Karinski.net

Finally after gaypop‘s tempting way back in November the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor video is finally with us. Looking like a crazed Shirley Henderson, Sophie, complete with two red dresses and two hairstyles, seeks out a man in what is probably Venice. The song is awesome, hence it will probably chart at about 34.

Hairy Dan alerted me to the fact that the quite exceptional Metric (who in this photo seem to think they are in Spooks) are playing a headline date in London (and Brighton and Oxford) as well as their sold out Bloc Party support gigs. If you’re in any of those locations I really can’t urge you enough to go. The band are from Toronto and they are very, very hip but still remain fun. The critics and bloggers love them and the hype really is deserved. In America they’ve been used on Grey’s Anatomy (who have a LOT to answer for in this bloody Snow Patrol debacle) and in the UK I nearly leapt out of my warm bed when Monster Hospital opened Hollyoaks last week. I saw them in Hammersmith last year, and they were ace, complete with bullet nipples.

If you’re looking for tracks to get you started I’d recommend the aforementioned Monster Hospital as well as Dead Disco and Combat Baby. The main thing here though is that you should come and see them at Dingwalls on 30th January. Ticketweb will get you tickets for £9.65!

It’s no secret that I’m quite a big chart geek. Like everyone else I used to tape the chart off the radio every so often trying really hard to capture the songs and cut it off before Mark Goodier started talking, but I’ve also had a rare pleasure of working on the Official Chart Show (with Wes as presenter) for 6 months back in 2004. This is when the real chart geekiness started and now I seem to pride myself on being the personfication of everyhit.co.uk whenever possible.

So, with the chart rule changes that came into force on 1 Jan, yesterday was the very first day of the new style chart. This is incredibly exciting, anything could happen and a re-entry for Snow Patrol in the top 10 means it all starts kicking off. Of course, I’m too late to write anything intelligent about it, the awesome Mr Discopop has already done it.

Josh, Zack and James are disgustingly young, and together they make up a band called Go:Audio. They used to be called The Vacancy (I have no idea why they aren’t now) but are signed to Sony and make top class emop. Emop is a word I have just made up which unsurprisingly means Emo Pop. The always hilarious Urban Dictionary instead claims emop means: basically an emo, but more dramatic. They are female and tend to have black hair, purple lipstick and navy eyeliner. They love Green Day and make harming use of razors. Emops love their Mommy’s. Ace.

Go:Audio have been mentioned on a couple of blogs which until tonight I’ve blissfully ignored. Now I’ve finally paid attention to I’m Always Right who mentioned the band in their Great Hopes for 07 post. It’s bouncy, it’s fun and given the current teenage music temprement of the UK I think they could do very well indeed. The very ace Made Up Stories totally channels the vibe of big scorers such as Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy and I’m pretty sure will at the very least get Seldo bouncing around his bedroom, if not the whole of Popstarz. Plus going by the over analytical karinski ruling that if your a boy and you don’t put a status on myspace, you are at least a bit gay if not completely, the band themselves might be dancing around Popstarz.  Hopefully I’ll have an interview with them soon, but until then, unless emo makes you want to vomit, check their myspace .

Futon are playing at Rockstarz tonight. Monday nights at Ghetto are brilliant, I DJ every other week (although am doing 3 consecutives: last week with the surprisingly ace Diskoboy and next with Fleeing From Finales) with the very lovely Laurence. It’s an ace night because the people are really open minded, they’ve come to see a band they probably don’t know and they’ll dance to anything. This is dreamy, so fantasy free me! Seriously, DANCE TO ANYTHING. I love being able to play stuff like Scissors for Lefty or Metric that would normally clear dancefloors at other nights. Swoon.

Anyway I don’t know a lot about Futon, but one of their members is Simon Gilbert, formerly the drummer with Suede . They are based in Bangkok, have had two #1 singles in Thailand and were recently named Thailand’s most stylish band. They’re over in the UK at for 4 shows promoting their single Strap It On which is taken from their 4th album. They’ve played at Ghetto before, at Nag Nag Nag, in 2004, but I’m quite excited about tomorrow as I quite like the sound of them on myspace. Suede have always had a strong connection to Popstarz being a core band for the club when it was originally set up in 1996. I think they may have done a PA there at some point (although I’m not sure) and Brett djed at our celebration of Simon Popstarz in 2005, so it’s cool to have a spin-off band keeping us in their clubs to visit list.

Tonight, like nearly every Thursday, Friday and Monday night (yes I never sleep), I was djing. And I played some ace music.

Thursday is Miss-Shapes where nearly anything goes but is mainly indie and pop. Our first set was brill, it went something like this (there are whopping gaps as I forgot to photo it and can’t remember):

Brad Walsh – Two of Hearts
Lo-Fn-Fnk – City
Linda Sundblad – Lose You
Annie – Anniemal
Bertine Zetlitz – Midnight
Jarvis – Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time
Air Traffic – Never Even Told Me Her Name
Just Jack – Starz in your eyes
Beck – Cellphone’s Dead
Mika – Love Today
Elton Montello – Jet Boy, Jet Girl
The Rakes – Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)
White Rose Movement – Love is A Number
The Gossip – Jealous Girls
Lady Sovereign – Pretty Vacant
Ashlee Simpson – Boyfriend
Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good
Peaches – Boys Wanna Be Her
Le Tigre – TKO
The Pipettes – Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me

In the late set we played Sophie Ellis Bextor – Catch You and it went down a storm. HOORAY.

- This bonkers video

This little blog has been going under various names since January 2001 I think after Relly started writing a blog and lots of us followed like sheep. I’ve used blogger, MT, and now typepad, but for 2007 I think it’s time for WordPress. I don’t really know why I’m paying for typepad when WP seems to do the same things for free. But now the mission is that I need to find a banner. I’m looking through license free photos on flickr but not having much inspiration. Any ideas?

So Happy New Year one and all. We celebrated it with the busiest Popstarz in it’s 11 year history. I was a little bummed about having to work NYE as we did Popstarz last year, and this time round all our friends were going to the fantastic Unskinny Bop and we wanted to be there too. However, Popstarz absolutely surpassed itself and was amazing good fun, thanks in no small part to a special area Tommy had created for staff and friends filled with gallons of alcohol. Hooray! I also sang Jolene on the special karaoke in the glass bar with Sheila which was pretty ace, despite not really being able to hear the backing track. Kamikaze karaoke starts at Trash Palace on Sundays very soon, maybe even this week.

Anyway today I got the news that my shiny (although now a little dirty) iBook has gone KAPUTT with that old ‘oh your logic board has failed trick’. I came home the other night and instead of being asleep it was off and trying to boot it up resulted in beeps. This seems to mean a ram failure and the genius bar at Apple seemed a bit confused that I hadn’t added any extra ram. They did not seem confused when they told me that fixing it would cost £640.

So now the dilemma is what to do? I use a PC as my main computer in my room, and my laptop if travelling (so not regularly) and when not in my bedroom. It serves as a great little device for writing/web browsing while watching the TV in the lounge, and I really like being able to do other stuff while sitting in the lounge. I don’t particularly want to spend £700-odd on a new MacBook though. The options seem to be: exist without a laptop, look for a bargain on the refurbished store, just buy one, or go for a dirt cheap PC one that would be perfectly fine but not as pretty and lovely and everything apple-y. Plus if I was spending a lot of money with Apple I’d really want to get an iMac, but that wouldn’t at all help my portability issues. I don’t really understand why my iBook has broken though – should they really just break for no apparant reason after about 2 1/2 years? I am eyeing my housemates suspiciously.

To cheer me up I bought Pokemon rescue for my DS and tomorrow I think I’m going to buy a new digital camera as I handily threw my new very heavy phone at it and smashed my lcd while at Gaz’s flat over Xmas. BOOO HISS.