alfa.org.uk

The BBC Philharmonic are performing a series of concerts containing all nine Beethoven symphonies. Even better, you can download free MP3s of all of them!

The first two are up now, and are excellent recordings from a first listen.

Wow, what an amazing gig. Ben Folds totally rocked the Barbican (I doubt they have ever had an entire audience shouting “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK” along with a band before).

Through a mixture of the interwebnet and my memory, I *think* the setlist was:

1. In Between Days (The Cure cover, from the Speed Graphic EP)
2. Gone
3. There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You
4. Purple Haze (yes really!)
5. Jesusland
6. Bastard
7. Still Fighting It
8. Carrying Cathy (wonderfully played)
9. All U Can Eat (I’d never really noticed how funny the lyrics are before!)
10. You To Thank
11. Landed
12. Rock This (Barbican) Bitch (”The Barbican is NOT your bitch, it is a respectable place”)
13. Zak and Sara
14. Bitches Ain’t Shit (hilarious Dr Dre cover)
15. Emaline (just Ben, audience request)
16. Evaporated (just Ben)
17. Army (just Ben)
18. Where’s Summer B? (I love this song!!! Highlight of the night)
19. Rockin’ the Suburbs
20. Annie Waits
21. Popcorn (yes, the cheesy 80s electronica song!)
22. Late
23. Philosophy

Encore:

1. Not The Same (with extended audience participation conducted from on top of the piano)
2. One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces

This is probably becoming tiresome, and I apologise, but The Arcade Fire - Funeral really is a fantastic album and worthy of the hype they are getting.

They were on Later last week, too.

I’m currently enjoying Minuteman - Resigned To Life, I can recommend it. Apparently they sound like Mull Historical Society, but I hear a big Smashing Pumpkins influence. Anyway, it’s a great debut album :)

This [uses Flash and sound] is so, so, cool it almost hurts.

Worth the wait to download it, I promise.

AllAboutJazz has a really interesting interview with Branford Marsalis, where he talks about John Coltrane and A Love Supreme.

The new REM album isn’t out until October 4th, but you can hear it early at MySpace.

It’s legal too.

Shocking.

I’ve noticed quite a few people seem to arrive here after searching for the chords for The Streets “Dry Your Eyes Mate”. So as a public service, they are:

I, IV.

Complicated, eh? Well, I could get slightly more technical… The song is in A Major so the chords are actually A (that’s the I) and Dmaj9 (that’s the IV). You can make a Dmaj9 chord by suspending an A Major triad over a D bass note (optional F# as well).

The guitar voicing he uses keeps an A Major triad throughout (open top E string, second fret on B and G strings) then alternates between open A and D string second fret (E), and just an open D string.

Occasionally I say something vaguely profound. Sunday morning, about 2am:

You know, playing Mozart is like playing a snowflake.

I like the metaphor.

It might be the cup of tea I just had, but listening to this always makes things seem better:

i’ve found a way to make you smile

i read bad poetry into your machine
i save your messages just to hear your voice
you always listen carefully to awkward rhymes
you always say your name
like i wouldn’t know it’s you at your most beautiful

i’ve found a way to make you smile

at my most beautiful
i count your eyelashes secretly
with every one whisper ‘i love you’
i let you sleep
i know you’re closed eye watching me
listening
i thought i saw a smile

i’ve found a way to make you smile