Sounds Sveriges

I went to see Swedish rock-poppers The Sounds play Hoxton Bar & Grill on Tuesday night.

They came on stage about 40 minutes late. When popstars are late on stage, I naturally assume they're preening their hair. So when Maja came on stage with a right dodgy mop, I wasn't overly impressed.

Maja is fierce, and I don't mean in an fabulous way. Woman is scary. She marched across the stage, ducking and diving, spitting and snarling. Her voice is more shouty and harsh than floaty and high. She's a woman among men, but has definitely a touch of the masculine.

Still, she was wearing a nice headband. And has amazing legs.

Crucial fashion error: double denim. Maja teamed a light blue denim jacket with dark charcoal denim high-waisted buttoned-up hot pants. Double denim is never a good look. The whole effect, avec headband, was very 80s European rock.

As it happens, this image works for the band, whose songs are best when they're Europe-style anthems. Living in America, Painted by Numbers, Ego and Hurt You were sing-a-long, arms-in-the-air highlights.

Check: The Sounds site // The Sounds myspace

Discoveries

I'm in a blogging quandary. Part of me wants to just stop. A bigger part of me wants to go on, boldly going forth and exclaiming, "ace!" I'm not sure what a blog is for any more, as everyone blogs now, in one way or another, thanks to Facebook.

Acediscovery will change - it was always to be somewhere I'd write about things I've found that I think are cool. This became hijacked with Eurovision and pop music, and that's great... I just miss the other stuff, that's all. (Thanks, Robyn.)

So.

These two articles about Ireland are very interesting.

• Irish lap up cappuccino culture and put tea up the spout

Tea drinking in Ireland is on the decline. Buzzing Ireland now drinks coffee, coffee to stay awake, coffee to keep up, coffee to drink on the go. All this coffee being sold is instant coffee.

• For whom the bell tolls . . . line goes dead for phone boxes

Ireland's main telephone provider are removing over 20% of their phone boxes, because of under use. Mobile phones, Blackberries, PDAs have taken over. Ireland's commuter culture has no time to stop at a phone box, it just calls from the mobile, on the go.