coxy's blog

So, my Friday night has mainly consisted of; playing with the cats, listening to Last.fm Radio, installing Adobe Photoshop on Ubuntu and starting to make a pretty website for Luke Leighfield.

I'd hung out with Maria (and friends) the past two nights and am pretty tired - last night was a late one... 4am, and I was up at 8am for work this morning. It was Maria's birthday though; I made a cake.



I've added two photo albums to Opera Community; one of an abandoned church that we hit up on Wednesday after work, and then the other of the cake I made! It has a pigeon on it.

This weekend should be quite quiet. Tomorrow night I'm babysitting my nephew and Sunday night I hope Emily is staying over. I have been looking forward to it all week - it feels like ages since I last seen Em. It's not been, but it's been too long.

I'm pretty sure I've posted a bunch of stuff about pop-princess Luke Leighfield before, but what better reason to post again than to promote the release of his new single, a music video tie-in, his upcoming tour of Europe, some spiffing t-shirts that he's selling (though not as good as the limited run of Prince Charles ones I have) and an opportunity for me to give you track of his to download for free.

As you can see, Luke Leighfield is keeping himself busy on his path to potential future pop-stardom - it won't be long before you see him on Top of the Pops. But, before that can happen, you'll need to purchase his single as either a digital download, or a limited edition 7" vinyl disc - preferably both.

The single 'If You Haven't Got Anything To Say' is set to be released on 16th June 2008 via Banquet Records and Luke's own label Got Got Need Records. The 7" comes with an exclusive new demo which hasn't and won't be on any future releases, online or off, and can be pre-ordered / purchased at Banquet Records for just £1.99. Did I happen to mention that the limited pressing is only 500 copies? BUY IT!

For those that want to try before they buy, you can check out the music video for the single at Luke Leighfield's YouTube Channel. It sounds the same as the single, but has motion pictures for you to marvel at. It's in colour and has stereo sound. WATCH IT!

If you're not one for buying singles or haven't got a record player, you can support Luke Leighfield by going to see him play live in person at a venue near you. He's playing all around the UK and Europe at normal gig venues, festivals and people's living rooms - he may even play at your house if you send him a nice message on MySpace - which is also where you can find a comprehensive list of tour dates. LIVE IT!

Where it's not often you'll find me posting about a band's collection of t-shirts (except for maybe Encyclopedia - kings of merchandise), but there are some spiffing tees available with a Luke Leighfield logo on the front. What's more, they verify Luke as being 'pop music' and have a 'Got Got Need Records' logo on the back - there is truely no better way you can look good this summer. WEAR IT!

If you're still reading this shameless act of promotional guff, I thank you and present you with your reward; an MP3 of 'If I Try' - the second track taken from Luke's latest album - which you can buy together with his debut album for just ten of your Great British Pounds. DOWNLOAD IT!

Related Links:
Luke Leighfield on MySpace
Luke Leighfield on Facebook
Luke Leighfield on Virb
Luke Leighfield on Last.fm
Luke Leighfield Official Store
Got Got Need Records Official Store

I feel like a big dirty whore posting this; but let's introduce those who don't know of a certain Sam Isaac into his acoustic indie-folk pop ways. Bright Eyes, The Spinto Band and Ed Harcourt are among Sam Isaac's influences with his friends making artwork, recording his music, directing music videos and carrying clipboards, whilst other friends (like Alcopop! and Big Scary Monsters) sell his CDs.

Why, it was only this week that Sam Isaac's debut single 'Sideways' dropped through my door from the folk at Alcopop!/BSM head-quarters in 7" format, accompanied by a CD Single, badge and poster. It all looks lovely and is well presented...

To be honest, the verdict's still out on Sam Isaac's music. There's an array of music instruments both in his recorded material (which sounds lovely) and live shows (which are quite pleasant to watch), but whilst his vocals don't offend me, they don't particularly impress me either.

With that, I present to you the chance to make up your own mind. Here's a previously un-released track (that means you won't find it in any record stores) from Sam Isaac called 'Berlin' and because I found it funny, a cover of his new single - in German!!

If you think my opinion is rubbish (and why not? comments plz) and you like the sound of Sam Isaac, you can pick up his single 'Sideways' on CD and/or 7" directly from the label, a digital download from iTunes Music Store or pick up a vinyl pressing for cheap from Amazon Marketplace.

Downloads:
Sam Isaac - Berlin (MP3 format, hosted on jagbox.com | Mirror 1, Mirror 2)
Milchschaeumer Edelstahl - Seitwaerts (MP3 format, hosted on jagbox.com | Mirror 1, Mirror 2)

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I don't know when I'll be in the mood to complete my tour diary of Oslo. I've blogged up until Day 03 - the important part where I got to venture into Opera HQ - and now the rest is just sightseeing and not very interesting to people that weren't there. It'll come in a future blog post or two, but in the meantime, you can just comment the photos on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coxy/sets/72157601841835833/

So, this weekend has been pretty boring and consisted of me doing housework and me doing housework (yes, those are one of the same thing but both time consuming and far too much like hard work). Tomorrow I'll be back in the routine of work and I can't say I'm looking forward to it - a few more days off would've been nice. But hey-ho, festival season is over now, which means (in the world of music, at least) that a whole host of events will be going on in Manchester, running through to Christmas. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and get myself out there in the middle of it all armed with my camera.

Pop, Bubble, Rock! seems to be a good starting point; a wednesday night, two local bands (Failsafe and Drive Like I Do) for just a quid (1 GBP = 2 USD / 1.47 EUR / 11 NOK) and then the clubnight afterwards until the early hours of the morning. I might even take Thursday and Friday off work, because following hot on the heels of PBR there's one of two things I could attend - I'm struggling to decide...

Bring on the Dancing Horses is a club night which I love and have mentioned before, this month featuring Sky Larkin and The Ending Of...; but it returns on the same night as Luke Leighfield plays Manchester (with Sam Isaac and Lucy and the Caterpillar) and I've wanted to see Luke Leighfield and Lucy and the Caterpillar for about a year. It's a case of 'do I want to go to my regular fun clubnight' or 'do I want to see some bands play that I've been a fan of for a while'. Luke claims that there is no dilema and I should certainly attend his gig. We'll see.

Finally, if you're a Last.fm user, head over to their blog because they need your help 'fingerprinting' your music collection. It's nothing bad in the slightest and would help them out loads. It basically involves you downloading a bit of software (which works on Windows, Mac and Linux) and pointing it to your music collection. Plus, my friend Laurie Laptop has done a rock-tastic remix of a Trubelle track. You can download it here.

Free MP3 / Music Downloads:
Luke Leighfield - We Can't Escape The Facts
Luke Leighfield - Mountain To Climb
Lucy and the Caterpillar - I don't want your stupid crisps
Trubelle - Cockells Rokmix3