Offbeat: Week 9

Week 9

It's week 9, and it's your vice-President Poppi Hobb's birthday! And as such, you should all come along to this weeks events and wish her Happy Birthday.

Offbeat at Zephyr Lounge – Tues 27^th Nov [Zephyr Lounge, Leamington]

The last Zephyr Lounge of term! There will be £2 pints as always, and lots of great music to go with it.

Leamington Field Trip – Thurs 29^th [The Duke onwards, Leamington]

It's back again this year! Less of a pub crawl, more of a pub wander. We’ll be meeting in The Duke at 8:30, and then working our way down through the pubs and bars of Leamington, getting thoroughly merry as we go. It's going to be excellent.

Check out facebook for more deets: https://www.facebook.com/events/168003340009429/

Hope to see you Wednesday!

Lots of love,

Offbeat x

RIP Tubelord

Last Tuesday began like any other day - until one of my favourite bands announced they were splitting up. I say they announced it, their record label declared that New Year's Eve would be the date of the band's farewell show and that was that. In the week that's followed, I've been slowly trying to piece together my thoughts on the band. I don't think I've ever been this upset about the impending split of a band before, and I figured that meant it was worth me trying to write something about them. As it happens, the wonderful chaps over at Musical Mathematics have declared today Tubelord Day and as such gave me an incentive to get something finished and out into the world. I'm not going to try to write some sort of history of the band, because that will be done elsewhere and far better than I possibly could. Instead, I'm going to do a sort of story of my own love affair with Tubelord. It might be interesting to you, it might not. Either way, it's going to be emotional. So let's begin, shall we?

Offbeat: Week 8

Week 8

Idioteque – Wed 21th Nov [Terrace Bar, Campus]

You know the drill by now: 9-1 in the Terrace Bar this Wednesday. You bring your lovely selves, we'll bring the music and the biscuits.

Mr Scruff

Warwick Arts Centre are running a competition for a pair of free tickets to Mr Scruff this Saturday:

Mr Scruff will be coming to the Warwick Arts Centre next Saturday (24th) and it promises to be a great night. Event is being held in the Butterworth Hall, and it a 5 hour set until 2am. Drinks will be available from insight the hall and Mr Scruff will also be being his famous Tea Shop with him! There is also a competition running to win a pair of tickets and a personal portrait by Mr Scruff himself. 

Competition details on the Arts Centre Facebook and Twitter pages and the following link is for the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/149613491846447/?fref=ts

Hope to see you Wednesday!

Lots of love,

Offbeat x

Offbeat: Week 7

Lots to talk about including the biannual Never Mind The Offbeat and lots of discounts!

Week 7

Offbeat at Zephyr Lounge – Tues 13^th Nov [Zephyr Lounge, Leamington]

Join us from 7 til late in Zephyr Lounge! This week we’ve changed the music up a little this week so there’ll be some older stuff amongst the usual latest and best. Post on our Facebook group if there’s any particular gem you’d like to hear.

Never Mind The Offbeat – Wed 14^th Nov [Curiositea, Campus]

We’re wiling to bet* this will be most indie pub quiz you’ll go to this year. There’ll be questions, prizes, and embarrassing facts about the exec. Check out: https://www.facebook.com/events/435319699859249/ for all the details. It's going to be excellent. Not one to miss!

(* not an actual bet)

Discounts

We’ve been working hard on getting all you lovely people some discounts:

TAYLOR JOHN’S HOUSE, COVENTRY

If you can't make Zephyr on Tuesday, Taylor Johns House have offered Offbeat members FREE tickets to see Sandro Perri. Email us back or message us through facebook to get on the guestlist. Check him out here:http://vimeo.com/32550008

BREAD CLUB, LEAMINGTON

The next Bread Club gig is on the 19th November: https://www.facebook.com/events/457990534224118/ and it’s only £4 for Offbeat members! As ever, send us a message to get on the cheaplist.

SUNFLOWER LOUNGE, BIRMINGHAM

This one is going to be a belter. We’ve worked out £5 on-the-door tickets to see The Crookes on 17th November atThe Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham. (Check out the first single from their latest album Hold Fast here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-5-PVeWgIM)

To get on this, contact us through this blog or through the Offbeat Warwick facebook page.

Check out the listings for any of these places, and we'll do our best to work out a discount for you.

Hope to see you around this week!

Lots of love,

Offbeat x

To Listen While You Work... do be do do do do dooo

What up, Offbeatles.

So by now we're all settling into university life: doing your own washing, trying (or failing) to get up in time for lectures, cursing the U1 for being late and/or full all the bloody time and regretting that last drink in Kelsey's at 2am last night.

But we are at one of the best universities in the country and, sooner or later, we all need to knuckle down and do some work. That's right. I said it. Work.

And in that vein, as I enjoy the last week before I need to get cracking on my four non-assessed essays that are due in at the end of term, I thought I'd try and make things easier for you by making a list of some of the best music I've found to listen to while you work. Or if it's the case that you always have to work in complete silence, the best music to listen to to chill out after a hard afternoon's graft (by which I mean reading – I am a social sciences student after all).

1.     And So I Watch You From Afar

Three-piece post-rock band from Northern Ireland – mostly instrumental, really atmospheric, totally wonderful. As with the best contemporary instrumental bands, their music is so well crafted it makes you feel like you're going on a journey and feeling emotions along the way, even if there are no words to shape it, and as such are better to listen to while working than some more generic rock music. Their album 'Gangs' is definitely the best to listen to: its throaty guitar riffs and rich crescendos mean it's lively enough to flitter at the edge of your consciousness, but the lack of vocals mean unless you deliberately pay attention, it shouldn't distract you too much.

2.     Bonobo

I am absolutely and completely in love with this artist. He's a DJ-producer type who produces ambient progressive house music. I discovered it when really, really drunk, lying on a friend's sofa about to pass out. I listened to it again when sober and discovered it's not only just the thing to soothe you into sleep, it's also a great study aide. (No, that isn't a contradiction in terms). I particularly recommend his DJ sets on the Soundcloud website (www.soundcloud.com/bonobo) – they're incredibly easy to listen to which is why they work so well, and the textures and patterns of his songs blend into one another so well that it's a real treat for the ears. I listened to the two of them on repeat while in the library revising for my exams last year.

3.     Ali Farka Touré

This man is a Malian singer and guitarist. I doubt you've heard of him, despite him being one of not only Mali but the whole of Africa's most famous musical exports, and one of Rolling Stone magazine's '100 Best Guitarists of All Time'. But you should. His music helps me work because the rhythms are so complex and deep – although he uses the guitar, the blues-infused African style means the song's structure is very different from what we're used to. The vocals are virtually never in English, so they don't distract you from what you're doing; they just complement the music. His work is also very strange and atmospheric – especially 'Radio Mali' and 'Cinquante Six'. I am not ashamed to admit I learnt about this guy from my Dad.

So there you have it. Three bands/artists whose music will help you knuckle down and get that work done – meaning on a Wednesday after a good few hours' work you can feel satisfied in a job well done and toddle down to Idioteque for a celebratory drink (or three).