By Alexander Lawrie

Scottish bands who performed at this year’s T in the Park have seen their CD sales rocket – with The Fratellis leading the way with an amazing 157 per cent increase over the past week.

HMV have said copies of the Glaswegian rockers album ‘Here We Stand’ are flying off the shelves after their successful festival appearance last weekend.

Kilmarnock outfit Biffy Clyro have also seen a spin off from Scotland’s largest music extravaganza with sales of their album ‘Puzzle’ up a whopping 58 per cent.

And KT Tunstall’s ‘Drastic Fantastic’ CD has seen a 45 per cent rise since her acclaimed performance on the festival’s opening night.

Dave McGeachan of T in the Park promoters, DF Concerts, said: “It’s great to see that the weekend’s performances at T in the Park have had such a fantastic effect on music sales for the artists concerned.

“Biffy Clyro, KT Tunstall and The Fratellis are an example of the terrific talent Scotland has to offer and their live sets to huge crowds at T in the Park were phenomenal.”

But it’s not just Scots bands that have benefited from this year’s festival.

Sales of New York electro duo MGMT’s album ‘Oracular Spectacular’ have risen an incredible 135 per cent on the back of their appearance.

English popsters The Ting Tings have experienced an 85 per cent hike in copies of their No 1 debut album, ‘We Started Nothing’.

And controversial chanteuse Amy Winehouse benefited from her performance north of the border as sales of her soulful ‘Back to Black’ increased by 37 per cent.

Following an increase in television and radio coverage, HMV has seen music sales rise dramatically on the back of the various summer festivals over the past couple of years.

A number of artists who saw a pick up in current album sales are thought to have enjoyed even greater success if they had new material available to purchase. 

The Chemical Brothers saw their ‘Singles Collection 1993-2003’ rocket up by 95 per cent the week after their amazing performance at the festival.

An HMV spokesman said: “With the profile it now enjoys, T in The Park ranks alongside the likes of Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds as a premier-tier festival, and its impact on artist sales - Scottish as well as British and international - is becoming increasingly significant.”

PRESENTS 

STR8 STREET DVD SERIES

str8 street dvd pre issue feats point blank, drake,j staxx,s davis, cokekeyz car'tel ,chayse money,priceless,focus and much much more sick whips ,str8 fashion,str8 vixen model feat j lazo . the pre issue gives you a up close and personal look with these local stars in there element , the dvd is 90mins long and has extra footage .

I wanted to buy:

• She & Him - Volume One
• Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir
• The Libertines - The Libertines
  ...and maybe even
• Babyshambles - Shotter's Nation

I came out with

• Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
• The Libertines - Best of, Time for Heroes

(kay, I kinda just wanted to use the bullet feature)

Anyway.

Two CDs usually run you for $30 or so, I have experienced in my past. I didn't really look at the prices on the actual albums, so when I went up to the cash and it read $50.XX, I was a little taken aback but handed over my debit card anyway.

This HMV did not have any Loney, Dear, She & Him, and I figured I should only spent $30 on Pete Doherty at a time so I dropped Babyshambles.

I begin to wonder if the rise in CD prices causes the elevation in downloading rates, or if the elevation in downloading rates causes the rise in CD prices. I saw the Libertines and found out after it was reaching $30, and I thought "Why didn't I just download that?". I hate downloading though. I'll download individual songs, I suppose, but if I want an entire album I'll go out and buy it. Like Desaparecidos, which I bought online because the stores around didn't have it, and even though Caitlin has it digitally. Italy.

But yeah. Conclusion: downloading sucks.

On a similar note, I realised today how easy stealing actually would be. Sitting in a changeroom at The Bay for a very long time waiting for Mom to be ready, I saw that the security was pretty much nonexistant. Take something into the changeroom, cut the tag off I guess, stick it into your oversized TNA bag or whatever, there you go. When you walk out and the buzzers go, it's not like there is anybody around the door at the back leading into the underground parking.

"It's like we're criminals, or something."

 Although I really like this one too.... the yummy elephant....

More elephants later anyhow. I brought Miyuki-chan with me to keep me company today. She sat with us while we (me and my mum) stopped for a drink.

Frescato's are the closest thing to a Smoothie I will drink(I hate the consistancy of Smoothies...), Frescato's are more like Slushpuppies, only healthier. This was summer berries, probly the second nicest, cos they sell vanilla flavour too!

It has the nicest 'ambience', although theres one more thats pretty darn nice. Chaplfield itself is pretty bogstandard. 'The Mall' is nicer. And they have a Burger King. Chaplefield dont. So they lose. I had lunch at Burger King, my usual Bacon Double Cheese meal. Before my friend will told me about BDCB's, I didnt realise a place actually did a burger with no nasty extras(like pickles, onion etc)!

Mcdonalds burgers just pale in comparison. And I work there lol. I normally have McNuggets anyways. Less fuss than asking for a burger plain only cheese. After lunch I went round the city, finding more elephants as I went. I did my usual searching for DVD's and cheap games. Didnt find anything that wowed me.

They recently changed the look of HMV, I dont like it. It looks cheap. I hope they didnt pay alot of money to get a designer to do it for them. The only cool thing is the big games podium. The other big dvd/game/cd shop in Norwich is Zavvi(used to be be Virgin, and I prefered it as Virgin, but usually its higher priced than HMV anyways, so I only go there when HMV doesn't have what I want. Like Today. They didnt have Harold and Kumar get the Munchies, and Zavvi did. And it was only £3($6) which was nice. I cant wait to the Harold and Kumar escape Guantanamo which was released this year.

The game shops had big Wall-E cardboard models. And they speak when you walk close past them...

I also paid a visit to my local Pocky emporium. A stall on the big market in Norwich called Orient Express which sells Pocky, chocolate, strawberry, chocobanana and milk flavours. They started selling Collon and those chocolate koala things too. They're yummy!

Heres the gallery of pics I used and didnt. The photo's I took today turned out alot better than those before, probably the daylight. Better for the photo's. Might try an outside figure shoot sometime this week, long as the weathers ok...

去到，當然人山人海啦！

Cant stand the crowd and the heat, so :P I left after picking up the CD and went back to work!

Back to the CD, 總之就好聽啦, 有 他的故事, 櫻花樹下, Rihanna合唱的Hate that I love you, 仲國語版酷愛-吻得太逼真

送你們聽聽TVB 版本的櫻花樹下MTV :)

For your interest, you may wanna visit his forum H Icon Group forum too!

Thanks Pauline for the thoughtfulness! :*)

Jay-Z’s recent headlining performance at the Glastonbury festival blew away the predominantly European audience and has sparked a strong increase in sales for a number of songs from his music catalog. After performing at the festival, the former Def Jam label head is once again stacking chips thanks to his recent boost in popularity.

According to a recent Reuters article, five of Jay-Z’s old songs are going to re-enter the HMV charts with hits such as “Big Pimpin,” “99 Problems,” and a “Hard Knock Life” showning dramatic increases in sales. In addittion, Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” registered a 480 percent increase in sales.

After being dissed by rocker Noel Gallagher of Oasis because he felt Jay-Z was a bad choice by Glastonbury staff, the superstar lyricist dropped a special treat for the festival crowd when he kicked lyrics to Oasis’ hit song “Wonderwall.” Ironically, Wonderwall saw an 18 percent sales increase after “Hova” dropped his version.   

Nicely wrapped! 

張敬軒演場會DVD in the Mail!

Silly Girl knows that we have missed the concert and bought me this DVD copy once its being released! Its a 3DVD set with 33 song with special guest like Ivana Wong, Patrick Tang, Kay Tse Kelvin Kwan, Eason Chan and Alan Tam!! WOW so many guests!

I am sure its a money well spent DVD! Cant wait to enjoy it together!

Guild Wars 2 won't be entering beta this year.

Check out the latest installment of the Podcast of Reckoning, with Josh Drescher as guest co-host

Massively posted an interesting introduction to MMO etiquette for new players which made us smile and is actuially also quite useful!

The BBFC responds to EA claims that a rating system would delay the release of games. Unsurprisingly, they call such claims rubbish (we're summarising for you!)

HMV's Head of Games claims that Games are the new Rock and Roll. There's clearly a lot of politics going on here after all the stories we've had recently about the game industry in the UK not getting enough graduates, then the call for new ratings and the industry response of "Oh noes, the sky is falling!", and now one of the big retailers weighing in. I wonder if they're after pressuring for more government subsidies for the gaming industry in the UK.

TenTonHammer continues their series of articles on WAR with a look at a possible launch clash of the titans - Wrath of the Lich King vs Warhammer Online. It's a topic close to all our hearts, though it's seeming more likely that we'll be playing Warhammer Online first *fingers crossed*. War Noob and Bloghammer are also discussing the potential clash at the moment.

The Warhammer Online Vault brings us some awesome dwarf wallpaper (I'm using it on my PC at the moment)

And finally, to celebrate the fact we've just had Canada Day, a fun little survey reported in Joystiq shows that one in five Canadian men have gamed in the nude.

Runaway demand for console games has helped the CD, DVD and game retailer, which also includes the Waterstone's book chain, dodge the gloom seen on other parts of the high street.

"We had a terrific year for games last year, with growth of about 60%," said Simon Fox, HMV's chief executive. "In the year in, we're ahead of where we planned to be. We're riding the game growth curve, and we're riding ahead of the curve."

Like-for-like sales grew by 11.4% at HMV in the UK and Ireland while Waterstone's sales were up 3.3% in the year to April 26. Since then, growth has remained strong thanks to new releases like GTA IV and Wii Fit, Nintendo's exercise game for the Wii console. "A very hot product when you can get hold of it," Fox said. Nintendo "are doing their best to keep up" with demand.

HMV, one year into a three-year turnaround plan, said profits before tax and exceptionals rose to £56.6m last year from £45.2m. It already predicted in May that profits would be at the top end of market expectations.

Its share of the UK games market, which increased by one percentage point to 8% by year-end, continues to grow. Its share of the music market has risen more sharply to 29% helped by the demise of rivals such as Fopp while its share of DVDs has increased to around 25%. But share gains will not continue at the same rate as HMV is up against "fierce competition" from supermarkets, particularly in DVDs and books, Fox said.

HMV has introduced a new range of technology products, dominated by digital music and video players. Games and technology now make up 21% of sales, compared with 14% a year ago. It is converting up to 15 stores to the "next generation" format featuring a social hub with access to entertainment websites, multiplayer games areas and kiosks. All new stores will open in the new format.

As the CD market continues to decline - CDs now make up less than 30% of HMV's sales - it is seeking to replace them with new band merchandise such as T-shirts, caps and backpacks.

The retailer is looking forward to a "fantastic" Christmas for music, Fox said, with a strong lineup of new releases from Razorlight and Morrissey to Oasis and the Kaiser Chiefs.

The chairman, Carl Symon, who was appointed in February 2006, is stepping down at the company's annual meeting on September 5. Fox insisted the relationship had been "constructive and positive" adding that when Symon was appointed "he felt he had a specific job to do in terms of changing the leadership and feels now is a good time to move on".

Shares in HMV dropped 6.25p to 123.25p in early trading, a fall of nearly 5%. This erased the gains made yesterday, when HMV jumped 6.25p as traders anticipated a strong set of results.

Tuesday Reading

Yahoo release PowerPoint presentation in attempt to win over shareholders, about what went wrong in the attempted Microsoft takeover although it will be disputed by some... 

Oil prices rise again, over a dollar, due to Iran and Israel tension.

FTSE starts week on a high as metal groups like Anglo American and Rio Tinto boom, despite 'a spate of horrendous corporate news'.

The UK's largest car dealer, Pendragon, has had to cut 500 jobs in the wake of poor sales.

UBS are planning to sell Paine Webber, its US wealth management to raise 'a significant amount of cash'.

Germany seem to be resistant to stagflation as unemployment levels reach lowest in 16 year, just 7.8%.

Why did Bear Stearns collapse?

5 things to do whilst in a 'financial panic'.

42000: The number of UK mortgage approvals, down to a fifteen year low.

Initial public offerings fall to lowest in 5 years as signs of an economic slowdown play on companies' minds.

Four of the longest serving directors quit UBS leaving it poised for a shake-up.

Storms and floods damage crops in US leaving panic over bio-fuels.

Story Of The Day

HMV records full-year profits due to surge of buyers in video games. OK, this could be the reason, or it could be due to their extortianate prices. I made the mistake in buying The Best Of Blur, the other day at HMV. There was no mistake in my choice of record but the £15 i paid for it was. To my horror, 5 days later i walk into the Zavvi, formerly Virgin Megastore, in Piccadilly Circus, and spotted the same CD for just £6. I walked home in a huff having been charged 250% more. This is why people download musi illegally, spite.

The doors were closed as we built the feature set to a sensible point, but now they're open!

Got to getcloser.com and start to play. If you just want to see what it's about you can visit the tour here without having to register.

The site is aimed music and film fans who like collecting, who want to broaden their knowledge and deepen their relationship with the things they love. It's also aimed at aficionados, those that are domain experts, music and film creators and people who just want to be in the know.

For the past year LBi have been working with HMV to conceive, build, seed and launch their new social property getcloser.com. It's a beta, so there is still lots to do, the data and product catalogue that sits behind it needs a little work, but it's now ready to unleash on the world so that the community can start driving the development, helping add content, improving the tags, data, descriptions etc..

I won't go into the details as to what the site does etc, the tour can do that, but what I will say is this; it's been one of the most enjoyable projects I've ever worked on. Building a community of this type has it's usual design challenges, not least that you need to build a community and to do that you need content, but you need content from the community!

HMV have been a fantastic client and the LBi team have been awesome. We used an agile development methodology that saw us release features every 2-4 weeks, slowly build a community, user test, evolve, sharpen.

As I say, there is lots to do though not just with the website as the idea behind getcloser translates to many channels; in store, on mobile and others. It will plug into existing social properties, blog tools and the desktop.

The relationship with HMV has been brilliant, long may it continue,

I very much look forward to taking Getcloser forward, but now it's live it's 'hand's off the steering wheel' as my colleague Stephen Barber would say, to see how people respond to it. We'll be making hot fixes and planning a new set of features that aid the tools there already, as well as developing new ones.

The doors were closed as we built the feature set to a sensible point, but now they're open!

Got to getcloser.com and start to play. If you just want to see what it's about you can visit the tour here without having to register.

The site is aimed music and film fans who like collecting, who want to broaden their knowledge and deepen their relationship with the things they love. It's also aimed at aficionados, those that are domain experts, music and film creators and people who just want to be in the know.

For the past year LBi have been working with HMV to conceive, build, seed and launch their new social property getcloser.com. It's a beta, so there is still lots to do, the data and product catalogue that sits behind it needs a little work, but it's now ready to unleash on the world so that the community can start driving the development, helping add content, improving the tags, data, descriptions etc..

I won't go into the details as to what the site does etc, the tour can do that, but what I will say is this; it's been one of the most enjoyable projects I've ever worked on. Building a community of this type has it's usual design challenges, not least that you need to build a community and to do that you need content, but you need content from the community!

HMV have been a fantastic client and the LBi team have been awesome. We used an agile development methodology that saw us release features every 2-4 weeks, slowly build a community, user test, evolve, sharpen.

As I say, there is lots to do though not just with the website as the idea behind getcloser translates to many channels; in store, on mobile and others. It will plug into existing social properties, blog tools and the desktop.

The relationship with HMV has been brilliant, long may it continue,

I very much look forward to taking Getcloser forward, but now it's live it's 'hand's off the steering wheel' as my colleague Stephen Barber would say, to see how people respond to it. We'll be making hot fixes and planning a new set of features that aid the tools there already, as well as developing new ones.

Toluna works on a points system. You earn points for doing different things on the site as I've mentioned, and then you can save your points up and spend them on a variety of different things. There are a number of different gift vouchers that you can choose from, including Amazon, Sainsburys, HMV and CD Wow, and you also have the option to convert points into tickets for various prize draws that they run throughout the year.

Points can be spent on a wide variety of items, from small gifts costing just a few points up to very large gifts costing many thousands of points.  These gifts can be tickets for the cinema, gift vouchers, books, dvds, luxury items, charitable donations, and all manner of other things - far too many to list them all here.  Amongst the gift vouchers that you can choose from are HMV, Amazon and CD Wow, though there are many others too.

Ipoints is not the sort of site that fits neatly into a category which is why I've linked it to one or two places that seem to suit it best. 

The last remaining tickets (10,000) will be sold over the counter in HMV stores in major cities beginning 8am on Wednesday 11th June. That was yesterday, for all you frail of mind.

If you decide to go buy yourself some tix, there's a 6-ticket limit to each customer and you'll have to take along photographic I.D as your name will be written on the ticket when you purchase it.

Do I want to go and pay £155 to listen to the likes of Neil Diamond and then cap off my weekend with a rapper, be knee deep in mud due to the poor drainage system, have to carry everything 2 miles from my bus/car, just to lose my tent to water damage and be in a site so large that there are difficulties in getting from stage to stage in time for the acts I want to see? Why, no thanks.

離開一個住了十年的地方，雖不是自己的home town，但總會對那地方的一些人或物有絲絲的掛念，雖然只是淡淡然的感覺，但不得不承認，是發生了感情。

Indigo，除了是我喜歡的顏色，也是我在多倫多時，最愛留連的書店。可能是他以獨得的藍調吸引我，所以很享受其中的環境與氣氛。

圖中的分店在伊頓中心(Eaton Centre)，在下層的大門口進入，會看見旋轉樓梯，一踏上層的地板就望見落地大玻璃旁的CD部，在就近黃昏的時間到那裡試聽各種音樂是一大樂事，音樂種類之多可追近HMV的藏量；當興奮心情隨較soft的音樂靜下的當兒，陣陣咖啡香氣粒子原來已悄悄溜入嗅覺神經。

我愛Indigo的咖啡室多過Starbucks；咖啡杯的graphic也較Starbucks的「每杯一金句」更好；蜜糖伴咖啡也是在Indigo首先學會的(味道比白砂糖更妙﹗)。或許是我偏愛藍不愛綠的結果。

不過咖啡室環境最好的，個人首選北約克Empress Walk分店，最愛對著全世界最長街道Yonge Street的那一張４座位bar檯，小射燈照著咖啡，有皎潔的黑或伴了雙份cream的啡白色，與友人坐上一個晚上，說說笑笑，又或是靜靜的在玻璃後看著雪中慢步的路人，咖啡室內與繁忙的十字路口對比強烈。但自從Indigo與Chapters合併之後，那一間咖啡室只成了追憶。

北約克還有另一分店在Eglinton，到過一次，是聖誕節，竟給我遇上小交響樂團演奏。另一間經常造訪的是Richmond Hill分店，一層高的獨立building全屬Indigo。以白色的磚牆加上木製百葉窗圍成咖啡室，在書店正中心，多數是兩張木椅配小小的桌子，每張靠著磚牆，所以每人都可以有自己的空間。這分店令人感覺良好，因為樓底高，但我沒有在Richmond Hill店喝過咖啡，倒喜愛看精品。

事實上我並不特別鍾情於咖啡，Indigo其中一個吸引之處是它的精品和賀卡，在別處難以找到，大部分Indigo貨品的設計我也欣賞，在那裡看一回，心情也較舒暢，所以，我有時下班後會特地驅車到那裡走一趟。

The HMV website has been going through some changes and reconstruction so as a thank you to their customers for their support, click here to print off a coupon for $5 off a $20 CD/DVD purchase at HMV in Canada, valid until June 14th.

VITYAZ TRANSPORTERS
By 1985, an intensive research and development program to create a family of what is known to be the Vityaz two-unit CTVs had been completed. This family includes:

? two-unit transport vehicles DT-10, DT-20 and DT-30, with a load-carrying capacity of 10, 20 and 30 tons, respectively;

? two-unit amphibious transporters DT-10P, DT-20P and DT-30P with similar specifications as the regular transporters.

Currently, Vityaz CTVs are in use throughout the whole territory of Russia, as well as in the harsh regions of the Arctic and Antarctica. They are an invaluable part of the transport services for prominent companies such as Gazprom JSC, Rosneftegazstroi, Rosneftegaz JSC, etc. They serve as primary transport vehicles for the personnel who service the extensive oil and gas pipelines throughout Russia, for geologists and scientists who research the dangerous, faraway destinations of Antartica and the Arctic regions. The construction and service industries are also benefiting from the advantages of these vehicles. The DT-30K crane, the DT-30E excavator, refuelling vehicles, mobile workshops, mobile oil refineries, passenger transporters, firefighting vehicles, etc. are mounted on Vityaz chassis. These vehicles are in demand not only in Russia, but throughout the countries of the Middle East and Asia, as well as in North and South America.

Years of operation of these vehicles have proved their reliability and robust design. The vehicle-s design primarily features an unconventional pattern of four active track envelopes providing for large surface contact with the ground for greater stability. In addition to this feature, these ATVs ensures the so called -kinematic method- for turning the articulated tracked vehicle through the -forced folding- of its units. The kinematic method of turn provides a positive tracking force for all tracks during linear movement and while making turns. A combination of the kinematic method of turn and a powerful multifuel engine, along with a hydromechanical transmission, unique track and suspension system with wide band tracks, road wheels with rubber pads, and vertical hydraulic cylinders which allow the two vehicle units to move vertically in relation to each other, make the articulated vehicles with a maximum weight of up to 60 tons more capable in terms of their swamp-, moving sand- loose soil- and snow-going capacity, than any type of single-unit swamp- and snow-going vehicle.

As the two units can be turned relative to each other in the vertical and horizontal planes via hydraulic cylinders or, conversely, can be fixed, the two-unit vehicle can negotiate short (equal to the length of one unit) sections of difficult terrain and such obstacles as ditches and walls and come out of water onto an unprepared bank, ice, or peat.

Owing to their unique design, the Vityaz family of ATVs are capable of operating in conditions impossible for other all-terrain vehicles, for example:

? amphibious return to a mother ship;
? off-road movement with one unit disabled or without one, or even without both tracks of one of the units;
? negotiating ditches and clefts up to 4.0 m wide.
? unloading of a ship offshore if it cannot come close to waterfront (i.e. in the Arctics and Antarctica regions, or in flooded regions, etc.); negotiating waterways in severe ice conditions;
? operation in mountains up to an altitude of 4,000 m.

The DT-10P and DT-30P ATVs are widely used by Russian troops deployed in challenging environmental regions, on islands (for transporting army elements, ammunition, equipment, FOLs and installation of weapon systems). These vehicles are also used by various industries in regions with poor access roads and climatic conditions. They are used to transport various cargoes; deploy digging, forest-working, power, and firefighting equipment; deploy mobile polyclinics and bakeries; transport cranes, excavators, water tanks, etc.; make amphibious unloading of cargoes; tow ships; heave off ships and barges; as well as perform prospecting work on shallow areas of shelf zones.

Shame he was down south rather than in Manchester (or somewhere closer to me) because i'd have definitely taken the day off college to see this genius. He was signing cardboard sleeves for MGS4 in the Oxford Street branch of HMV in London.

According to a Kotaku reader Kojima was only signing the sleeve and nothing else. He also said that there were no pictures allowed, however this reader did get a picture before he could be stopped.

The sleeve does look cool, but if I'd have got one it would not be on the game I'd have it framed to be forever pristine. Surprisingly none  have shown  up on eBay yet. I'm sure they'll be one there sooner or later.

The Kotaku reader did supply and image of his sleeve signed by Mr. Kojima along with Yoji Shinkawa and Yumi Kikuchi

So just where will this new store be?

Uchida’s Beethoven was just one of 10 category winners to be named at BBC Music Magazine’s awards ceremony on the 9th of April in London. Other winners included Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich in the orchestral category and Dutch conductor Ton Koopman in the choral category.

Uchida's win is not just a personal triumph, I feel, but also one for the classical world in that she managed to record a notoriously difficult piece, seamlessely adding ease and passion to the recording. I have personally listened to this piece many times and find it both inspiring and touching, making me even more passionate about my music and even further garnering my interest in Beethoven, who I notoriously avoid (unless, of course, you get me into a "talk" about the 9th Symphony).

What makes her success with this particular disc so satisfying too is that Uchida has never regarded herself as a Beethoven specialist. She preceded this exceptional disc, with one including the last three piano sonatas, but apart from a set of the concertos that is all the Beethoven she has recorded. In fact she doesn't really specialize at all - though relatively early in her career she did record all the Mozart piano concertos and sonatas and more recently surveyed the Schubert sonatas. Although she still regularly returns to both composers, she ranges widely in her recitals and recordings within a repertoire that stretches from Bach to Birtwistle. The programme she has been touring this spring, for instance, sandwiches a group of pieces by Gyorgy Kurtag between a Schubert sonata and Schumann's Etudes Symphoniques, and when she played the Hammerklavier at the Festival Hall in London three years ago, she opened her recital with Boulez's 12 Notations.

It's all part of an insatiable musical curiosity. Uchida is a familiar face in the audience at London concerts of all kinds, and she is one of the few pianists I know who after she has played a concerto regularly stays on to listen to the rest of a concert. Such enthusiasm has meant she has continued to grow and develop as an artist, ever since she made her London debut in 1975 after coming second in the Leeds Piano Competition; Dimitri Alexeev won that year, and Andras Schiff was in joint third place.

It gives her playing an irresistible combination of passionate involvement and intellectual rigour - whatever she plays, you always sense that Uchida has thought through the reasons for everything she does with it, but always in the best interests of communicating what she feels is the emotional essence of the music. It's a rare, and very precious gift.

All I can say in conclusion is that everyone should go and buy this fine recording and listen to what the hype is about. I guarantee that you will not be dissapointed. Once again bravo and endless kudos to Mitsuko-chan and hope we can hear more from her in the future.

nice sign ha

chiba chiba yall

famous ramen in chiba

yay 250 dollar new balance, too bad i didnt buy it.. wack..

the center of it all.. at starbucks

choice 37 album - sold out at HMV

Gampai w/ Josh

Hahime at it again

At the Hub..

‘Music For An Accelerated Culture’ features the singles, ‘That Boy That Girl’, ‘Liquid Lives’ and 'Declaration Of War'.

Fans can pick up their free wristband at the High Street store. For more information see www.hadouken.co.uk

* Today sees the launch of Imperial Wax Solvent, which has been attracting rave reviews –“best in years”…  

* Wednesday: free gig (1900) at HMV, 150 Oxford Street, just east of London’s Oxford Circus, sponsored by music monthly MOJO: for details check out

www.mojo4music.com

* and an important new approved biography, Renegade – The Lives And Tales of Mark E Smith, has just been published. 

In-depth interview in:

www.telegraph.co.uk

And lengthy extracts in:

www.guardian.co.uk

Gerry Smith (no relation)