Gigs I've been to this year:

04/02/2014 - Childish Gambino at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

12/02/2014 - Poliça at Troxy

20/02/2014 - Gipsy Kings at Royal Albert Hall

07/03/2014 - Bite The Buffalo at Upstairs @ The Garage

14/03/2014 - CHVRCHES at The Forum

24/03/2014 - Broken Bells at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

28/03/2014 - Metronomy at O2 Academy Brixton

21/05/2014 - Rodrigo y Gabriela at Royal Albert Hall

30/05/2014 - AWOLNATION at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

06/06/2014 - Chromeo at Roundhouse

10/06/2014 - Howling Bells at Scala

26/06/2014 - Big Sir at Sebright Arms

02/07/2014 - Sleigh Bells at Village Underground

17/07/2014…

Happy new-ish year!

Here are my musical related resolutions:

* Continue to make an effort to go to gigs. I live in London so I have no excuse (apart from lack of funds, but that's what credit cards are for). Last year I made it to 13 gigs, and I have 7 booked already in the upcoming months so I expect to beat my record this year. If you're interested, here's who I'm seeing in 2014 so far (in chronological order): Childish Gambino, Poliça, Gipsy Kings, Broken Bells, Metronomy, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Arcade…

My new year's resolution for 2013 was to go to more live gigs. Here's a record of my attempt:

So far

12/03/2013 - My Bloody Valentine at Hammersmith Apollo

16/04/2013 - Ludovico Einaudi at Usher Hall, Edinburgh

13/05/2013 - Junip at Village Underground

27/05/2013 - Flaming Lips at Roundhouse

30/05/2013 - Alicia Keys at The O2 (free work perk)

24/09/2013 - Fleetwood Mac at The O2

21/10/2013 - Agnes Obel at Union Chapel

25/10/2013 - Everything Everything at The Forum

28/10/2013 - Lissie at KOKO

12/11/2013 - Arcade Fire at Roundhouse

15/11/2013 - Emiliana Torrini at Heaven

19/11/2013 - Jimmy…

Wed 25 Sep – Fleetwood Mac

It has been a lifelong ambition to see Fleetwood Mac play live (despite the fact that they've essentially been broken up the majority of my life), so I was thrilled we managed to snap up a couple of tickets back when they came out. It was pretty torturous having to wait so many months, but totally worth it when it finally rolled around.

We were up in the nose-bleeds at the O2, but it didn't matter. The acoustics were amazing, and every song sounded as it should - from anthemic tracks like The Chain…

It is OBSCENE that Kate Bush wrote The Man with the Child in His Eyes when she was just 13 and recorded it when she was 16. What a woman (child).

While the weather hasn't been as glorious as I would have liked, it is nevertheless SUMMER! To this end, I have created a special playlist. I'll be adding to it, so feel free to subscribe.

You're welcome. Happy summer! X

Just a quickie - if you don't already know about Daytrotter, then you are seriously missing out. Once you've checked it out and marvelled over some excellent acoustic versions of your favourite songs, plus the pretty delicious artwork, go and download the iPhone app. You won't be sorry!

Sat 16 Apr – Tim Minchin and His Orchestra

Overall, I loved the show. Tim was incredible - his vocal performance was stronger than I'd ever seen it in videos, his timing was spot-on, and his stories were hilarious. And of course…the songs were outstanding!

A couple of negatives: the orchestra, while incredibly talented, totally drowned out the vocal at times. I guess the sound technicians were at fault there, or perhaps the acoustics in the Playhouse just weren't suited to the particular set-up they had going on. Also, I thought the order of the set-list was a little funny.…

Mon 1 Nov – Imogen Heap

She opened with my favourite of her songs, The Walk, and I wasn't impressed straight away. I think it was a combination of the fact that I absolutely love the recorded version, plus I think she was still getting in to her stride (in her defence, she had only just woken up, having spent all night and day working on her score).

But she soon had me absolutely enthralled, and I found myself falling in love with tracks I usually skip. And with her.

She is incredibly funny and likeable, telling low key…

Aside from my whole "what's the point of owning music anymore when it's so accessible for streaming?" musings (I'm a Spotify subscriber if you're interested)…I now have further reason to be a little disparaging of iTunes (hitherto my music library application of choice).

(I'm in a brackety mood this evening, you may have noticed).

My current gripe with iTunes is the latest update: minor tweaks to the interface (which haven't improved my quality of life, disappointingly), a new retro logo which leaves much to be desired (sack the designer, I reckon), and, most questionable of all, a new "social" element…