iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

It's been a bit of a rubbish month for gigs what with all that sports stuff and the heat and people going on holiday but this is next week and will be brilliant

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Grew up listening to Joy Division and absolutely loved the Chameleons. Was heavily into shoegaze first time round. Love loads of postpunk, both original and revival era. These days I am a massive Twilight Sad and Mogwai fan. So sincerest apologies everyone but I fucking can't stand The Cure.

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harrysword.bsky.social @harrysword.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

This looks like the press photo whenever you get an e mail from Mute.

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tufflifeboogie.bsky.social @tufflifeboogie.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Manchester Popfest was already going to be excellent this year, and they've now added BMX Bandits. There are loads of new bands I'm looking forward to discovering as well as Gina Birch from Raincoats, Trash Kit making a welcome return, & The Cords. June 26th - 28th, well worth £66 for three days.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I'd completely forgotten they did this (and yes, trying to remember all the live covers they've done is something that comes up from time to time). But then looking down my gigs list for the second half of 2019 there's a lot I'd forgotten. As if what came soon after kind of smothered it all...

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Today's random thought: must have heard A Song From Under The Floorboards hundreds of times, including a few times live during the 09-10 reunion, and still have no idea how that third line ("I know the meaning of life...") scans w.r.t the music. I mean it doesn't, does it? And yet it sort of does?

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

All of these seem fairly plausible tbh

Fake column headline with the byline and image of the Torygraph's batshit columnist Allister Heath, saying "Mogwai is not a policy, it is a fanatic religion bent on our destruction"

Allister Heath

Britain's descent into Half Man Half Biscuit madness is terrifying to behold

Allister Heath

The unhinged radicalism of Sea Power is a direct threat to British history

Allister Heath

How The Twilight Sad became the ultimate weapon of the anti-British establishment

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

First Cock Forest sighting of the year, always a moment of joy, and a nice snowy topped one poking out through the mist there. First proper awayday of 26, we're on the way 🙂

Photograph of an arrangement of trees on a hillside near Crawford, just next to the M74 and the West Coast Mainline, which looks a bit like a cock and balls. Today the hills behind have some snow. Customarily photographed for many years by myself and some other English gig going friends on any away trip to Scotland to the point where if you look at the heatmap on my Google images there's a massive cluster in this rather empty part of Lanarkshire.

Screenshot from a Ticketmaster email reminding me that Today It's Showtime for Mogwai at Paisley Town Hall.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Very happy to discover this week that one of my favourite accounts back on the old place is here 😄

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Ten years ago? Really? Apparently so. Promoter reckons it was the best lineup he did, I reckon it was one of the best anyone has done. Appreciate that things change and nothing lasts forever but I do really miss Raw Power. (And yes Qujaku = Piqnic, still great and clearly still love the letter Q)

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harrysword.bsky.social @harrysword.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Andy Burnham - apart from looking like a character called ‘Andy Burnham’ from a 9:00 pm BBC2 drama from 1998 about an ‘ambitious Manchester mayor’- also somehow looks like *every single member* of The Smiths and New Order mashed into one.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Post a pic of the venue where you saw your first concert and the band or artist. Not actually my ticket though I do still have it somewhere.

A ticket for the Stranglers at Preston Guild Hall 20/3/87 that I found online but my own looked exactly the same

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Has anyone else spent the last season of Stranger Things thinking yeah it's all very well doing all that monster hunting shit but it's 1987 now so haven't you boys got an album to make?

The characters Mike and Will from the final season of Stranger Things set in 1987

Sonic Boom and Jason Pierce from Spacemen 3 in actual 1987

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

I've known @jim.londoncentric.media for a very long time. I gave him a lift to a Half Man Half Biscuit gig when he was a teenage student (Ulverston 08). This is being called one of the articles of the year; I mean *that* opening sentence! Which I can't help but hear in Nigel Blackwell's voice 😀

londoncentric.media

The snail farmer of London, his mafia friends, and a £20m vendetta against the taxman

Terry Ball runs elaborate mollusc-based tax avoidance schemes that are costing London councils millions of pounds. Yet when London Centric tracks him down, an even stranger story emerges.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

I have been laughing at this too much to not shove it in your face too, sorry (about as sorry as the OP, that is 🙂)

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Nearly did an albums of the year list then this turned up and I'm only half way through but (unsurprisingly, given this year's live sets) it's probably going to be in there... Beautiful stuff @sulkrooms.bsky.social

Rewilding by Sulk Rooms on mottled vinyl on a record player turntable with the sleeve (artwork is red and black flowers with a couple of eyeballs looking through them, species unknown) propped up in the record player lid. On the left is the bottom of a quite shit looking plastic Christmas tree (it's not really that shit, just looks rather sparse due to the weird angle of the photo). In front of a yellowish wall.

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Caroline G 📚 @loopyk.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I can't stop singing it now. 🤣🎄

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

I don't actually do much streaming as I mostly listen to records at home, so my end of year review is largely unrepresentative - however I have to say, even with limited use, Tidal (which I've been using about 2 years) definitely knows me better than Spotify (which I used for about 10) ever did 😄

Screenshot from the Tidal app showing my most listened to genres. Which are:

Post-Punk Revival (in bold type)

Angsty Indie

Cinematic Rock

Melodic Shoegaze

Defiant Punk

Experimental Noise (in bold type)

British New Wave

Brooding Alternative

Guitar-Driven (in bold type)

Underground Anthems

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Seeing a few posts about Patrick Fitzgerald (and Julian Swales) at the Trades and yes they were great but I chose this date specifically because of Pete Fij supporting and he was wonderful. Adorable were one of the most underrated bands of the 90s 🖤

Pete Fij on stage at the Trades Club in Hebden taken from the right side,he is wearing a white jacket and leaning forward, there's a guitarist on his rigging ted trousers.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

The astonishing run of gigs that has been November continues, I've not had a night in since Thursday but no way I was missing this, @sulkrooms.bsky.social and @jamesadrianbrown.bsky.social both absolutely fantastic. (Glad it was a nice early finish though 😄)

James Adrian Brown playing a right-angled set up including synth(s), laptop, boxes, cables and a small portable radio , in front of an orange and black patterned curtain

Sulk Rooms playing a guitar and a load of synths in front of the curtain, lit in extremely lurid red

Extremely dark picture of James Adrian Brown where he is lit in red but everything else is dark blue

Sulk Rooms as before, but with a reel to reel tape machine in front of him, it is extremely brightly lit in yellow, everything else is red

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Couldn't believe the size of the room (Aviva Studio Manchester but not a bit of it I've been in before) but My Bloody Valentine filled every corner with sound. Loud, yes, obviously but astonishingly clear. I'm actually no more deaf this morning than I usually am!

My Bloody Valentine on stage at Aviva Studio Manchester taken from the left hand side. Bilinda is on the left singing, Deb in the middle with her back to us, Colm behind her surrounded by perspex screens and Kevin on the right with a hat on.

My Bloody Valentine, image framed to show the beautiful multicoloured backdrop projection

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Enjoyed Boundaries Festival so much I'm going to post a few more pictures. Massive respect to @grassi.bsky.social for making the entire thing pretty much himself, home now with some fantastic memories (see yesterday's post for the Saturday morning bit)

Rhodri Davies on stage at Pop Recs looking through his harp

Aja Ireland on stage at Pop Recs. She is standing behind a massive table of cables and a laptop, in front of a projection of something with far too many teeth.

Dawn Terry on stage at the City Hall which does look a lot like the sort of conference room you get sent to for work things. She is barefoot, wearing a black dress and playing an accordion

Sly And The Family Drone playing at City Hall, not on any sort of stage but in the middle of the floor in the round. One band member is standing on a drum and audience members are hitting another drum.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

A thread of pictures from the Boundaries Festival Sunderland sound walk with sound artist Tim Shaw enhancing and remixing the ambience of the city centre and the river ... incredible stuff.

Tim Shaw in front of the large Christmas tree in the Sunderland City Hall foyer, with his on-the-go production equipment

The backs of five people wearing headphones walking towards a blue-white fibreglass archway that says "Welcome to Winter"

Tim holding his microphone against an electronic advertising screen. There is a seagull on top of the screen just taking off

A group of people walking towards the camera with Tim Shaw at the front, walking along a normal city centre street past a phone accessories shop

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Happy International Spacemen Day 🚀

Picture of the band Spacemen 3 from the back cover of the Sound Of Confusion LP, the band are lit by a psychedelic pattern projected onto them

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Assistant @assistant.bandcamp.com · 29/10/2025

Assistant are 1/3 French but we don’t really know of any French indie-pop DJs or blogs! Who does? Any tips? Daft to know so little about the scene in the land of all of our dream cheese.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

I love @kathrynjoseph11.bsky.social anyway but adding Lomond Campbell to the live thing was a genius idea. And yes, her between song chat is as filthy as we have come to expect 😄 Really enjoyed Lomond's support set of his own stuff too and bought a record. Far too good for a Tuesday 🖤

Picture taken from front left of stage. Lomond Campbell left, Kathryn Joseph right, facing each other over their keyboards (his synths, hers piano) with his back towards us. They are lit by green spotlights against a red background of the legendary Deaf Institute wallpaper.

Lomond Campbell solo taken from the right of the stage, playing a big stack of synths and electronics. In various shades of purple.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

If you used to follow me on the place that went to shit, you may remember that there are certain songs I post annually in relation to a specific date or event, and I don't even really know why I do it, but yeah, here's one of them 🙂 🇲🇽🏁 youtu.be/8Jv64uhCIrU?...

youtu.be

Mogwai - Mexican Grand Prix [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

YouTube video by Sub Pop

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

I often say that for people like me every week is independent venue week: over 200 gigs last year, probably two thirds in indie places. I love them. I support them. I do however despair that that support is still not mutual. By which I mean: VENUES! PUBLISH YOUR FUCKING STAGE TIMES IN ADVANCE!

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Post yourself from a different era: me and my dad, 1975

A man with incredible 1970s hair playing a red guitar and a three year old child in dark purple dungarees copying him on a ukulele.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

A few weeks ago we went to see young Manchester musician Ellen Beth Abdi, who alongside T-shirts and tapes was selling her own made marmalade (it's genuinely fantastic too). Off to see Mr F on Monday and may well be tempted by this... Any musicians out there doing bread? Complete my breakfast! 😄

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Elisabeth Elektra @elisabethelektra.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Since deleting Twitter I’ve noticed a big drop in my Bandcamp sales. If you’re a music fan, please repost this so people can find me here! I make weirdo alt pop, I hate nazis and love Etsy witches 🖤✨ elisabethelektra.bandcamp.com

elisabethelektra.bandcamp.com

Elisabeth Elektra

Euphoric Art-Pop from Glasgow, Scotland elisabethelektra.com ‘Mercurial’ LP out now: “Giddy electronic pop” ☆☆☆☆ MOJO “A haunting, odd gem” ☆☆☆☆ RECORD COLLECTOR "Stark, dramatic, crystalline" - ME...

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

That'll be my Friday night viewing sorted then 😄

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Post an obscure album in your collection you that always think: 'Surely nobody else has got this?' Bought in a weird second hand shop in Groningen, Netherlands, in 2004. Would love to know how it ended up there...

An LP called The History Of Offshore Radio: Recordings From Offshore Commercial Radio Stations 1958-1970. With various b/w photos of boats.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Honestly not sure if I will be posting much from @krankenhausfest.bsky.social this weekend because the signal's shit and I intend to be having too much fun anyway, but massive shout to @thetradesclub.bsky.social for hosting a brilliant 3 day warm-up. Hebdenhaus? Krankenbridge? Great stuff anyway 💚

Dean Wareham at the Trades with lots of smoke machine smoke

Britta Phillips on stage at the Trades wearing a bright yellow jacket

Deary on stage at the Trades taken from half way back

Some of Deary on stage taken from the front

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

How it started / how it ended up... Still processing the fact that this actually happened. Some of my all time favourite musicians from both sides of the Atlantic and indeed the millennium, doing a full Galaxie 500 set. Including the most incredible Fourth Of July beyond my wildest dreams 💚

Post from the Sea Power Social Facebook group by Roy Wilkinson (Krankenhaus Festival), 18 Feb:

"DEAN & BRITTA / KRANKENHAUS?

Curiosity question. Just wanted to ask a quick 'straw poll' question. How excited or otherwise would people be if Galaxie's 500's Dean Wareham were to come to K2025 and do a two-person set with his bandmate and wife Britta Phillips?"

Immediate response by me:

"That would be amazing. Seen him many times, solo/duo/band, always brilliant. He's doing some dates this spring which are Galaxie 500 oriented (sometimes he tours entirely solo/Dean+Britta stuff, sometimes does the nostalgia thing) so he's clearly rehearsing that stuff for 2025... so you could even maybe convince Sea Power to join him for a combined Tugboat?"

Dean Wareham and Sea Power performing Tugboat at Hebden Bridge Trades Club

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Lovely little evening of atmospheric electronics at Shoegaze Cafe last night with two almighty Tables Of Cables and one fantastic tape machine. That's @jamesadrianbrown.bsky.social in the green corner and @sulkrooms.bsky.social in the red corner.

Electronic artist James Adrian Brown performing in a very green lit space

Electronic artist Sulk Rooms performing in a very red lit space, with a large 20th century reel to reel tape machine on a separate table.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Didn't know this morning we were going to see a psych surf band we'd never heard of from Bogota Colombia this evening but it popped up on FB at dinnertime - a pretty last minute gig apparently - so why not? Cheers Los Fuckin Surfer Smokers, you were brilliant 🙂 this is why the Peer Hat is important

Los Fuckin Surfer Smokers on stage at the Peer Hat. Guitarist, drummer, bassist in front of a white drape with a big banner of their band name to the right

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

All the timings here for @tufflifeboogie.bsky.social Preston Popfest 🎉 🎶 🍡 copied off the facebook event pages for those who don't have that. It's an astonishing lineup!

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Screenshot in my case an actual picture of the telly, from a BBC Alba documentary about an independent pie maker (it was 2020 lockdown, there wasn't much to do) with a subtitle caption I'm convinced is a secret lost Mogwai title

Two middle aged men looking disapprovingly at a piece of industrial equipment that looks a bit like an old clothes mangle, painted blue. The caption reads "My nemesis, the industrial pastry press"

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Hello to everyone else who gets unfeasibly excited at the mention of new Phil Elverum music 🙂

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Of course we're at a gig, and the football should have been over before Loose Articles went on stage, but of course it wasn't... cracking set, finished just as the first penalties were being lined up, everyone got their phones out, and honestly couldn't think of a better place to be for the result ❤️

youtu.be

Loose Articles - Kick Like a Girl (Official Video)

YouTube video by Loose Articles

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Got our tickets, this will be our third time there, it really is a fantastic little festival.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

I don't know the OP - thread was reposted into my timeline by a mutual - but I have been laughing for ages at this. Well played, Italian tourists, and also amazing that the original image had such reach that they even thought "oh we must do that when we go to Manchester" 😄

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A Head Full of Wishes @fullofwishes.co.uk · 04/07/2025

Happy #Galaxie500Day if you celebrate www.fullofwishes.co.uk/2014/07/04/f...

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

You know I bloody love Half Man Half Biscuit, my second most seen band (which seems oddly appropriate) but until a few years ago I was never that arsed about the actual albums except as a source of keeping gigs fresh, the last few have been brilliant though and this one's no exception...

Half Man Half Biscuit 'All Asimov And No Fresh Air'

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

"You know I like sweets... yesterday I had a Victoria sponge... and today... I had another Victoria sponge!" Over 40 years in the business and Shonen Knife still have the best between songs musings 😄 and of course the best two minute pop songs and the energy of people half their age 🎂❤️🍌

Shonen Knife on stage at Night and Day, wearing their classic Mondrian inspired dresses

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Richard James Foster @richardjamesfoster.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Luckily for Cath and all fellow Fall fanz, there are Fall-like elements in my latest book, both from Monsieur Camus and Salford’s finest rockaboogie band.

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Officially On Holiday. Breaking with a long (if somewhat accidentally started) tradition of always taking a book about The Fall because I didn't get round to finding one I'd not read yet this year, but this from @richardjamesfoster.bsky.social seems appropriate 🙂

A copy of The Punk Rock Birdwatching Club by Richard Foster and a train ticket from Paris to Barcelona, in the net holder on the back of a train seat

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Cath Aubergine @cathaubergine.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

As we count down the days to another Primavera, I still consider one of the greatest moments of my many years of attendance was Suicide playing a no-holds-barred Frankie Teardrop in 2011 to a massive festival crowd (many of whom probably didn't know the song) on a hot summer night by the sea...

Crap phone photo of the band Suicide on stage at Primavera 2011, it's mostly dark but there are four screens behind them showing blurry pink and purple.

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