Efterklang - or "Black Summer" - at the Lexington, London, 29/03/2013

Efterklang's show at the Lexington last Friday night was excellent. I've been a fan of the melodic, slightly oddball Danes for a few years now, and I've been lucky enough to see them in a variety of forms.

The first time was in a packed Academy 3 in Manchester. This low-key show was notable for Academy 1 simultaneously playing host to Europe, which caused Efterklang to ask for dead silence at one point in the night, in the hope that the familiar strains of The Final Countdown would seep through the walls...

The next show, some time later, was at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, with the band being joined by various extra performers and an orchestra to help them bring their latest LP Piramida to life. It was a special show - partly for its association with the memory of Lisa agreeing to marry me at another point over the weekend, and partly down to the sit-down-and-take-it-all-in vibe which comes with a classical setting and a venue on the scale of the Bridgewater Hall.

Last Friday's show was different again, with the band dubbing themselves Black Summer - maybe due to them really only being in London very briefly to open for Foals at the Royal Albert Hall the night before. This temporary moniker was dealt with early on, with singer Casper Clausen wryly explaining that Black Summer were a new band with a penchant for covering songs by some Danish band called Efterklang...

The band looked great - with the core Efterklang trio joined by a female singer, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, and a fantastic drummer - and they sounded even better. I've really fallen for Efterklang's trademark pairing of Casper's bowtie and bassist Rasmus' chilled-out, moustachioed smirk. They always look so happy and grateful as they play.

And what an intimate venue in which to see a band like this. The Lexington holds something like 200 people and, although the gig was sold out many weeks in advance, there was room to breathe and Lisa and I were unashamed in our meander to the front in the minutes before the band walked onstage.

The sound was fantastic, and a large-scale lightshow was transformed into the Lexington's tiny room, lending many tracks a very ethereal, special vibe. One member of the crowd asked the band how this show differed to their previous night's set at the Royal Albert Hall. Casper struggled for a diplomatic response, simply replying that, "it's...different." Later, however, he was quick to gush with praise and gratitude for the crowd helping to make this inaugural Black Summer performance something very special indeed.

Throw in some fun back-and-forths with the crowd, an unplugged, acoustic encore involving percussion with various bottles and glasses, and a mutual showing of respect and love between both crowd and performers, and by all accounts this was a very special show. Lisa and I were honoured to be right down the front lapping it all up.

Paul Carr relaunches NSFWCORP

Paul Carr's latest project, Not Safe For Work Corporation - which calls itself "the future of journalism (with jokes)" - has relaunched after a few weeks of tweaking.

Building on the site's entertaining articles and image, Carr and his team are back with new features and an optional print edition, along with some innovative ways to support the whole thing.

I've been following Carr online for several years, and I've read a couple of his books. There's something about him and his writing that I find very appealing - maybe the fact that he seems to just not give a fuck, while at the same time giving more of a fuck than most. But either way, I've always enjoyed seeing what he's up to, and NSFWCORP has produced some pretty entertaining 'content' (ugh.) over the past few months.

From the occasional (now semi-regular?) podcast NSFWLIVE, to the dispatches covering subjects from war to drones to cut-price dental treatment in Mexico, there's usually something I find engaging.

While I'm not interested in every single article they produce, there's something about the way it's all presented that I find admirable and likable. The whole thing is produced from a central Las Vegas office, fronted by the British Carr working alongside a handful of other Brits and Americans. The mixture of backgrounds, interests and opinions is perhaps what keeps me coming back - especially to the podcasts.

But most of all, and this seems to tie in with Carr's raison d'être, it's the openness I love about NSFWCORP. They don't pull punches in the [with jokes] department, but they also explain the whys and wherefores behind seemingly every decision.

Why are they launching a print edition? Carr gleefully explains across several lengthy blog posts. Why are they based in Las Vegas? What are they hoping to achieve? How did the team come together? Who does the dishes?

With this openness - and NSFWCORP's desknotes/newsroom 'behind the scenes' blog - and the belief that good journalism is worth paying money for, whether it's printed on paper or beamed to you via the Web, I'm definitely behind them.

In the few weeks the website was mothballed before yesterday's relaunch, I've actually missed the regularity of the dispatches, so it's great that the website is back online and their publishing schedule is back on track.

And I am amongst 5,000 subscribers eagerly waiting for the first issue of the NSFWCORP print edition to land on my doormat. As much as I love e-ink and web-based content, I can't resist a physical artifact produced with love.

A novelist's thoughts on using a word processor for the first time in 1989

"STILL VERY MUCH LEARNING TO THINK ON THIS MACHINE," writes novelist Russell Banks, in a stream-of-consciousness piece relating to his 1989 book Affliction.

Banks was getting to grips with using a word processor for the first time, to get the words from his head onto paper. Suddenly having this digital intermediary, and being used to getting his thoughts down with pencil and paper, he writes (types):

Since there is no object, no product on paper emerging as I go, there seems to be no activity. That's the greatest difference at present.

More reflections of this nature can be found in this recent post on Slate's The Vault blog - a newish collection of trivia devoted to "historical treasures, oddities and delights."

One other remark made by Banks that stuck out for me personally was this:

Word processor would be [a] great way to keep a journal, as one would never have to regard the text as such but could keep making entries almost as if on a tape recorder.

An interesting point, and similar to some of those raised by respondents to the survey which formed part of my research for my final-year project which asked how and why people keep diaries and journals.

Lyveden New Bield

One of the great things about being a member of the National Trust (oh yes, Lisa and I both very much feel as though we are that far into our twenties now) is the sheer choice of interesting places to visit.

Our first 'proper' visit - the one where we decided to take out a membership - was a very much anticipated trip to Snowshill Manor, home to the eccentric and wonderful Charles Paget Wade.

But our most recent came from me scrolling through their excellent app to find locations not too far away which seemed interesting. And so the app led us to Lyveden New Bield, between Northampton and Peterborough.

The building is situated off a minor country road and remains hidden from view until you've bumped and rolled your way along a rough path leading to the National Trust car park. But when it appears it looks most peculiar.

A strong, solid outline of a building standing out on its own in beautiful rural scenery, although seeming not to have windows or a roof - surely a ruin? But no - this is a common misconception.

Although this Elizabethan 'new build' has the toothless look of a ruined castle or manor house, Lyveden was in fact never completed, after construction began more than 400 years ago.

And what a remarkable thing it is. Beautiful and very telling of the potential for how it could have been - and yet quite empty and heartbreaking. How rare to find not just a building of this age looking so fresh and sharp in places, but also to find one that was started, never finished - and then never demolished either. Just sat there, all lonely and... weird. But still no less beautiful.

Lyveden cuts a lonely figure perched out there in pristine fields, although it is flanked by a nearby cottage and primitive visitor's centre (quite literally a shed, although the cottage is being converted into a tea room).

Just over the way is its neighbouring manor house; Lyveden was designed by Sir Thomas Tresham to entertain guests. This primary purpose is evident in the building's layout. Entrance for 21st century visitors is via a low doorway to the rear - originally for servants.

With no interior floors or features - just holes where floorboards and joists would have sat - it takes a bit of imagination to understand the upper areas. But a handy audio guide does its best to explain the situation of various features of the house, while large recognisable features like fireplaces and doorways stand out.

The scale of the construction is also a bit tricky to get your head around. With no roof to close the space in, visitors are left to crane their necks up at the unusual framing of the sky, which is itself a remarkable feature of the place.

Overall, Lyveden is fascinating from a historical perspective just as much as from an architectural one. The remote rural setting is lovely too, and we were treated to seeing it under a slate-grey sky full of cloud as well as in bright sunlight with blue skies in the space of an hour or so. The mind boggles as to how the place must look in other conditions such as snow or fog.

What a wonderful place. I know we will return.

Meanwhile, having driven us from Milton Keynes to pretty Oundle in Northamptonshire, Lisa, the ever-eager driver, decided that we simply must be closer to the sea than usual...

Despite my apprehension that we must surely in fact be about as far inland as it is possible to get in England, we decided to drive out to the Norfolk coast to see the beach at Hunstanton, overlooking the Wash.

But that's another story for another blog post, I reckon.

Smalltown America and independentmusic.com - A Great Bunch of Lads

I recently saw that Smalltown America is putting out Die! Die! Die!'s latest album Harmony in the UK, and as a limited edition of 500, on white vinyl with a new sleeve.

Look at it. It's beautiful.

Beyond all that exclusive loveliness, it's a fantastic album too, so of course I was going to order a copy. Imagine my joy, too, when I saw that they're charging just £10 for the vinyl, with free UK postage! Amazing. I fumbled my iPhone with sweaty hands as fast as I could to be safe in the knowledge that this beautiful slab of vinyl would come hurtling towards my letterbox within a week or two.

You can order yourself a copy at this link: http://www.independentmusic.com/releases/die-die-die-harmony

I was, then, as you might guess, extremely chuffed to find an email in my inbox the next day, from Lisa at independentmusic.com, telling me I was the first person to pre-order the vinyl, and so they and Smalltown America were sending me a goodie bag full of free music to thank me for my support. Terrific!

I'm not sure what I was more excited about: the free music, or the fact that the term 'goodie bag' is still alive and well.

So the very next day, the following arrived in the post: a mixture of releases and samplers featuring bands I already know and love, and a heap more I haven't heard of. Perfect.

Thanks, Smalltown America!

And I can't wait to get my hands on the Die! Die! Die! record. It's out and shipping by April 1st.

And you can catch Die! Die! Die! playing live around the UK at a few dates during April - something I can highly recommend. They're absolutely one of my all-time favourite live acts - and it's just occurred to me that it's now nine years since I first saw them play at the King's Arms in Auckland, so I now need to sit down and contemplate just how old I am.

Those April UK dates are as follows:

21 – Brighton, Green Door Store
22 – London, Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen
23 – Manchester, Wahlbar
28 – Newcastle, Heartattack & Vine
29 – Edinburgh, Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College of Art
30 – Glasgow, Bar Bloc