Chooo Choooooo.... All aboard.. and various other train cliches that make me smile....

Dear Steam and Train Enthusiasts,

Did you know how you could improve the rail services of this country? Hunt Richard Branson for sport? Play conductor bowling with trolleys? Run ahead of the train until it eats you up like some kind of track sandwich? Make them cough splutter run on time??? Nah.... 

I have discovered the secret to not only pleasant rail travel but even ecstatic smiling like a loon travel... Mix it nicely with a big dose of eclectic and twee Indie pop and give all the commuters a pair of Buddy Holly glasses and some form of  fantastic headwear (Trilby/pork pies for boys, Vintage fascinators for girls)... Yes indeedy the fabulous people at Indietracks have discovered the secret of happiness (or at least happiness under the occassional cool facade of ironic discontent... well less so if you're uber twee).

So after a lengthy trip (made lengthier by the lovely detour to Nottingham without getting shot or abused just rained heavily upon) on a train, we arrive at Midland's Railway Centre to lo and behold get on another train... Think back to when you were little and your parents took you to somewhere in Middle England, plonked you on a dusty train that when they were young would have been high tech (sorry Mum) and expected you to moan and complain for a bit just with better scenery? Well I must say the change of scenery, the fact that there was a slight vintage shop musk to the carriage and that we seemed effectively locked in made the journey almost achingly kitsch and exciting.. I, in all honesty, was grinning ear to ear as soon as the steam train came round the bend (and blew... woooo). There is something so friendly looking about steam trains.. It's like they're all wearing top hats.  Maybe I should just blame Thomas and his friends for this weird observation but they all seem so much friendlier, kindly and willing to take you ambling to your destination than the scary electric monstrosities we are shepherded into day to day.
 

Anyway enough of my train idolatry and onto the actual weekend of magical indieness that lay ahead of me.. Yes, with  that short trip down the Butterly Railway I was at the setting for the Indietracks festival, a rather shambolic array of tents, curry stalls (yum), sheds and rotting trains (there was rather a train graveyard going on on the periphery of the site... I must say everyday of the festival I shed a tear for those whose steam shall no longer rise... etc. Don't look shocked you've already read how I feel about happy trains.. There were lots of train carcasses) 

Yes, I sidetrack... forwardtrack... Indietracks.. ah the point.. right.. 

Not only a festival for those into the twee side of Indie pop, there were countless classes to attend regarding how NOT to run a record label, how to write songs, crafty things and Guerilla craft... So I have come away with not one but many make my own brooch kits (in the shape of a lovely and rather cute felt Tape) and Tatty Devine jewellery in the shape of Indietracks bunting... the bunting itself was also made there and they had bunting making classes which I somehow missed but enjoyed being entangled in its products throughout the weekend (there was even a rather heartwarming greeting at the train platform for a girl whose birthday it was, joining her friends, who had made welcome bunting.. aw). I thought it was not only nice that you could sit and knit and that it was encouraged with no prejudice (not like when I'm on the bus and get the occasional odd stare) For the exclusive Indietracks Tatty Devine jewellery go to their website http://www.tattydevine.com/boutique/product_info.php?cPath=120_146&products_id=1050 this is the one I bought... sigh... 

Waltzing around the fields with many cool looking like minded people (yes I own vaguely Buddy Hollyesque glasses, a fascinator, vintage tea dresses, I enjoy knitting, I enjoy silly songs.. I enjoy silliness generally... etc.) I felt immediately at ease.. There wasn't that massive corporate festival feeling.... the one where you're too skint to eat or drink (yup somehow Carling think it's reasonable to charge nearly £7.5million per pint of weak piss and a veeeeryyyy dubious burger), where you're too scared to go to the toilet (but probably need to after the burger has eaten away at your insides) and everybody seems to be wearing fairy wings/comedy wigs.

Indietracks is indeed the loveliest festival I've yet to go to.. and seems as of yet untouched by corporate whores... and big newspaper spreads (though I did overhear a rather funny conversation on the train concerning a man name dropping the Guardian about 6times in one sentence but not actually making any real sense- "Like, yeah, I'm not working for the man, I'm giving free speech to the people.. the people about steamtrains.. yeah") 

Anyway, onto the fundamentals of the actual festival.. Crafty goodness and swashbuckling ticket conductors aside, the music.... ah the music... firstly our wonderful foray into the "Casio Club" that is Au Revoir Simone...three rather rickety keyboards adorned the stage and three suitably "kooky" (bloody hate that word) American ladies walked on the stage..  all dressed in makeshift Urban Outfitter stylee shambolic attire these three lovelies stretch into a rather floaty set of tuneful keyboard tinkling and madness. Their apparent quiet stage presence was rivettingly shattered by the occasional outburst of madness and crazed keyboarding, mashing down the keys and swaying in a rather outlandish and mesmeric way. Needless to to say the beautifully calm, tuneful and heartachingly lovely songs of these ladies made for a euphoric hour of the festival.. Go and find some online and listen...It's pretty!

Then onto a nice mixture of everything the weekend represented.... Trains AND music in the same place.. yup, off we went to squeeze into the Indietracks express to see Moustache of Insanity, an Aussie, Bill, and a Swede, Nik, coming together in a vaguely Conchords like manner with equally witty and silly songs (most noteably a song called "Brains" with the rather excellent line about a clever girlfriend with "brains, brains, brains (like a Welsh barmaid)".  For more information and interesting facts (such as Nik likes shopping channels) go to their website  

http://www.moustacheofinsanity.com/about.html 

and listen to some of their interesting little ditties.  The rather lo-fi (or more accurately no-fi set as it was all done on some rather dubious keyboards and an acoustic guitar in a train carriage) was a rather enjoyable trip not only down the Butterly railway but through the world of strange ordinariness that is Moustache of Insanity. Creating a suitably fun gig atmosphere in a cramped train is easier than imagined (think how much more fun those cramped Sundays on a shitty train service that has a 3hr detour would be if there was an amusing duo accompanying you and singing songs about postcard websites would be?) Standing on a barrel of sorts and stretching trying to see the band over the top of the other musical commuters was really rather worth it as the journey went on and as train bumped so did the music.. it made for entertaining listening anyway... 

Flying the Spanish flag for the Elefant label Casa Azul headlined the Elefant stage to rapturous cries and crazy Spanish dancing.

The crowd around me where pretty much all Spanish but the member (s) of Casa Azul spoke in broken English in an endearing and lovely way to the crowd.  So, Casa Azul are a bit of a weird concoction, they start with a rather massive screen showing a vaguely Kraftwerkian assembly of robots who turn out to the other members of the band... these members never appear in any other form than a video of them playing various instruments, two girls in a weird cultish Abba stance, and two men in white shorts all looking like extras from some weird Ikea like film.  Anyway, the actual only person who was there in .. um person... was Milkyway.. he came on in a full white suit, with a Daft Punk like space helmet..(only shortlived as he was hot aw).  Their cheesy electronical pop was ecstatically happy and full of beans, bulstered by the constant barrage of images on the big screen behind the, of Dusty, Mama Cass, and all the beautiful ladies in the world... even venturing into a personalised version of Supermario world.  La Revolucion Sexual starts here... look it up on their msypace (www.myspace.com/lacasaazulband) and dance away.... You will not be disappointed I promise... 

The bigger names at the festival were still a tad on the twee side, and when I say a tad I mean they really top the twee hierarchy of Indieness... Yup, Camera Obscura of "Let's Get Out of This Country"fame... their hearts were ready to be heartbroken by Lloyd and their dresses were poofy... their maudlin career was at full height and nope I can't think of any more puns... I have time constraints you know (not really, sigh). I must say I do like Camera Obscura only to the limits of watching them because I felt somewhat obliged.

I enjoyed it but not to the same extent I enjoyed the new and more enthused bands who were jumping with joy and energy at being on an actual stage.  Well, I do find Camera Obscura's near shyness vaguely endearing and annoying at the same time, needless to say I enjoyed the songs I recognised and with a bit more time and effort on my part I would have probably prepared myself more to enjoy it more.. However, they looked beautiful and romantic so nearly all is forgiven. 

.. 

The other paragon of Indie shyness (and another Scottish band... one of a ridiculous amount in attendance at the festival) were Teenage Fanclub.. finishing the festival with a rather spacey extravaganza of individual vocalists, steamy lights and warm harmonies. BMX Bandits bear an uncanny resemblance to the Scottish shyness of Teenage Fanclub, both of which I watched eating a scrumptious curry as their tunes blew across the breeze on the grassy knoll at Butterley sigh.... 

An equally serene performance by the lovely Hong Kong In the 60s was rather pretty too... made more so by the simple yet beautiful setting of the little railside church onsite.  They have taken an intriguing turn by using Japanese and Chinese folk songs sometimes  translated into English with lovely little chords of shoegazy serenity...  

They've released a new EP I believe, suitably called "Willow Pattern Songs" which is released on Rough Trade and has such a pretty song on it called "The Mermaids". I must admit I was sat on the splintered floor of the little old, tin church watching in awe 

                             and taking pictures through the grooves of the pews.

Mei Yau Kan's delightfully sweet voice echoed through the church and felt almost holy... in a very Indie church way... I also took upon the rather intrusive manner of taking pictures of the fabulous looking people around the festival (usually without any kind of permission) and I found this gorgeous couple, a rather Romantic and idyllic looking Indie couple bathed in the light of the church window, (and if you've ever been to Heebie Jeebies in Liverpool and seen the montage of the revellers at some kind of protest in Greenwich Village there is an equally gorgeous couple who they reminded me of)

Butcher Boy, despite a rather tempestous argument with Will, was vaguely enjoyable, mostly due to the exciting accordion playing.. I must say I'm not a massive fan of any of their songs other than "Carve a Pattern", that simply seem to take on an more mature Belle and Sebastien, Yup they're Scottish too.. like just about everybody else at the festival... (even the first people we met at the train station were furiously patriotic Scots-they were a tad angry when I said I wasn't a massive Teenage Fanclub fan.. but it was incredibly heartening meeting anybody over the age of 40 who remained quite so passionate about small Indie bands and being locked in their bedrooms listening to quiet twee pop) 

Now onto another former Indie favourite, the moment of Art Brut seemed to be mid 2005 ish with them forming their band and then not really doing much else of note.. However, the debut "Bang, Bang, Rock and Roll" is still rather excellent now even if it is purely because it raises memories of my time at school frolicking in the art block attempting to be rebellious and pseudo political.. ah nostalgia.. Well they didn't write the song that made Israel and Palestine get along nor as universal as Happy Birthday but they do have a nice array of catchy songs that Eddie Argos seems to have changed everytime I've seen him... He did at one point delve into a sardonic and stilted version of "Sex on Fire" don't listen to the radio.. Don't buy your records from the supermarket.. could there be any better advice?? I was slightly disappointed that he changed the lyrics of Modern Art to reflect on the band's recent trip to some DS Comics offices... now I'm not a comic geek and I much prefer Hockney so the lyrics were almost lost on me but it is hard to be unaffected by Argos' enthusiasm for um.. unenthusiasm and cynicism.. He jumped into the crowd, mauled and adored by the circle of admirers and never lost enthusiasm... though he had lost his moustache which some might say added a definite Je ne sais quoi to his face.. it's like he was missing his hat or something.. 

He's still in love with Emily Kane, he still wants to rock out over modern art, he still (probably) regrets being anything to do with We Are Scientists, he's still a bit of egomaniac but amusingly so.. and he's still rather a spectacle to behold... not being one for much of their new stuff go and listen to Bang, Bang Rock and Roll" and have yourself a good weekend.... 

Reaching the end of the weekend we took our last dance in the tent full of fairy lights and "Hang the Dj" placards to listen to the beats of Songs for Children, Djs from the only (well supposedly) Indie night in Hong Kong.  With a ukelele, an intrusive camera, and misbehaving speaker equipment we danced to indie classics (at intervals of speaker upset) and thoroughly enjoyed the decadence of our last night on the Butterley railway... 

We caught the last train home... seeing the fairy lights dim somewhat in the distance as we slowly chugged home... If you have any desire or opportunity to not only visit the festival but even the exciting museum do it... a fun steamtrain weekend for all... It was steamtrainadelic.. or some such horrible word.. you get what I mean.. I enjoyed it.. a lot!

Well even after that delightful weekend I am still deep into my search for career sustenance or even malnourishment.. I have moved house... realised I own far too much of everything, mainly clothes and jewellery and possibly books but I shall never allow myself to say I own too many of them.. they are, after all rather too delightful to ignore, I am going to miss my lovely best friend who is moving home in equally career void circumstances (and whose fault it probably is that I have taken to writing this blog) and whom I love very much.... and whom put up with me at the above festival and the above moving of many items of jewellery and books... 

So in conclusion.. 

I shall mostly be listening to...: "Because the Night" on repeat, preferably the Patti Smith version but I'm partial to a bit of Bruce.. oh and I had a rather huge Velvet Underground binge yesterday.. lying in my room by my new bay window listening to New Age and annoying the neighbours... quite possibly one of the best songs ever.. 

I shall mostly be eating: Whatever I can afford with my slightly limited resources.. Though I have ventured to my new local greengrocers called Adam's Apple.. it made me laugh no end.. and they had cheap strawberries.. I attempted a delightful Sloe Gin, Blueberry and Raspberry mousse tart but it went a tiny bit wrong I don't think I have enough patience for leaf gelatine but if it works I shall give you the recipe as even when it wasn't set it still tasted lovely.. ooh and I have decided that Chickpeas cooked with some garlic, wine, orange zest and a bit of curry powder, pepper and paprika are the ideal accompaniment to a zesty grilled aubergine salad.. phew yum.. yes I've nothing better to do with my time than cook pies that don't work.. 

I shall mostly be knitting: um still on the baby blanket... 

I shall mostly be painting: with my new liquid acrylic paint.. it's in a pipette and  it makes beautiful marbling like images... 

I shall mostly be doing: Job hunting... not crying over rejected applications.. giving Will a fun few days before he goes away (sniff) hanging out with my new lovely housemates and eating toast.. 

and avoiding playing nightfire ever again.. 

ever.. 

that is all...