Grrlls grrlls grrlls

We broke out of the Wolverhampton mould on Saturday. Thanks to Dan, we all decided to go to Birmingham's sophisticated Island Bar and attend Atta Girl, which billed itself as 'lo-fi with predominantly female vocalists', DJed by two women. As this describes a vast swathe of my record collection, I was well up for this.

Fortified by decent ale and even a cocktail, we ventured upstairs to find… lots of people like me, i.e. slightly corpulent balding men, with a very few riot girrls/indie girls scattered here and there. The cakes and fanzines were good, and some of the music was very cool (Sonic Youth, yeah!), but by the time we caught the last train (11.30, boo!), the legendary DJs and the lo-fi hadn't put in the merest hint of an appearance.

Instead, the first hour was 60s soul. Now, I like 60s soul - but there's something utterly conservative and cringeworthy about so determinedly reaching back that far for a night's entertainment, especially for a young, hip crowd like that. Still, we'll be back, no doubt.

Bopping with the scenesters

Last night I saw the finest minds of a generation…

Well, not really, but I did get a glimpse of Birmingham's cool subculture. It was like being back at ATP, surrounded by bright young things all rocking the 'sexy librarian' look (as if librarians could ever not be sexy). We went to the Victoria (?) next to the Alexandra theatre to wish Marie a happy birthday, then to The Island for this gig. It was packed, stylish and served expensive continental and American beers, hence my slightly fuzzy head and empty pockets this morning.

As to the music: Kristy was pleasant. We skipped the next lot, but heard Neil Young covers drifting from the window as I shivered next to the smokers. Mr Bones etc. had something going on. I'm not convinced that a small room really required 4 guitars, keyboard and a violin as well as a singer, but perhaps that's because the sound wasn't very good for some of the set. The singer's serious yodel (with added reverb) is a little bit over-clever, but I was really impressed with the whole thing - to me it sounded like a mix between Pentangle and Editors, which is a great combination. The violinist was particularly good, though I do have one bone to pick. Why use an electric violin? Did Michelangelo carve concrete? Get a proper violin and amplify it - and turn down the rest of the band rather than using an electric violin simply to fight for volume.

I've no idea what the last band were like - we provincials had to skedaddle for the last train to Stumville. I liked The Island - bohemia on the ring road. They're doing a 'lo-fi girl band' disco next weekend called Attagirl. Sounds like just my thing, but I'm away on another fencing team managers' orientation course. Woo, and indeed, Hoo.