This is my first shot at an HDR image, and I’m very pleased with the result. The original photos were taken from a hilltop tribal village in northern Thailand last year. It was a breathtaking view and one of the best experiences of my trip.

Shout out to Trey Ratcliff’s excellent Stuck in Customs blog for the tutorial.

I started thinking about what songs to fill my hour-long slot with a few weeks ago. Mostly, I just scoured SoundCloud and Hype Machine, which unearthed a few gems, the latter being especially good for cool remixes. Here’s a one we dropped quite early in the set:

Once I had a ‘longlist’ of tracks I thought we could get away with, I started whittling down to an hour’s worth of musical manna. This included things like Daft Punk, Robyn, The Stooges, ESG, Ladytron, Yeasayer and Ratatat.

On the night I was joined by my pal Ben, who used to man the decks at the student union indie disco in Edinburgh. He has a better idea than I do of what you should play when, judging by the paying public’s reaction. This resulted in one or two hairy moments where we were quibbling over what to play next with seconds left of the previous song, but it was another lesson that no matter how you prepare for a DJ set, at least 50% of that goes out the window on the night.

There was quite a lot of stuff which didn’t make the final cut, simply because they were a bit obscure or didn’t have the right energy. One was this nice remix of the Beirut song ‘Nantes’:

There were also back-up tunes which were drafted in at times when we wanted to keep people dancing – LCD Soundsystem’s ‘All My Friends’ went down particularly well, with one guy telling us this was “the greatest song ever”.

I’d also like to apologise to the three ladies who requested songs – one band I’d never heard of, Goldfrapp and Beyonce’s “new one”.

I’d also like to thank our nominated band, Tokamak, for tearing it up in their ear-splitting set. And sporting some unusual headgear.

And finally, thanks again to the Pinup lads for having us. Find out more about their nights here.

Seems mad now, but only yesterday I was in San Remo on the Italian Riviera, at the end of our holiday in the south of France. While I was waiting on my better half choosing something from the local market (mercato), I spotted this ‘saltire’ of jetstreams in the sky. If only the Scottish summer was bright enough for displays like this.

The Twilight Sad

All things must pass, and last month I penned my last singles column for The Skinny. It might not be up there with the fall of the Roman Empire or the demise of Communism, but it’s the end of a mini-era for me. No longer will I make a monthly trip to The Skinny HQ and come away weighed down by a bag full of plastic boxes and press releases. The tower of promos in the corner of my room will finally stop threatening to take up all my floorspace, and I’ll have a few more evenings to concentrate on other things. But I’m sure I’ll miss the challenge of fitting 12 reviews into 500 words with any semblance of a line of thought. Or not.

I’m told the singles column will continue, and Ally Brown should be taking up the baton for next month at least, so it’s not game over completely. But in the interests of nerdish archiving I’ve dug up all the winners of the coveted Single of the Month here. I think it’s quite a good selection of names, and I make no apologies for the Scottish imbalance, they really were deserved.

I had one month off this year when Dave let Mastodon do the reviewing honours, and a highlight was the first ‘takeover’, when The Twilight Sad did the honours for June last year. We met them at the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline before their Tigerfest show, and they were very funny and very cynical, and ended the session by stamping on the CDs. Rock’n'roll.

October 2007: Sons and Daughters – Gilt Complex

November 2007: Rilo Kiley – Breakin’ Up

December 2007: Malcolm Middleton – We’re All Going to Die

January 2008: The Mae Shi – Run To Your Grave

February 2008: Alice and the Majesty – I Could Love You

March 2008: M.I.A. – Paper Planes

April 2008: Lightspeed Champion – Galaxy of the Lost

May 2008: Frightened Rabbit – Fast Blood

June 2008: Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone

July 2008: Attic Lights – Bring You Down

August 2008: Nacional – Telephone

September 2008: Alex Cornish – Until the Traffic Stops

October 2008: Dananananaykroyd – Pink Sabbath

November 2008: Late of the Pier – Bathroom Gurgle

December 2008: The Notwist – Boneless

January 2009: TV on the Radio – Dancing Choose

February 2009: Crystal Stilts – Departure

March 2009: Animal Collective – My Girls

April 2009: King Creosote – Coast On By

May 2009: We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices

June 2009: Django Django – Storm

August 2009: Speech Debelle – Better Days

September 2009: The Seventeenth Century – Roses in the Park