Brighton based dark cabaret outfit Birdeatsbaby have just released this BRILLIANT new video, and like the last video for “Feast Of Hammers” it’s deliciously spooky. And makes me scared of bands…

“Feast Of Hammers” – the album – is released on February 20th and I’m supporting them at their London launch on 18th. Tickets here!

Did you know…Incitatus was Caligula’s favourite horse. Thanks Wikipedia.

2) Pop Up People

I first heard about the Empty Shops Network back in 2009 when I performed and volunteered at The Apollo Project, a month-long artist’s takeover of an empty video shop in Herne Hill. Fast forward to winter 2011 when I met Dan Thompson at a Design Council event and got chatting about this and that, then to yesterday when he launched his Pop Up People report with accompanying film. It’s wonderful to see so many opportunities for projects to use these empty spaces – I remember the Apollo Project organisers really having to fight to get the idea off the ground but a few years on it seems that local councils are starting to see the benefits, helped in no small way by Dan’s hard work.

Please explore further – Dan has set up a wiki containing a plethora of information on how to go about doing your own popup, and here’s the report itself.

3) Flat whites

Just what I needed to discover at the end of one of my most hectic recent months. Thanks to Simon Goff for alerting me to the fact that ordering “a flat white” isn’t some weird slang for a simple white coffee, but the doorway to a new world of rich, creamy caffeinery. In the 8 days since I have drunk them all around London and in Brighton. The best was probably the first – at favourite local haunt The Lido Cafe – but Coffee@33 in Brighton was a very close runner up.

4) Equafleece for dogs

As the sudden drop in temperature coincided with Mister Benji’s smart new post-injury haircut, desperate measures were needed to ensure the pooch’s warmth and comfort. All hail Equafleece, whose “tankies” are affordable, functional and not *too* silly-looking.

5) Mary Epworth – “Black Doe”

After being utterly captivated by Mary’s live set at Ladyfest Ten I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of her debut album and am delighted to hear that radio is picking up on her song “Black Doe” in a big way at the moment. It’s so nice when hard working, talented people get a bit of recognition – go Mary!

Album “Dream Life” is due out in March – I can’t wait to hear it.

The first in my brand new video blog series to celebrate my new album coming out on April 9th, woohoo! The album launch extravaganza will be at the Half Moon in Herne Hill, London SE24 on Wednesday 11th April with tickets available very soon.

“In This Boat” will be released on February 14th as digital download and homemade Valentine’s card – more on that next week – and I’ll be celebrating that at a very anti-Valentine’s night at Brixton Windmill supporting Hysterical Injury‘s “Dead Wolf Situation” album launch alongside Lilies On Mars AND that Saturday 18th at Underbelly in Hoxton supporting Birdeatsbaby‘s “Feast Of Hammers” album launch.

Full info and ticket links on the Gigs Page.

The album can be pre-ordered now via Bandcamp with two free songs to grab right now.

1) Grace Petrie

A wonderfully inspiring songwriter and performer I met at last weekend’s Midwinter Picnic 4. She makes music that really gets you in the gut, and her rousing lyrics are still echoing around my head a week on. I should have heard of her before, actually, because she’s getting some of the recognition she deserves at the moment, but at least I know of her now! Debut album “Mark My Words” is available on Bandcamp now and “They Shall Not Pass” is one of my favourites so far:

2) Brighton, generally.

It’s long been one of my favourite escapes from London but after two trips down already this year my enthusiasm is all fired up again and I’m thinking of ways to be there more. I love the sea air, the pretty buildings, the vibrant community and fantastically lovely and creative people. Perhaps it’s time to start checking out rent prices…

See more of my Brighton pics here.

3) Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon Training Plan

As I head towards the end of week 3 of my 12 week half marathon training plan I am surprised and pleased to announce it’s all going really really well! I’ve been running for about 5 years on and off, and making the effort to properly stick to this plan has paid dividends. Very quickly I started to feel big improvements in my general mood and ability to cope with things, I’ve surprised myself by enjoying runs in all different kinds of weather (I used to always cry off running if it was frosty or wet out) and my legs are feeling really powerful all of a sudden. Booking my apartment and flights for the Berlin Half Marathon at the start of April definitely helped me to focus on my training, too.

Hal Higdon has a whole range of different training plans available for free on his website, and here’s the Half Marathon Novice 1 Plan. You can do it!

4) Stuart Flynn – “Ears Have Walls” live at Midwinter Picnic 4

Charming, erudite, hilarious and amazingly moving, Stuart’s beautiful set had me alternately in fits of giggles and floods of tears. Here he is on Facebook and here’s a snippet of “Ears Have Walls”:

5) A sweet potato slide whistle and broccoli slide whistle “Musunde hiraite” with Ionica Bizau

Because music really is everywhere.

What did you like this week?

1) “The Last Holiday : A Memoir” by Gil Scott Heron

I’m so thankful to a friend for introducing me to the wonderful work of Gil Scott Heron a number of years before he sadly died, and though I’ve only just started reading this newly published book I find myself mesmerised once more by his way with words. I can’t wait to read more about his tour with Stevie Wonder, who worked so hard to get Martin Luther King’s birthday recognised as a National Holiday in the USA.

2) Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech – Full Text

I hadn’t read this before, but as last Sunday marked what would have been MLK’s 83rd birthday, it was about time.

And oh what a tune.

3) “The Mast Brothers” by The Scout

A really beautiful short film about Brooklyn chocolate makers the Mast Brothers, who discuss the adventure of handcrafting their product from the chocolate itself to the printed paper – they’re restoring a printing press so they can do it all themselves and get their community to create designs that mean something to them.

“Everything roots back to our love affair with the spirit of craft…We’re looking for an inconsistent product – so your tastebuds are not only enjoying the sensuality of it but they’re also learning – your brain is learning something while you eat it.”

How utterly lovely.

4) Centre Point

Despite living in London for 12 years I had never had an opportunity to experience the breathtaking panorama from the 32nd floor of Centre Point, barely giving the building a glance as I passed it hundreds of times. Arriving in the swanky Paramount Member’s Club laden with cameras for a filming job on Thursday I was breathless at the view (and the exertion), then when we were shown up to the viewing gallery even higher up I got really excited.

More photos here.

5) “Why You Do This” by Michael Dafferner

A full length film by satellite engineer and vocalist Michael Dafferner about touring with “math core” metal band Car Bomb. I’m not a fan of metal – but neither are most people, a point Dafferner explores through interviews with fellow band members and members of the other bands Car Bomb support. The musical style is less interesting than the footage, anyway, as this film shows the stark reality of DIY touring, if you’re a band who think one of the reasons to tour is to try and make money that is.

I watched this with a fellow DIY musician and the deadpan voiceover and truthful editing (no hiding the bad bits to make the band look cooler or more popular/successful here) definitely caused some hollow laughs and prompted a discussion about why *we* do this, BUT Dafferner definitely emphasised the economics over other far more enriching elements of performing live music – performing your songs to others (whatever the number), seeing new places, having new experiences, living a musical life… There was no mention of any efforts the band had made to ensure there would be a crowd waiting for them at the various towns they gigged in, and I suppose there are still a lot of bands who just expect people to magically appear at shows and love them, but to be fair these tours were in 2007/8/9 so perhaps the band would do things differently now.

An interesting watch, whatever sort of music you make:

I was very excited and pleased to receive an email from the Tom Robinson show last week informing me that “Slow Puncture” would be played on the show early on Monday morning (today), as a result of being selected from songs uploaded to the BBC Introducing Uploader.

After doing a little dance around the room I read the email again and realised I would be on the same show as the wonderful Birdeatsbaby, who I became friends with last year after some online chatting back and forth, and played a Bonfire Night show with at the Half Moon in Herne Hill. So I danced around the room again.

I was fast asleep when the show was on but thankfully it’s available to listen to for the next 7 days right here, featuring a host of awesome tunes, a really cool interview with Mishkin from Birdeatsbaby and the first airing of their spooky new single “Incitatus”. Massive thanks to Mish and Tom for saying such nice things about me, wowee. What a lovely start to “Blue Monday”.

TICKETS FOR FEB SHOWS

I’ll be playing two extra special gigs with friends in February:

Tuesday 14th – VALENTINE’S DAY! – at The Brixton Windmill supporting Hysterical Injury and Lilies On Mars to celebrate HI’s new album “Dead Wolf Situation” (TICKETS).

Saturday 18th – The Underbelly, Hoxton – Birdeatsbaby’s “Feast Of Hammers” album launch show! (TICKETS).

There are more gigs coming up too, in Croydon, Bath and Leeds, so check out the Gigs Page for the most up to date listings and links and email me with subject title GIGS LIST + the name of your town to receive gig alerts in the future.

2012 gigging kicked off in fine style yesterday afternoon at The Good Ship, Kilburn where I was honoured to head up the bill at the first Camden Calling event this year. Camden Calling is a small arts collective of exceptional homeless and ex-homeless people, so please check out their site to find out more and support their work.

It was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones, thanks so much everyone for travelling in the freeeeeezing cold. Wrap up warm, friends!

1) Chris T-T – “Binker” – the video!

I don’t know how I missed this on Twitter last week but I only just stumbled across this gorgeous film. Chris’ 2011 Edinburgh Festival show “Disobedience: Chris T-T Sings A.A. Milne” was one of the musical highlights of the year for me, a heartwarming tearjerker delivered with purity and passion, so I was very pleased when he released the songs as an album – listen here, you’ll love it.

The video was directed by John Panton and is a really lovely accompaniment to the music.

2) Maybe She’s Born With It…Nah, It’s Probably Photoshop

This superb spoof ad by Jesse Rosten highlights the unrealistic beauty standards foisted on us by pointless gossip magazines and companies who work hard to make us feel insecure then try to sell us stuff and manages to be geeky, informative and pretty funny to boot. Brilliant work!

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

3) Hula hooping in the Arctic Circle – in shiny silver trousers

Matthias Elliott, real life Arctic scientist and hula hoop performer, gives us a tour of his exploration vessel and shows off some very neat moves against some seriously breathtaking scenery. Note the bare arms in the outdoors scenes (it’s nigh on impossible to hoop properly with sleeves on) – major kudos for your dedication, Matthias!

4) “Hello Giggles”

I have a brand new TV series addiction – “New Girl” – and came across “Hello Giggles” because the marvellous Zooey Deschanel is one of the co-founders and bloggers. It’s cute in a non-nauseating way, lighthearted and fun but with some really interesting content, and this post “On Making New Girlfriends” by Danielle Hampton stuck out for me this week because I can very much relate to how hard it can be to make proper new friends of any gender when you’re past your school/college/university days.

Their Illustrated Tweet Of The Day series by Maritza Lugo is also pretty fabulous.

5) Bike Doctor

My first bicycle trip of the year was thoroughly unsuccessful. Skimming through the back streets of Brixton in a sneaky attempt to avoid the crazy traffic my bike and I lost a battle with a pothole and the front tyre was kaput. I had to dash to a meeting so wrapped my beloved silver steed with locks (3, yup) and got the bus. On my way to collect it this afternoon I realised I was pretty rusty in the inner tube replacement department and quickly searched the Android Market for help.

Bike Doctor to the rescue!

The app is available for iPhone and Android and you either select your repair from a list of categories – general / brakes / wheels / crankset etc – or by tapping a location on a drawing of a bicycle, and you get step by step instructions for your chosen repair with really good accompanying photos. I found it immensely helpful – I wasn’t doing anything particularly difficult but Bike Doctor showed me the quickest, safest and easiest way. I even learned how to use a tyre lever properly for the first time! Unfortunately I misread one of the instructions, which was totally my fault and made the whole process take longer, but I’ll definitely be looking through the list of tutorials to see if I can use any more.

OVER TO YOU, DEAR READER – what floated your boat this week?

The Kitmonsters website will be launching soon with loads of great resources for music lovers and musicians, until then do follow them on Twitter and check out their Facebook page. I’m really looking forward to geeking out and hearing about what other artists use to get their sound.

She Makes War – Boss RC-20XL Loop Station from KitMonsters on Vimeo.

She Makes War – Shields and Daggers from KitMonsters on Vimeo.

That was a very fun couple of days.

“Five Things I Liked This Week” is an idea cheerfully stolen from Hugh Garry via Whatleydude, because it’s a lovely way to share on a regular basis. Thanks boys!

1) Lisa Knapp – “I Wish My Love Was A Cherry”

After first hearing Lisa’s gorgeous vocals in Gerry Diver’s “Speech Project” I found this gem on her YouTube channel. Gives me tingles.

2 ) “Believe In Peace” – the new album from Steve Lawson

Created completely off the cuff in response to Geoff Bush’s I Ching inspired art exhibit in Minneapolis last summer, this is some of the most creative improv, dextrous looping and just plain beautiful music around right now, and it’s created a gorgeous soundtrack to my first week of the year. 1/3 of all the money raised goes to human rights charity Reprieve, too, so go get it.

3) “10 Things I Learnt In Costa Rica” – Dan Burgess

I worked on a video project for Dan’s company Pipeline some time ago and have followed his escapades since with interest. He’s just returned back to the UK after 8 months living in a treehouse in Costa Rica with his young family and has some gems of insight to share in this beautiful blog post. It’s a timely read for me; I’ve been doing a lot of work over the last couple of weeks towards restructuring my days and weeks to allow myself the time and tools to be the healthiest, calmest, most well rested and actively creative person possible and having made a good start so far this January reading Dan’s post has encouraged me to really prioritise this nourishment of my inner self. 2012 is all about balance.

4) “Subject of Distance and Design” – Ryan Elwood Hoop Demo

Since I started hooping a couple of years ago I’ve watched an extremely lively scene really explode in to the mainstream, and a big reason for that has the proliferation of hooping demos and tutorials online. As the boundaries of object manipulation have been pushed further and further by the most talented and hardest working hoopers so have the scope of the videos, so I love how Ryan’s hooping in this video not only shows off some gorgeously fluid motion and generally kick ass moves, but is presented within the context of New York City’s busy pavements, finding its place among the jostling crowds and contrasting with immutable stone monuments.

5) Terry Gilliam “On Ideas, Unlearning And Avoiding Debt” – the99percent.com

A lovely interview from one of the most unabashedly inventive filmmakers of our time, discussing his creative process and the three Ps he recommends to all artists – “Perseverance, patience, pigheadedness”.

Other things I liked this week included:
- taking my camera everywhere with me
- using an Ommwriter Dana / Pomodoro combo to complete 25 minutes of stream of consciousness writing every day
- watching hair tutorials on YouTube and trying new things out

How’s 2012 treating you so far?