Feb. 28, 2013
Most Februaries are quite quiet when it comes to albums (though this was not the case back in 2011) and although only the Foals album is a major release, I was quite surprised to find myself with four decent albums to write about. They are:
Darkstar “News From Nowhere” Foals “Holy Fire” Daniel Hope “Spheres” Apparat “Krieg und Frieden (Music For Theatre)” Darkstar “News From Nowhere” I don’t need to give too much biographical background for the Darkstar album as I don’t know too much about who the are.
Tags: Music, Album Digest, February, Darkstar, Foals, Daniel Hope, Apparat, Thirteen
Feb. 26, 2013
The existence, or impending existence, of a new novel by Thomas Pynchon was announced today. I have all his previous books (seven written over a period of about fifty years, a pace that I definitely approve of), though he’s a hard author to get close to: I’ve only finished three and started four up till now. The unfinished one is, of course, Gravity’s Rainbow (GR) and somewhat perversely, I have two copies of the thing.
Tags: Books, Thomas Pynchon, Thirteen, Fiction
Feb. 11, 2013
The other weekend, beset by insomnia, I decided to follow my own advice and get up to do something instead of wallowing unable to sleep. I pulled my emergency jigsaw out of the cupboard and set to it. I should stress that I mean a jigsaw puzzle and not an actually jigsaw: DIY at 2am is not such a good idea!
I’d forgotten how interesting jigsaw puzzles actually are. As I sat there contemplating the 1000 pieces and wondered exactly what I’d let myself in for, I found myself thinking about a number of things.
Tags: Fun, Games, Thirteen
Jan. 31, 2013
Only one of this month three albums was actually released this month. Nelly Furtado’s Mi plan was actually released over three years ago - I only discovered it last year when I wrote the September album digest following the release of “The Spirit Indestructible”, or it might have been when I wrote about “Folklore” at around the same time.
Anyway, I guess these are albums that I bought with my Christmas gift vouchers!
Tags: Music, Album Digest, January, Everything Everything, Frank Ocean, Nelly Furtado, Thirteen
Dec. 31, 2012
Three albums (one very Christmassey one!) and an EP this month.
Tracey Thorn “Tinsel and Lights” Woob “Have Landed” Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin “Instrumental Tourist” Burial “Truant / Rough Sleeper Tracey Thorn “Tinsel and Lights” “Tinsel and Lights” is that rarest of records, a Christmas record that is perfectly suited to the season and is not in any way overbearing or irritating. Most albums that are Christmas themed are usually centred on lots of covers that are taken from a small subset of well worn classics.
Tags: Album Digest, December, Music, Tracey Thorn, Woob, Tim Hecker, Daniel Lopatin, Burial, Twelve
Nov. 29, 2012
Pretty much a sliding scale between songs and electronic wibble on this month’s albums and a particularly damp, chilly feeling to proceedings too.
Bat For Lashes “The Haunted Man” Ital “Hive Mind” and “Dream On” Björk “Bastards” Brian Eno “Lux” Bat For Lashes “The Haunted Man” When it comes to Bat For Lashes, I prefer her first album “Fur And Gold” to her second “Two Suns” because when I listen to the latter I don’t feel connected to any of the songs.
Tags: Music, Album Digest, November, Bat for Lashes, Ital, Bjork, Brian Eno, Twelve
Nov. 27, 2012
A cat reaches the top of a mountain after a long climb through the snow. He is cold from the bottom of his fur to the tips of his claws. He is sodden and wet, and we all know how much a cat hates to be wet.
At the top of the mountain there is not much to see. What may have been a breathtaking view is instead a murk of freezing mist and at any rate, snow assails the cat’s eyes and whiskers.
Tags: Ideas, Modelling, Short Story, Twelve
Nov. 21, 2012
The second Woob album (AKA “Woob 4495”) is probably the greatest ambient album ever made and is certainly the best one you have never heard of. Originally released in 1995 on the em:t label it is also a rare record. I don’t have an actual copy but I have seen one! I downloaded it off the internet and even that is quite difficult to do. My friend is an avid collector of all the em:t releases and it is easy to see why: all the albums are titled in a specific way that is very appealing to people who like to collect things and they also have very striking nature photography on the covers.
Tags: Understated Classics, Woob, Music, Twelve, Electronic
Nov. 10, 2012
Sometimes, when I am feeling a bit down, I like to write down some of my ambitions. As you can see from this list they are mostly pretty humble but they are also a bit cheesy and embarassing, so I have put them after the fold!
Be wholehearted, cheerful, and sincere Be creative Look at the world and see its many faces, hear its many voices Explore new recipes as often as possible when I cook Learn to like the taste of tomatoes and cucumbers Be more at ease around people Listen to people and hear what they say Play my part Look after someone special Become a parent Share my values with others, help those who need it Break up all the negative things inside me Know what other people want, help them get it When I wake up each morning I would like to remember my dreams Understand art more than I do Lose my fear of creepy crawlies Learn to drive Learn to write left handed (why not?
Tags: Ideas, Lists, Self Improvement, Twelve
Nov. 5, 2012
So, two short reviews in a row. I had the day off work and went to see “Rust And Bone” this afternooon. It’s the new film by Jacques Audiard, who directed “A Prophet” – one of my favourite films of the last five years.
“Rust And Bone” is a love story about Ali, a sexually feckless security guard who is struggling to look after his young son on his own, and Stéphanie (played by second most beautiful woman in the world, Marion Cotillard), who is injured while working as a co-ordinator of killer whale displays at an ocenarium.
Tags: Films, French, Marion Cotillard, Thriller, Twelve
Nov. 3, 2012
I went to see “Skyfall” last night and I really enjoyed it. I knew nothing about the plot, mostly because I had avoided all discussion of the plot with people who had already seen it and I even avoided reviews as so many these days seem to just rattle off plot points, instead of discussing what makes the movie any good. With that in mind I will obviously try not to give away any of the plot in this brief review.
Tags: Films, Twelve, James Bond
Oct. 31, 2012
It has been a strange month and I found that I didn’t listen to a lot of new music. I have been a bit down and when that’s the case I tend to take refuge in music that I know well, stuff that cheers me up. I have listened to last month’s fave a lot, Nelly Furtado’s “The Spirit Indestructible”. I said a lot of nice things about it but it probably didn’t come over in my writing just how much I really liked it.
Tags: Music, Album Digest, October, Ricardo Villalobos, Laurie Spiegel, Daphni, Mala, Twelve