You can group Royksopp, Lemon Jelly and Zero 7 together and shove 'em up your arse.

I want one of those iPods, though I suspect it would be too harsh on some of the stuff I listen to. Aimee Mann springs to mind.

Currently listening to Dog Man Star for the second time ever. Though I've heard bits of it before, particularly New Generation, which was the subject of a question I texted William with a month ago (all I could remember was the lines "like all the boys in all the cities / they take the poison, take the pity"). But more about Suede later.

Had a good weekend

wherein I went to the Ballroom of Romance to see Gregor 57, Rollers/Sparkers and The Chalets. Gregor 57 have a lot of Sonic Youth records and know how to use them. Rollers/Sparkers are more or less pretty good indie with a bit of mucking around (there's a great vocal-only audience participation song). But the stars are still The Chalets. There really is no good reason why this band aren't top of the charts. Great short pop songs, boys vs girls singing, coordinated outfits (and hairdos!). It's a shame that the song on the free CD is one of their shortest, and is mostly "la la la". Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, now. But they have much more in store!

And on Saturday I went out to Helter Shelter with Ian and Irene. It's in it's new place in the Temple Bar Music Center, and we reckon it's probably not as good as in the Shelter (never as packed) but still pretty good. I danced like a lunatic to Carter USM and The Wonder Stuff, and less so to the official indie national anthems: Love Will Tear Us Apart and Blue Monday.

I impressed myself with my indie spot-the-intro skills. The four little clicks at the start of Cannonball, for example, are enough to get me up and onto the dance floor. And for the Carter tune After The Watershed, I was going "hmm... wait a minute ... what is this, I know this? ... I love this! ... Caaaarrtterrr!".

And they played Placebo three times. I love my Placebo, and I remember seeing David Bowie appearing on some TV show (The Brits?) with them to sing Without You I'm Nothing. Which does just go to show that even during his eternal comeback years, he never lost the knack of doing the unexpected. Particularly amusing was the imagined sight of Suede going "Hey! Hey, over here!"