XL day 5: finishing off

Well, the final day of XL week didn't really happen. I was busy, tired, and ended up flopping in front of the TV with Mrs Growl. It was unusually, a good night for TV. Mainly because of the new series of Green Wing, which is already living up to high hopes, as well as My Name is Earl which I continue to love. BBC3's new music show Guerilla Gig promised much but didn't quite deliver all expected. The main word to describe it was 'overexcitable'. I don't normally listen to Zane Lowe's radio show, but it he always like that? Annie Mac seemed to want to keep up with his over-enthusiastic style. And Nihal? What is he on? Add to this the over-the-top but crushingly unfunny 'comedian' Russell Kane.

The XL link with this show was the world TV debut by the Raconteurs, which was pretty good. The other bands/artists were Guillemots, Kano, Jose Gonzalez and 'zombiecore' competion winners Send Some Paramedics. They should really concentrate on the music on this show, and drop the filler stuff like a fan's mobile video diary and anything involving Russell Kane. Get a few more songs in. It could be so much better.

The other aspect to the show is a previously unannounced gig somewhere in London that's revealed at the start of the show, and people are given about 50 minutes to get there and get in on a first-come-first-served basis. Last night it was Mystery Jets at the Mildmay Working Men's Club in Newington Green. On a rainy Friday night it would have taken a lot more than that to get me off the sofa and onto the 277.

To round off XL week, here's a couple of tracks from MIA and Basement Jaxx.

Download: MIA - Galang (South Rakkas Mix)
Download: Basement Jaxx - Good Luck

Buy MIA and Basement Jaxx.