Michael - Franz Ferdinand

Ok, the subject of this photo tends to go by Mike rather than Michael, but I was struggling for a music blip as I'm in work until 8.30 so this was my best option.

The person in the photo is a student of mine, who happened o have the same name as a Franz Ferdinand song. I was trying to show him some HDR stuff today but we didn't have any good subject matter in the classroom I was in. I was also demonstrating the 50mm f1.8 lens for taking portraits.

As for the song, it's probably one of my favourite Franz Ferdinand songs. That said I wouldn't class Franz Ferdinand as one of my favourite bands. Don't get me wrong, I like them but they struggle to compare to my favourite bands like Talking Heads, the Violent Femmes, the Pixies and the Smiths. Even their most obvious influence in Gang of Four would probably go on my stereo ahead of them. I also think there are far better current bands about, even if we're talking Scottish music there are several current bands who produce more satisfying music but just weren't as successful at catching the zeitgeist as they were.

Re-reading that it sounds a bit scathing, so I should say that I do like them, and certainly far more than bland contemporaries like Coldplay, Snow Patrol or Athlete or more shallow fellow post-punk revivalists like the Kaiser Chiefs or Hard Fi.

I should just stop now I suppose as I'm probably alienating fans of the bands I've listed...