I'm a believer, I just need a motive.

So, the new Bloc Party album, A Weekend in the City, is amazing. I think it might be a prime example of music-in-context, though; it's a concept album about London (and disillusionment and urbanity and modernism and cocaine and all of those wonderful Benjamin-on-Baudelairean ideas), and listening to songs about taking the Northern Line (the Tube line I live on) and waiting for the bus (which I do EVERY DAY) just fits so well with my life right now. In the same way that there's nothing more satisfying than listening to, say, the Strokes or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and walking around downtown or Wburg.

That said, I went to my first gig in Camden this year. My floormate Jesse decided he wanted to see live music, and there was a random little show at the Barfly (a wonderfully grungy hole-in-the-wall bar/venue about fifteen minutes' walk from where I live), and since neither of us have class on Wednesday, we decided to go for it. After rush-writing two listings for flavorpill ldn, we made it to Chalk Farm in time to catch half of a band featuring a very attractive skinny lead singer and pretty wonderfully standard English indie (think: any band related to the Libertines). They were followed by theRain and the Tunics, two other bands that were also similar (though not quite as cute). As it turns out (Anubha!) the lead singer of the last band is SIXTEEN. The indie scene in this country makes me feel very, very old. Regardless, it was very "me" music, and I loved it. Since we missed hearing the first band's name, I decided to go talk to the first band (yeah, only because of that, I'm sure --Editor.) They're called Czagio, by the way, and they were totally cool. Also very drunk. Oh, Brits.

(The Tunics, with the cute lead singer of Czagio's stripey back. Every time I come to London, I'm amazed at how supportive bands are of each other; they book each other for shows just because they're friends, then dance and know all the words to each others' songs. It's so endearing and so much nicer than the New York scene.)

Outside of that, we've been half-touristing, half-classing. Some friends and I made it out to Brick Lane the other night; it was so, so, so good and relatively inexpensive. The bargaining thing on Brick Lane is always an experience; we got a great deal this time, though, so I can't complain. Oh, and at the Market that day I ended up getting a Marks & Spencer velvet blazer for 9-year-olds--for five quid. I've been wearing it basically every day. I think it makes me look more British...or at least a little like a Libertine. We also discovered a winter carnival in Leicester Square and went on a whirly ride that had me laughing so hard I was crying, and went to a pub/club called the Boardwalk after Matt (JJ13)'s birthday party, where we danced to really fucked-up diverse music (i.e. Moloko followed by 50 Cent). Thankfully, my friends here (both floormates and orientation buddies) all love to dance as much as my college friends. Oh, how I love dance parties!

Classes are going well as well. I'm halfway through the week (I have Wednesdays off), and Shakespeare seems pretty straightforwardly Shakespearean; my seminar for my London in Lit course is called "Sex and the City" and discusses T.S. Eliot; Post-War Cultural Contexts and Texts had my heart at the recommended reading of Sartre, Barthes, and Said.

Today, plans include: possible visits to the National Gallery and a gilded pub, an open mic at a record store, free live music somewhere else, or whatever might strike our fancy. And in other future music news, my floormate Laura and I bought tickets to see Metric on the 30th Jan. and I believe I've successfully talked a bunch of people into seeing Shout Out Out Out Out on the 19th; both gigs are within fifteen minutes' walk. Sure, Camden might be drug- and crime-ridden, but that doesn't mean it's not the most fun part of town.

Bloc Party - Waiting for the 7.18 (A Weekend in the City)