here, not that much. I was standing at a really nice spot where I enjoyed the supporting act Kissogram who are really good by the way. How come these guys aren't more famous? They easily could become one of the many popular bands out there. People should start hyping them. Like me this guy and girl to my right, I think they were British, they looked British though (if the Facehunter or Sartorialist had spotted them on the street they would have ended up on their websites), they were dancing like me having fun. Why is it though that people always stay a bit still during the supporting act? It seems like, nomatter how good the supporting act is, people refuse to dance and really go into it as if doing so would mean betraying the main act. Or maybe they're afraid they spill all their energy to the supporting act and won't have any left when the main act starts playing? Don't know. But I danced and the guy and girl to my right did too. Then, after waiting another half hour or more like 40 minutes almost, Franz Ferdinand came on, and as expected people started to mosh. Then you can do three things, or you stay where you're at and let the whole gig get ruined, or you move to the side and find yourself a spot more at the back where people just stand unmoving, or, like I did, you make sure you get all to the front. 'Cause in the front row you aren't bothered by all that's happening behind you. I went for option three, so after song number two I was standing comfortably at the front, right of the stage and I even had some space to really dance around. And I went for it. It was so fun. I danced all the way through. No break. No pause. I jumped at all the good parts, had my hands up in the air. I loved it. And to my surprise everytime I took a glance behind me to watch the crowd some people behind me were standing pretty still and those who did move only jumped or started another moshpit. I didn't end up on stage though as some people did at the end. But that's okay. You know, of course I kept the money on my mind, so if I would have managed to climb on stage I had one more reason to feel less guilty about the price. 'Cause then I would have said I had a great time AND I ended up on stage. What more do you want?! But I didn't, but like I said, I don't mind, the people who did climb on stage didn't do that much anyway. Before coming to Paradiso I looked for a recent setlist so I kind of knew which songs they were going to play and I think they played all the songs from that setlist which was from something like May 6 I think. Seems I might be able to start a blog dedicated to going to concerts soon as I've been to so many lately and I'm planning to see The Rakes supported by I Heart Hiroshima in the Melkweg on Monday next week. That one will be much cheaper than the gig I went to tonight. But Franz Ferdinand, they were totally worth it. Just seeing Alex Kapranos jump, you know it's bound to be fun. And hearing him sing live... Excellent. When he started the first song, it's a kind of magical moment hearing that voice you've been used to singing to you in mp3 format for years for real, live, singing in front of you. His words flow directly there in space moving towards you. So much fun. I just love going to concerts. If I had not been to Franz Ferdinand I would have probably gone to the cinema in Amsterdam to see Üç maymun (Three Monkeys) by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. But I'll see that one another time. Sure that would have been fun too, but I think this was a far better choice. :) I saw lots of people with cameras taking pictures and making videos so I bet there will be a lot to upload by tomorrow!

Following pictures are not taken by me

^*TONIGHT: FRANZ FERDINAND>"

F&CK IT! Okay. I don't care how much it cost me, I want to go and I'm going. I told myself if I go to the Ticketmaster site again and there's a ticket left it's meant to be and I'll be there tonight. I checked and there was a ticket left. I'm going. I paid. Tonight I'll see Franz Ferdinand in Paradiso! :D

^%PICTURES OF METRIC + SOMEONE WANT TO GIVE ME MONEY SO I COULD GO SEE FRANZ FERDINAND?????_+

Pictures from Metric from Wednesday night (I didn't take them, someone else did). I still can't get enough. If they would play again tonight, I would so go! By the way, I could have seen Franz Ferdinand tomorrow night, I noticed there still are tickets available, even though on the Ticketmaster site it says it's sold out. But it's something like 32,50 euros and even though it might be worth the money, I'm sure it is, it's A LOT. And I don't want to see them that badly, I mean, I like them, but I've never had a fanatic period, never been truly obsessed, which kind of has to do with the fact that I have never really gotten the time to really listen to them often. I do know some people who would probably go nomatter the price. But still, if anyone wants to invest in me, feel free. Three people, 10 euros each. It could get me there...

*&NEW MUSIC_+

Two Door Cinema Club and We Are Band, they're gonna make it BIG! Right now I'm toally hooked to Two Door Cinema Club's Something Good Can Work which is their first single. First I preferred their track Undercover Martyn, but Something Good Can Work has completely taken over. You can listen to Something Good Can Work in the music player, here I'll give you a video for Undercover Martyn.


Undercover Martyn from Brian Philip Davis on Vimeo.

And then there is We Have Band, a bit Bloc Party-ish, but still different and with a sound of their own. Yum yum yum.


We Have Band - Oh! (Music Video) from We Have Band on Vimeo.

And if there's one place I would like to be this summer it would be at the Benicàssim Festival. It's in Spain and it must be the best thing in the world. Performances by Foals, Late Of The Pier, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, just to name a few. Going there would be AMAZING! Expensive, but AMAZING! I would kill to be there.

By the way Vimeo is pretty cool, better than YouTube ;)