Dirty Pop

Good news: I didn't cock up the audio on the Alphbeat gig the other night. In fact, I think I got some great stuff. I'll never know now though, as I forgot to listen to the broadcast last night - duh. Alphabeat were fun. I met my culture vulture (competition winner) and her mate backstage, and we sat in on the station's interview with the band. Stine is absolutely adorable. She's tiny with this exquisite little face - she looks like a Danish porcelain doll. Their stuff is a little too cheesy euro pop for me, but I couldn't help singing along with Fascination - the crowd was really getting into it. I was Billy No-Mates for the evening, as Miss M was busy and she is really the only person I know who would actually have gone with me to this gig (besides my sister, who would go anywhere with me at any time - it's great being cut from the same cloth). The rest of the gang were like, who? And when they found out, the expressions of distaste on their faces told me my answer. Don't screw with the trance purists people. They are so far above my bubblegum pop tastes that they're floating. They've grown wings and are wearing halos inscribed with "we only listen to cool music".

CSS (Cansei de Ser Sex) was on after Alphabeat. They're a Brazilian pop/punk/electro rock-y type outfit consisting of four mental girls and one guy who totally fades into the background. Their name means "I got tired of being sexy" - a quote attributed to Beyonce. For this alone, I quite like them. Their music is.... well, kind of indescribable. Weird is the best I can come up with. Not in a bad way, just a, well, weird one. The lead singer was decked out in a catsuit that was clearly made of curtains, and she wore enough tinsel around her neck to dress several large Christmas trees. The overall effect was one of a neckless, curtain-wrapped mummy disguised as a Yuletide decoration. Attractive? No. But it did get her noticed. The other girls were oddly androdgynous, with their stove pipe jeans, white rocker t-shirts and long brown hair, which they thrashed about like they'd just graduated from the Guns n Roses Academy of Moshing. I kept thinking I was watching a coked up Russell Brand with a guitar. The guy - I don't think I even saw him. I recognised a couple of their songs from the radio, but for the most part I remained suspended between confusion and disbelief. The crowd was a bit more, erm, passionate about this performance. There were clearly some hardcore fans - so hardcore, in fact, that they formed a mosh pit and started to throw each other around a bit. To the sound of electro-rock tunes. I can only guess that these are the moshers too afraid to meet the real metalheads at gigs like Linkin Park, where people actually bleed in mosh pits. So instead, they pick a little known band with 'out there' tunes and practice at their gigs, hoping one day to reach the upper echelons of moshing and play with the big boys.

I spent the whole evening with the culture vultures, who turned out to be really nice girls. Mid twenties, both from London, one studying medicine and the other training as an associate attorney. I thought I had something to prove, but after we got stuck into the wine they both confessed they'd prefer my job. Of course, they don't know that I don't spend all my time going to gigs and interviewing celebs - but I let that small truth pass by unattended. ;-)

This weekend is the one we've all been waiting for - another Friendz Boat Party, with DJ Neutrino on the decks. It's been a long week for me, characterised by an unusual feeling of not wanting to come into work. I have some major news about my job and that of my boss, and where things are headed as we make our way to the official merger. Unfortunately, nothing has been officially confirmed yet, so I can't write about it. I'm excited though, and hopefully I'll be able to tell you in the next few weeks.

Have a fantastic Friday peeps. I leave you with these thoughts to contemplate: