This wasn't supposed to happen

Anybody want the Friendly Fires album? It would appear to be another case where I was dumb enough to believe that a CD might be a Hot New Sound as against Tiresome Indie But With A Synth.

Walking from Victoria to Brixton is quicker than I'd thought, even if you go via the Oval. Which is a weird bloody building - so futuristic and Designed, but some of the spectators have basically got their arses over a roundabout and not even a solid wall behind them. Which I can't imagine is ideal for viewing anything, let alone cricket.
Having arrived at the Windmill, and missed most of the rain, I finally get to see Jonny Cola & the A-Grades - when Luxembourg split, this is where the Bowie-esque component ended up. The set improves as it goes along, always a good sign - compare and contrast La Shark, who are next up and initially impress me by pretending to be French (see also: Travis, oddly) and having a Tom Waits bottom end. Alas, the rest of the sound is just a bit too modern indie. Although any band whose fans include a small lesbian Captain Jack can't be all bad. Then it's O Children, whose singer is a basketball player as Brett Anderson, and who in soundcheck had a voice so astonishing we assumed electronic enhancement. It's not quite so remarkable in the set proper, but they still do a pretty good set in an Interpol-but-less-poised way. Headliners The Lodger...I do like them, but I can't help but contemplate what would happen if Cliff from Feeling Gloomy fronted a band.

I'm convinced that for some time now, Iain Sinclair has just been making up these forgotten London laureates. Not that it would ever be possible to prove my theory, because London is a lot more loyal than she's sometimes painted; recognising Sinclair as one of her great champions, she obligingly retcons them all in to the crowded streets of Fitzrovia's mythic age.

For anyone who thinks Torchwood is better when it's being a big silly romp than in O WOEZ mode (ie, everyone except Chibnall and RTD OBE), the new book Almost Perfect hits about the right note. Ianto wakes up female - with hilarious consequences! The chapter names are all Facebook status updates! It's awash with Girls Aloud jokes!* And it manages all this in spite of being set after the end of the second series, with the newly pared-down team, on territory surely ripe for long and tiresome discussions of Feelings (oddly, the other two books released alongside it still have the full roster; maybe their writers just missed the memo). Splendidly preposterous.

*Unlike the last book I read which, despite being called Graffiti My Soul, didn't mention them once.