We saw Spoon and White Rabbits at the Electric Ballroom in Camden recently and what a superb gig it was!

The sound was extremely good, they’d obviously spent time getting it right. The atmosphere was nice, relaxed and friendly, and it wasn’t crowded.

White Rabbits were brilliant but they weren’t quite like their albums, with the drumming being very prominent – three people drumming at once at times!

Spoon were awesome, as we didn’t dare hope, playing a superb 90 minute set of numbers from the new album and many older classics. It was great to see them construct the music from the simplest of sounds. I didn’t take my D300 so didn’t get any good photos but then again it was all about the music!

A non-screenprinted poster design for this amazing “doom jazz surf” band. As soon as I started doing the artwork I checked out their music and was hooked. Maybe you should check it out too?

Thing is, I’ve definitely checked out their music before because they played ATP. So one of the questions I’ve been asking myself before is how not to miss buying music from bands I’m going to love later. Especially bands that, on first listen, don’t seem to turn on that lightbulb in my head. Especially because, I’ve discovered that bands I don’t think I’m going to like and pass up initially, can turn out to be amongst some of my favourite when they’ve had time to grow slowly in the subconscious of my mind!

This is my new gig poster for Dick Dale at the Luminaire on 2nd April. It might be interesting to screenprint it – I will see how I get on with the Geoff Farina & Chris Brokaw one first! It would look lovely though, screenprinted onto this brown card.

For more details of the gig please go to DAMNABLY.

These are the first sample swatches of my fabric patterns! Our idea was for me and Raspberry to combine forces – I design some fabrics which she can use in her work (and also sell the fabric in fat quarters or half yards).

I’ve been taking a lot of photos of natural elements so I played around with designs using seed pods, window frames, tied string in fences, ropes on beaches, bits of wood, pebbles, barnacles.

The first two designs here are of beach worn pebbles and shells, and a tied string fence. The designs are 42 inches wide but these are 5″ square swatches to check colour and quality of print. They are printed by Spoonflower. I think I will also look to hand print fabrics myself in the future but we’ll see what happens.

So we think we will have some finished pieces and fabrics available pretty soon, I will keep you updated!

Here’s a new gig poster design I’ve done for Geoff Farina and Chris Brokaw. The poster will be screenprinted and digitally printed. I will be screenprinting the poster and will let you know how I get on!

For more info about the shows please visit damnably.

In 2010 I’m looking to up my game with gig photography. You may have noticed I’ve been a keen gig photographer for some time now. But I’ve always had to take photos from the crowd and sometimes, no matter how hard you try to get there early, you can’t get a spot at the front for photography.

So, I’m looking to hook up with a magazine (printed or online) which reviews gigs or a journalist who writes gig reviews. My part of the deal is I get a photographer’s pass and get even better photos, and in return you get the photos for your publication. I can even organise a writeup of the gig if you need the words. You can see examples of my gig photography here.

I currently do All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals, plus some London gigs and hopefully the End of the Road Festival. So please get in contact with me if you think we can work together. Thanks!

It’s been a fantastic year for new and exciting music. So here are my favourite albums of 2009 (in no particular order):

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Bushman’s Revenge- You Lost Me At Hello

St Vincent – Actor

Cathode – Sparkle Plenty

James Blackshaw – The Glass Bead Game

Gable – I’m OK

Bike For Three – More Heart Than Brains

Apse – Climb Up

The Most Serene Republic – And the Ever Expanding Universe

Rec.Tangle – Heavy Maple

Years – Years

Why? – Eskimo Snow

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains

I’ve recently done this artwork for a Japanese only release for the band The Carletons, called “Out of Your Control”. You might want to check out the band – they are really very good. Hopefully I’ll do more for them in the near future (and maybe even get to see them play).

In the meantime, do please continue to contact me for FREE artwork commissions for gig posters, album/single artwork.

Yes, on 11th-13th December we were in Minehead for Ten Years of ATP – a festival celebrating the last ten years of of the festival!

Well the lineup was pretty damn fine and we saw some brilliant sets including:

- Deerhoof, who played an excellent and fun set. Great technical skill, too.

- J Mascis and the Fog were very enjoyable, much more so than Dinosaur Jr.

- Shellac who we saw twice, played some blinding numbers, especially on day two. Also I got some great photos of them – thanks guys!

- Afrirampo, who we knew nothing about, were very entertaining with their crazy performance and some very enjoyable thrashing of metal.

- Papa M played some very relaxing soundscapes. Tortoise were actually very good. Mudhoney were disappointing, as were Mars Volta.

- Sunn O))) were hilarious, actually not at all bad until the “singing” started.

- Discovered an amazing band in The Drones, who were excellent on stage and also sound excellent on vinyl.

- Also the Apse set was brilliant and think it must be one of the best albums of the year.

- Battles, who I was very excited about seeing again were very good but I think they were a bit lost in the pavillion – would like to have seen them upstairs.

- The highlight of the weekend was Modest Mouse – brilliant to see them again and they played a brilliant set with older numbers. We wondered if we’ll ever see Modest Mouse in such an intimate setting again.

So, roll on 2010 and everything ATP has to throw at us! I’m even going to try and get a photographer’s pass so I can improve my photography further. You can see my best photos of Ten Years of ATP here.

]]> http://www.smokingdrum.co.uk/2009/12/10-years-of-atp/feed/ 1 http://www.smokingdrum.co.uk/2009/12/my-top-albums-of-the-decade/ http://www.smokingdrum.co.uk/2009/12/my-top-albums-of-the-decade/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:49:41 +0000 smokingdrum http://www.smokingdrum.co.uk/?p=278

In no particular order, here are some of my favourite albums of the last decade. Albums which have inspired me, thrilled me and I’ve always come back to again and again:

Why? – Elephant Eyelash (2005)

Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)

Son Lux – At War with Walls and Mazes (2008)

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (2009)

St. Vincent – Marry Me (2007)

Menomena – Friend and Foe (2007)

Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antartica (2000)

Battles – Mirrored (2007)

Volcano! – Beautiful Seizure (2005)

Calexico – Hot Rail (2000)

Amon Tobin – Out from Out Where (2002)

Deerhoof – The Runners Four (2005)