small-circle-of-friends ([info]small_circle) wrote,
@ 2005-11-20 21:56:00
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Current music:Go betweens: Man O' Sand To Girl O' Sea

Sorry to moan, but it's what I do best.
Djed for the first time in yonks at How Does It Feel To be Loved on friday. Not sure entirely how successful it was: the amount of grief I received from punters with unfulfilled requests for Belle and Sebastian/The Killers/Kaiser Chiefs would tend to indicate it was a total waste of time (I can't believe how mainstream the clientele of that club has become...). But a Kiwi girl came up to me after I played Heavenly Pop Hit to ask if I had any more Flying Nun stuff as hearing The Chills had made her night. Which kind of made *my* night.

Twice As Much w/Vashti Bunyan: The Coldest Night Of The Year
Rachel Sweet: BABY
XTC: This Is Pop
Todd Rundgren: I Saw The Light
Barbra Streisand: Stoney End
Beach Boys: Break Away
The Left Banke: Desiree
The Byrds: Lady Friend
Nazz: Open My Eyes
Mr Bloe: Groovin' With Mr Bloe
Osmonds: One Bad Apple
Phoenix: Too Young
Aztec Camera: Walkout To Winter
Orange Juice: Blue Boy
Trash Can Sinatras: Obscurity Knocks
Pipettes; It Hurts To See You Dance So Well
Talulah Gosh: My Boy Says
Girls At Our Best: Fast Boyfriends
Breakaways: That's How It Goes
Bodines: Heard It All
McCarthy: Write To Your MP Today
The Chills: Heavenly Pop Hit
Close Lobsters: Just Too Bloody Stupid
BMX Bandits: I Wanna Fall In Love
Teenage Fanclub: Ain't That Enough?
Primal Scream: It Happens
Dana Gillespie: You Just Gotta Know My Mind
Fire: Father's Name Is Dad
Them: I Can Only Give You Everything

Given the club's remit, this seems like a pretty mainstream set to me. Yet the dance floor remained sparsely populated throughout (except Rupert & his girlfriend, who danced to pretty much everything. Thanks, people). Oh well, it was nice to be asked, but I don't suppose it'll happen again in a hurry.

On an unrelated -and very obscure- note, does anyone know how many Edward VIII pillar boxes there are in London/England? I saw one today, and it seemed so unlikely. But what a beautiful thing it was...


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[info]hospitalsoup
2005-11-20 11:13 pm UTC (link)
Hey, sorry we didn't make it in the end - didn't even get to the other thing until 11 :-(

Central HDIF is really weird. The one time I went, a couple were practically shagging right in front of our table. Nothing like the shy indie kidz of yore... it's a shame that it seems to become a repository for people who just want to drink late, but that's central London for you, I suppose.

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[info]fatsothewombat
2005-11-21 12:02 am UTC (link)
Ah, it's been so long since I've been to HDIF. I seem to come into London so infrequently these days.

But requests for The Killers & Kaiser Chiefs...? Do me a lemon! I mean, I'd not expect them at HDIF at all. Has it all changed so much...?

Anycase, seems like a decent enough set to me; at least from the songs I know, anyway. I've not heard Walk Out To Winter in such a long time. It makes me want to search out the album. But it's probably in the shed in an "unsorted" box...

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[info]fatsothewombat
2005-11-21 09:38 am UTC (link)
If it is the case that people are just turning up for an "after hours" drink this will change soon I expect; the new licensing laws come into effect this week and most places are opening later so there'll be more mainstream places open.

It was the music that made me first go there. I mean, the prospect of hearing the likes of Atta Girl in a club... I remember virtually leaping out of my chair to dance when it came on.

And, yes, I should dig out Walk Out To Winter: if only I knew where to dig... : )

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[info]small_circle
2005-11-21 12:39 am UTC (link)
I think in the "old days" people would go to the club because of the music it played, and for the social: you always knew you were going to see a bunch of familiar faces there. Now that it has a central location, a lot of people turn up just because it's somewhere to get a drink after hours. And are then surprised when they hear a load of records they don't know. I think Ian is wise to this, & has adapted his set to fit the new clientele, at least for the time they're most likely to be arriving (which, now I think of it, was when I was djing). Me, I knew nothing, & wouldn't have done any thing differently even if I had known. Like I said: Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Primal Scream, Talulahs were all floor-fillers back in the day.

Walk Out To Winter is *such* a great song, particularly given the current climate: go dig it out now!!

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[info]tekno_alice
2005-11-21 09:20 am UTC (link)
that's one of the reasons why we're stopping the beat hotel at push, we kept getting so many randoms coming down that it just wasn't fun for the kids who came especially for the night. Hopefully hdif will go back to a north london venue soon and it can get good again, I thought the phoenix was not a permanent move. I've always prefered the brixton venue anyway.

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[info]fatsothewombat
2005-11-21 09:11 pm UTC (link)
Well, I didn't dig out WOTW from the garage - no idea where my copy is. But I did find the rest of my Heavenly (etc) stuff (except any TG; that's still missing), Bona Drag, Room on the 3rd Floor, What Would The Neighbours Say, a Prefab Sprout double CD and the Best of S Club 7; so the search was not in vain.

But all was not lost, whilst meandering around HMV with Maddie, I chanced upon the Aztec Camera section and found a compilation - called Deep & Wide and Tall - which was just £4 that had WOTW on it, so I splashed out on that. It's an od beastie; it looks like it's some kind of retrospective, or best of, with two or three tracks from each album; but some odd ommisions. No Somewhere in my Heart, for one.

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(Anonymous)
2005-11-21 01:13 am UTC (link)

Hi, Ian posting here.

I haven't altered the playlist of HDIF to suit any new clientele at all. I've had requests for mainstream indie stuff from the very start of the club - it's nothing new. Only now it's people asking for The Killers, instead of asking for The Strokes. That doesn't mean I play them. The only way the club has changed has been to take on the contemporary groups that I feel fit in with the spirit of the club - so on Friday, I played Architecture In Helsinki, The Decemberists, Envelopes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and the Arcade Fire, alongside The Razorcuts, Orange Juice, Heavenly, and so on.

There is an issue with The Phoenix that, when the pub upstairs shuts, some of the regular punters come downstairs to the club. And, sometimes, they have no idea what they're walking into. It's not ideal, but as long as the proportion of HDIF-goers versus randoms is right - ie more of us than them - then it doesn't spoil the atmosphere. The only person who gets any grief is the DJ and I've been saying "Nope, don't have it, can't play it, sorry" to people for long now that it's all water off a duck's back. Once the liscensing laws change this week, that may well all change anyway.

Sorry you had a bad time on Friday Harvey. I was surprised to read this as you told me you'd enjoyed yourself at the end of the night. Oh well.

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[info]small_circle
2005-11-21 10:21 am UTC (link)
Hi Ian.
Perhaps I painted too bleak a picture; actually, I *did* have a good time, in spite of all I've said above. I stayed til closing time after all, and playing my favourite records loud at people is always a fine thing to do, whether they appreciate it or not. I'm simply not used to getting abuse (yep) from people because I can't play their requests.
I appreciate it's a difficult situation: you want the club to be popular, but you don't want to lose the atmos which makes the club what it is. Guess that's why I've never run a club night; more trouble than it's worth (...but Rupert, whaddya say?!!?)

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[info]catsgomiaow
2005-11-21 10:46 am UTC (link)
Funnily enough I got quite a lot of stick the other Friday at Club Articles when I couldn't/wouldn't play the Killers and Kaiser Chiefs. And then one of the chief hecklers tried to snog me over the decks. I'm sure indie kids never used to be so rude :(

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[info]small_circle
2005-11-21 11:00 am UTC (link)
Well y'see it's not just indie kids that go to these places. Anyone who likes Killers/Kaiser Chiefs/Kasabian probably read the word "indie" on the flyer & think, "Indie! I like Indie!"
Y'know, I quite like Kaiser Chiefs, but I don't see any point in having a specialist club night that plays mainstream indie. You can hear that stuff on the radio/any other club in town.

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(Anonymous)
2005-11-21 11:53 am UTC (link)

Quite right - which is why I don't play Kaiser Chiefs, Franz, etc, etc. Even though - like you - I quite like the Kaiser Chiefs.

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(Anonymous)
2005-11-21 11:54 am UTC (link)

Sorry, that was me - Ian. Sure it was obvious anyway...! :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)
wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]strange_idols
2005-12-01 11:27 pm UTC (link)
I actually heard of that party by way of Belle and Sebastian (one of their number was DJing there) and was mostly impressed by the people who HAVE DJd. That sounds like a great night, I wish I lived in England...hopefully, that dance will still be around and playing the same music when I get over there!

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Re: wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]small_circle
2005-12-02 10:56 am UTC (link)
Thanks! Hope you're a Killers fan (joke)...

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Re: wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]strange_idols
2005-12-02 12:51 pm UTC (link)
The Strokes are my guilty pleasure. Belle and Sebastian's last album blew, but I like songs on their other albums. Have you met a ton of really awesome people? Is Bobby Wratten cool?

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Re: wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]small_circle
2005-12-02 03:14 pm UTC (link)
*Phenomenal* questions!
Answers: one or two; and no, he's not.
I'm inclined to think that the last B&S LP (the waitress one, yes?) was easily their best, but I've only heard the first two.

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Re: wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]strange_idols
2005-12-02 04:26 pm UTC (link)
I felt like the production killed "the waitress one".

Man, that is so disappointing. And here I was thinking he must be great just because of Field Mice and Trembling Blue Stars (but you were in those too, right?). But I guess that's silly, as I know a guy in real life who likes good music and makes good music but he's still a jackass. You think I'd have learned by now that being cool and making things I like do not go hand in hand.

Oh well, I guess you'll just have to replace Mr. Wratten on my list of musical idols, then.

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Re: wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]small_circle
2005-12-02 10:31 pm UTC (link)
I must admit, I regard "cool" as an insult. Perhaps I should have said "he transcends cool."
Though he could be pretty annoying.

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Re: wow, what a fabulous setlist
[info]strange_idols
2005-12-03 12:06 am UTC (link)
I probably don't mean cool like someone talking about the Kaiser Chiefs! When I was 14 I wanted to marry him!

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