Just schtuff.

It is not cool to work 16 hours straight on a week day.
It is cool to walk home in daylight for the first time in months.
It will hopefully be cool, when I'm going to the print start on Monday to see my posters and flyers be produced.

Yupp, you guessed it – another concert. Last Monday I went to see Bloc Party at Sentrum Scene, which despite its relatively big size is a pretty cool location. Lots of small, slightly elevated platforms let even the people in the back have a good view. In addition, there's a seated gallery for people who just wanna watch the concerts in more chill way.

The concert itself was good but not great. The sound was pretty awfully mixed from time to time and the Norwegian crowd just didn't wanna get quite jiggy wid' it. I had seen Bloc Party before, a couple of years back in Frankfurt. When I walked out of the concert hall back then, my jeans were completely soaking wet with sweat from all the dancing and pogo-ing. This time around the people only really went nuts for the last two songs. Of course there was a bit of jumping and clapping before as well, but even singer Kele Okereke, who had first praised us as "probably the most stylish crowd we have ever played for", at one point shouted "C'mon people, this isn't fucking Snow Patrol playing here!".

But hey, whenever things actually started getting a bit rougher, the securities up front would get up on the stands, point at people, give 'em a grim look and shake their heads as if saying "Any more movement and I'm pulling you out!". It's a rock concert for fuck's sake! If people arent' allowed to freak out and have fun then, when ever? They seriously have to get their security 'concept' overhauled...

By the way, the opening act, of which I only saw three songs – quite good ones though – was Delphic. And just listen to the shockingly amazing sound quality of my digicam ;)

This is the reason why I'm only able to blog on weekends lately – Bombay Sapphire's been keepin' me busy and will continue to for at least another two weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to show some of that stuff as well as some other sketches within a weeks time. It's good to see though that I'm not the only one busting my ass this time of day (night) as the city's workers are out clearing the streets from yet another heavy snowfall...

P.S. I actually planned to go to the Arctic Challenge finals today, but hey, don't I have better things to do :P

I'm sorry guys, it seems that the only things I'm writing about lately are snow and music. But to be honest, those are the only things happening in my life besides work right now. Not to worry though, I'm sure not to turn into one of these music geeks whose sole purpose is to know everything there is about the latest up-and-coming underground talents.

Anyways, at the moment there's a thing called by:larm festival taking place in Oslo. It's basically a music festival with literally hundreds of bands playing at over 30 (!) different locations in the city over the course of three days. In addition there's lectures and seminars, mainly about music and art. The program is so big and my time – due to work and other stuff – very limited, that it's almost impossible to see more than a small fracture of the whole thing.

Yesterday evening Stian, Alex (who sadly is leaving Bleed again, due to some 'details' not working out) and me managed to get out and catch a couple of acts. First off was Svarte Greiner , one of four projects of Stian's close friend Erik. That guy is actually kind of a big shot in his style of music – Dark Ambient – and even created a sort of sub-genre called 'Acoustic Doom' under this particular pseudonym. His other projects are called Deafcenter, Solitaire Albread and Xhale by the way. Did I mention that he also runs his own music label and does some pretty cool illustrations on the side? Anyways, he made some very nice dark, experimental soundscpaes using a violin and all sorts of technical equipment. Quite impressive.

Next up was Manhattan Skyline, a so-called Mathcore band of which one of the guitairst happens to be an ex-Bleed designer. Yupp, Oslo is small. The music was a loud, raging mix of Speed Metal, Screamo and Hardcore. At first kind of disturbing but after while somewhat likeable. Last but not least we watched Masselys (sorry, no link), who played some weird electronic funk pop-rock. Alex and me were wondering why we seemed to be the only two people in the whole place who didn't like it at all, while everybody else was going nuts...

Around 1 Stian, Alex and another friend went on to hit some bars but I just wanted to get home. All week I was wondering where from I'd taken the energy for those long hours at the office. Now I was paying the toll. After one single beer I was already starting to get slightly drunk and just passed out on my bed around 2. Happened again today for two hours smack in the middle of the afternoon.

I need a healthier sleep rhythm. Or maybe just more sleep in general.

1) Scraping it off the roofs all over town.
2) It's not the grain.
3) You can't run and you can't hide!
4) Checking out the latest gear to pimp his ride.
5) Fuck shoveling.
6) Awww.

Cruisin' the streets Oslo style.