React Or Die, by Butcher Boy is out today. It's pretty good, you know.

"13 years after The Smiths released This Charming Man, Belle And Sebastian re-emphasised the core values of indiepop. Now, another 13 years on, here’s an album that will do it all over again." The Times
"Their second release, React Or Die, is studded with literate, finely etched pop moments that could easily fill Belle & Sebastian's collective shoes." Q
"These Glaswegians adopt the darker side of pop and add more strings and melodrama for a second album that’s full of finesse, like Tindersticks’ halcyon days.” Plan B
"Richly plotted arrangements of cellos and horns, regret, childlike wonder and the lilting sadness of a foggy morning, all swirling into something self-depreciatingly lovely." NME
"The anti-Glasvegas, their own take on Classic Indie being romantic, literate and fey rather than broad and anthemic." Uncut
"Unabashed west-end indie - romantic, delicate, literate and sweetly melodic.” – The Scotsman
“React or Die's subtley layered songs and wry yet keenly felt lyrics make it a worthy successor to their excellent 2007 debut Profit in Your Poetry." For Folk's Sake
"This is a wry, melodic collection of beautifully played indie pop, and deserves to crop up in the end of year best of lists." Music omh
“This is twee pop delivered with a Glasgow kiss.” - Clash

To coincide with Morrissey's residency at the Roundhouse, we're holding a special one-off HDIF at the 100 Club on Saturday January 26th. The night will be a Smiths special, and we'll be playing all of "The Queen Is Dead", in order, from 12.30am onwards! Doors are at 9pm, guest DJ, to be announced, will be on from 10.30pm-midnight as normal, and the night ends at 3am.

Tickets are £6 in advance, and £6 for non members and £4 for members on the night. Advance tickets are available now from: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/24861

I am ridiculously excited by the prospect of this. To hold HDIF at the home of the famous 6Ts northern soul all-nighters, and the venue that's played host to countless numbers of HDIF heroes from the Stones and The Kinks to Jackie Wilson is a dream come true.

I hope you can come along!

Ian x

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How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Saturday January 26th
100 Club, 100 Oxford Street, London W1
9pm-3am, £6 adv. On the night: £6 non members, £4 members.
London's premier indie pop and soul club presents a Smiths special,
featuring all of "The Queen Is Dead", played in order, from 12.30am onwards.
Guest DJ, from 10.30pm to midnight, to be announced. Advance tickets from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/24861
IP: 86.130.203.167

Hello!

Just a quick note to say that this Saturday's HDIF in central London will be
a Smiths special. Every so often we do a night where we play all of a
particular album over the course of the evening - previous nights featured
"Tigermilk", "The Boy With The Arab Strap" and "Pet Sounds" - and this time
it's the turn of the Smiths. I've spent a long time trying to work out which
album we should play, and kept changing my mind again and again as I came up
with reasons for each one. But in the end, I've decided to ignore things
like anniversaries and so on and just make it a purely personal decision. So
on Saturday, I'll be playing all of "The Smiths", throughout the night,
simply because it's my favourite Smiths album.

Now, some of you will remember that we ended the last Phoenix HDIF with
"Reel Around The Fountain" - quite an emotional moment for 3am! So I'll be
starting my selections with the very same song, playing "Reel Around The
Fountain" at 9.30pm sharp. Then the rest of the songs will be played at
various points throughout the night. And before you ask if I'm playing the
UK version of the album (without "This Charming Man" on) or the US version
(with "This Charming Man" on), the answer is...I haven't decided yet. I'll
work it out on the night...!

Indie song of the week: "Bicycle Thieves" by Pale Fountains
Soul song of the week: "Peaches And Cream" by The Ikettes

We're also very pleased to be hosting a guest DJ set from Bonnie And Clyde
from Barcelona's famous Razzmatazz club. They'll be on from 10.30-midnight,
as usual.

This Saturday we're having a "Pet Sounds" special at HDIF.

I wanted to do something Christmassy, that didn't involve playing any Christmas songs. For a while, I toyed with doing something around the "Rushmore" soundtrack - either playing all of it, or some highlights - as it's such a wonderful film and an amazing soundtrack.

But the more I looked into it, the more it became clear that the playing the whole soundtrack wouldn't be the best of ideas. "A Summer Song" by Chad And Jeremy is lovely, of course (and I'll definitely be playing it on the 16th), but eight or so minutes of "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who? Not quite HDIF dancefloor material. Not quite Christmas either.

But then I went to see Brian Wilson play "Pet Sounds" for the last time ever in the UK. And it was all just so perfect, and - in a strange way - all so Christmassy without mentioning Christmas once, that I knew this was the answer. Just play the songs in your head! The introduction to "Wouldn't It Be Nice"! The drifting beauty of "Let's Go Away For A While"! The heartstopping majesty of "God Only Knows"! Even though the gig was on 12th of November, it was just like Christmas.

So, on Saturday the 16th of December, I'll be playing all of "Pet Sounds" at HDIF at the Phoenix. Not in order and not all at once, but, as with the "Boy With The Arab Strap" night we did a few months back, the songs will be dotted throughout the evening.

I'll play "You Still Believe In Me" at 9.15 sharp, so if you want to hear the whole album, please make sure you get there early.

The guest DJ is David Callahan of The Wolfhounds. David was a regular guest DJ in the very early days of HDIF, so it's a real pleasure to welcome him back. He's a superb DJ with a big collection of cool indiepop gems, so I'm looking forward to hearing what he's going to play.

Hope to see you there!
Ian x

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How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Saturday December 16th
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PP, three minutes walk from Oxford Circus tube station, 9pm-3am, £4 members, £6 non members. Membership is free from http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk
Guest DJ: David Callahan (The Wolfhounds)

We play:
The Smiths * The Supremes * The Go-Betweens * Dusty Springfield * Belle & Sebastian * Love * Tammi Terrell * Aztec Camera * The Ronettes * Orange Juice * Beach Boys * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The Shangri-Las * Primal Scream * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * Dexys Midnight Runners * Camera Obscura * The Four Tops * Melba Moore

Hello!

We're very pleased to announce the forthcoming release of our first record
on the HDIF label. "The Kids At The Club" is a 19-track indiepop
compilation, featuring Saturday Looks Good To Me, Voxtrot, I'm From
Barcelona, Tender Trap, Fosca, and lots of superb new bands. Also included
is an eight page booklet, with sleeve notes and photographs from the first
four years of HDIF. I've spent all of this year on the comp, and I've done
my best to make it feel like a souvenir of the club itself, as well as a
collection of wonderful music. I hope you like it.

Price is £8.99 plus P&P.

It will be in the shops from September 4th.

Voxtrot, "The Start Of Something"
I'm From Barcelona, "We're From Barcelona"
Irene, "Stardust"
Saturday Looks Good To Me, "Edison Girls"
Butcher Boy, "Days Like These Will Be The Death Of Me"
Lucky Soul, "Give Me Love"
Fanfarlo, "Elephant Graveyard"
Salty Pirates, "Black Minds, White Lies"
Tender Trap, "Ampersand"
Stars Of Aviation, "Marie Et L'Accordeon"
Wintergreen, "The Magic Road"
Shimura Curves, "Noyfriend"
The Gresham Flyers, "Blackpool"
Language Of Flowers, "You're The One"
Amida, "Virtue Was Your Downfall"
Strange Idols, "She's Gonna Let You Down Again"
Pocketbooks, "The First World Record"
Fosca, "I've Agreed To Something I Shouldn't Have"
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, "Seems To Be On My Mind"

You can also buy the compilation directly from us, via mail order. We're
taking orders for the compilation now from:
http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/shop.html

Theres profiles of each band on the compilation here -
http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/whoswho.html and some kind words from
people whove already bought the comp here -
http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/kindwords.html

This is my first record, so its all very exciting...!!

Thanks a lot!
Ian

http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk

Hello!

Just a quick note to say thanks very much to everyone who came to HDIF
Presents on Thursday and HDIF at the Phoenix on Saturday. Both fabulous
nights, Saturday especially - playing all of "The Boy With The Arab Strap"
was a delight. Here are my highlights:

* Snaking through the crowd to go to the bar during "A Spaceboy Dream",
enjoying the dreamlike atmosphere that had suddenly descended on the
dancefloor, chatting to James for a minute or so, then dancing when the
bongos at the end came in, dancing back through the crowd, dancing on the
lip of the stage, doing crazy beat poetry hand jives with a couple of guys
at the front, all the while knowing that any second now...
* "Dirty Dream 2" was going to kick in - ah, the rush of energy and
excitement was glorious - just what I'd hoped for! Seeing people speeding
onto the dancefloor, seeing a big throng of bodies, all dancing and singing
along...I did think "This is what life is all about. Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
ba." More or less...!
* "Lil Ole Boy, Lil Ole Girl" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, our soul
song of the week. What a tune! One of those songs that just gets me dancing
on my heels and tip toes.
* "Wild Bikini" by Tullycraft - debut HDIF airing for this one, but what a
song! Reminded me hugely of Throw That Beat In The Garbagecan, Germany's
finest indiepop export - I'll definitely be playing more like this!
* "Think" by James Brown. Sometimes you have turn to the masters to get
things done. A brilliant, brilliant song.
* The new single by the Strange Idols. Recorded a few days before, handed to
me on a blank CDR with the promise it was a dance classic by the band
themselves - I took a leap of faith and pressed play! And they were right!
Fantastic stuff.
* "Nicola" by Vetty - glorious funky sixties French pop.
* "The Rollercoaster Ride" - I better stop before I list the entire set, but
ending with this was just right for me. Floating back down to earth after an
evening of highs...with Camera Obscura's "Let Me Go Home" to send us dancing
out into the night. Phew...!

A bumper crop of photos are up on the site now:
http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk

That's it for three weeks now. See you in August.

Dammit, this was meant to be a short email. Because of...

This!

We're now taking online orders for the HDIF compilation - I'm going to send
the first batch of CDs out this week. It's a 19 track compilation featuring
Saturday Looks Good To Me, Voxtrot, I'm From Barcelona, Tender Trap, and
lots of superb new bands. Also included is an eight page booklet, with
sleeve notes and photographs from the first four years of HDIF. I've spent
most of this year on the comp, and I've done my best to make it feel like a
souvenir of the club itself, as well as a collection of wonderful music. I
hope you like it.

Copies are onsale here:
http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/hdiflabel.html

The compilation will be in the shops on Monday Sept 4th, and we're having a
launch party to celebrate on Friday Sept 8th at the Windmill in Brixton.
Playing live will be Lucky Soul, Irene, Language Of Flowers and The Gresham
Flyers. Tickets are £6 and will sell out pretty quickly I reckon. They're
available here:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/11370

Thanks once again for reading through to the end of this. I'm sorry the HDIF
emails are so long. I promise myself I'm going to make this a short one and
then all of a sudden I've written another epic. There's just too much to
tell...!! I'll leave it the professionals I think:

A photograph of myself
Is all I have to show for
Seven weeks of river walkways
Seven weeks of staying up all night

See you soon!
Ian x

I know, I know...!

Because we've moved to the first Friday in Brixton and the third Saturday at
the Phoenix, every so often the calendar does a weird temporal shimmy and
deposits the two weekends next to each other. The next time this is due to
happen is in September 2007, so prepare yourselves now...!

So even though we've just had (a storming, and quite chaotic) HDIF in
Brixton, there's another one this weekend. I was thinking about how to make
this one special on the coach back from Oxford on Saturday night, and I put
"The Boy With The Arab Strap" on my walkman to help me ponder. I don't think
I've listened to it all the way through for years - definitely not this
decade - and it was a real revelation. All those ghosts! Stuart David and
his spaceboy dream. Isobel wondering if it's wicked not to care. Memories of
the moment when our secret suddenly broke out into the real world. I sat
there with my beer, watching the lights of the M4 glide by and just got lost
in it all again.

And that's when I realised what I should do. Apropos of absolutely nothing
and tying in with no relevant anniversary, I'm going to play every song from
"The Boy From The Arab Strap" on Saturday night. Not in order or all
together - just sprinkled through the night like old love letters. It seems
to me that two of the songs were designed to be played back to back, so I'll
play those as a pair. Doors open at 9pm and "It Could Have Been A Brilliant
Career" will be aired at 9.15pm sharp. From then on, who knows where we'll
go.

The indie song of the week is: "The Kids At The Club" by Comet Gain
The soul song of the week is: "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" by Marvin
Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Our guest DJ this week is Andy Strickland from The Loft.

I haven't picked the remit breaker yet.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Ian x

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How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Saturday July 15th
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PP, three minutes walk from
Oxford Circus tube station, 9pm-3am, £4 members, £6 non members. Membership
is free from http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk
Guest DJ: Andy Strickland (The Loft)

We play:
The Smiths * The Supremes * The Go-Betweens * Dusty Springfield * Belle &
Sebastian * Love * Tammi Terrell * Aztec Camera * The Ronettes * Orange
Juice * Beach Boys * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The
Shangri-Las * Primal Scream * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * Dexys Midnight
Runners * Camera Obscura * The Four Tops * Melba Moore * The Orchids

Hello!

We've very very pleased to announce that this Saturday, HDIF returns to the
Phoenix on Cavendish Square in central London. Our guest DJ
is Darren Hayman of Hefner fame. Darren turned in an excellent set last time
he DJ-ed at HDIF, so we're really looking forward to this.

As it's our first night back at the Phoenix and our first night on a
Saturday, it's super important that we kick off with a bang. So please
please please come along and support us in our new home. I'm sorry there's
been so much upheaval over the last few months, but hopefully this will see
us settled for good.

The indie track of the week is: "If Looks Could Kill" by Camera Obscura
The soul track of the week is: "Mississippi Delta" by Bobbie Gentry

And please let me know what you'd like to hear. It's always better when I've
got a load of excellent requests to boost my set...!

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Ian x

---------

How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Saturday June 17th
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PP, three minutes walk from
Oxford Circus tube station, 10pm-3am, £4 members, £6 non members. Membership
is free from http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk
Guest DJ: Darren Hayman (Hefner)

We play:
The Smiths * The Supremes * The Go-Betweens * Dusty Springfield * Belle &
Sebastian * Love * Tammi Terrell * Aztec Camera * The Ronettes * Orange
Juice * Beach Boys * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The
Shangri-Las * Primal Scream * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * Dexys Midnight
Runners * Camera Obscura * The Four Tops * Melba Moore * The Orchids

Hello!

Well I suppose I ought to knock together something about this. I'm doing a one-off night at the Buffalo Bar. I had this idea ages ago, and booked the night in January - and now it's almost upon us. So I guess I should explain.

Seven And Seven Is
Friday June 30th
Buffalo Bar, Highbury
9pm-2am, £4.50

So what is Seven and Seven Is? It's simple really - the night is a celebration of the seven inch single. In an era where music is poured into your brain via a direct connection to the ether and stored as a digital blip on your state-of-the-art steal-me mp3ogram, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a one-off trip back to a happier, simpler time. A time when music came as a gift on a circular piece of vinyl, often with a personal message scratched to you on the run out groove by someone called Porky.

At Seven And Seven Is, I will only play seven inch singles. The music policy will be roughly simular to HDIF but with a wider scope. If it's on seven inch and fits the spirit of the night, I'll play it - so yes to indie rock, yes to punk rock, yes to New Order and the like. And if you want to make a request, then it has to be on seven inch - and the best way to ensure that is to bring the seven inch yourself. I'd like this to be a night where people revisit their dusty seven inch single collection and bring along gems for me to air. I'll be doing the same with my collection, and making a visit to Record And Tape Exchange (or whatever it's called now), to stock up on vinyl treats.

Ah, the Buffalo Bar. I'm looking forward to it!

Hello! I'm sorry to say that this Friday's HDIF is the last we'll be doing at The Phoenix on a Friday. There is a chance we might move to a Saturday at The Phoenix, or we may well end up on a Friday somewhere else entirely. We just don't know yet. So please please please come along on Friday and make it a send-off to remember. Gordon from Ballboy is our guest DJ, so it should be a fantastic night. Hope to see you on Friday! Ian x --------------- How Does It Feel To Be Loved? Friday Feb 17th The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PP, three minutes walk from Oxford Circus tube station, 10pm-3am, £4 members, £6 non members. Membership is free from http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk Guest DJ: Gordon McIntyre (Ballboy) We play: The Smiths * The Supremes * The Go-Betweens * Dusty Springfield * Belle & Sebastian * Love * Tammi Terrell * Aztec Camera * The Ronettes * Orange Juice * Beach Boys * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The Shangri-Las * Primal Scream * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * Dexys Midnight Runners * Camera Obscura * The Four Tops * Melba Moore * The Orchids