Jun. 24, 2012
This arrived on Monday and I thought I would give it a post of its own because at over 3 hours of music, I am unlikely to do more than dip into it before writing the album digest next week. It is a far bigger and more enjoyable artefact than I thought it was going to be, so it probably deserves special attention for that reason too. CAN are a German (“Krautrock”) band that I got into about four years ago after my interest in the genre was sparked by the “Neu!
Jun. 17, 2012
Another book from the “university of life” pile (though not in the picture), “Gonzo” is the biography of Hunter S. Thompson in graphical form. In case you don’t know his work, Hunter S. Thompson was a journalist who invented the so-called “gonzo” style. This was basically to rock up at some major event and become embedded within it, usually writing up a long form piece from an outsider perspective. He was particularly famous for his work on the Hell’s Angels and Richard Nixon’s campaign for presidential re-election in 1972.
Tags: Books, Graphic Novel, Hunter S. Thomspon, Will Bingley, Anthony Hope-Smith, Twelve
Jun. 16, 2012
Tonight I avoided the first half of the football along with my friend Albert Jan and we went to watch “Moonrise Kingdom” at the wonderful Everyman cinema in Hampstead. It was a real treat in every sense. To start with, the Everyman is a lovely cinema. It is quite expensive but you do get what you pay for: a comfortable seat in a great theatre and the chance to watch more than just the latest blockbusters (though it shows those too).
Tags: Films, Wes Anderson, Twelve, Moonrise Kingdom
Jun. 5, 2012
Say what? We’re allowing compilations now? Yes. Why not? A good mix is as much an artistic statement as a full-blown single artist album. It takes a lot of skill to get from A to B and keep everything on the boil in between. This Fabric mix by The Amalgamation Of Soundz is one of my favourites because it is a downtempo (but, crucially, not too downtempo) compilation delivered with flair and using what I consider to be unconventional sources (soundtracks, tribute albums, hip-hop) to do it.
Tags: Understated Classics, Fabric, Music, Twelve, Electronic
May. 31, 2012
Four albums for Album Digest May 2012: Jack White Blunderbuss One Little Plane Into The Trees Beach House Bloom Oxia Tides Of Mind The April album digest was rather short on songs, so this month I decided to look for albums that were more based around songs not tracks. Electronic music is relatively easy to write about: the music is often simple (but not always), there are recognisable structures and genres (but not always), and there are conventions that are adhered to (but not always).
Tags: Music, Album Digest, May, Jack White, One Little Plane, Beach House, Oxia, Twelve
Apr. 30, 2012
A mostly instrumental month with a comeback from Orbital, an excellent remix collection from Battles, an amazing movie documenting a live performance by the Chemical Brothers and Austin Wintory’s soundtrack to the game Journey. Orbital Wonky Battles Dross Glop The Chemical Brothers Don’t Think Austin Wintory Journey (Original Soundtrack) Orbital Wonky I am quite keen on Orbital, though perhaps not as keen as I am on the similarly named Orb. I think I have got all the Orbital albums, mostly bought on eBay after the fact.
Tags: Music, Album Digest, April, Orbital, Battles, Chemical Brothers, Austin Wintory, Twelve
Apr. 20, 2012
A hefty reading list that should keep me occupied into the summer. A friend on facebook asked “What course is that for?”, to which I replied “It’s for one of the modules I am doing at the university of life.” This response was quite popular.
Apr. 19, 2012
Sit back and let it happen, / Let us take your time away. Nearly God is Tricky’s second album, which was released under a different name either because Island rejected it as the follow-up to Maxinequaye or because it came too quickly after and Tricky just wanted it released. I had this album before Maxinequaye because back then it wasn’t as easy to go back and catch up with albums that you had missed as it is now.
Tags: Music, Understated Classics, Tricky, Nearly God, Twelve, Electronic
Apr. 10, 2012
When your birthday brings the world under your window And the song-thrush sings wet-throated in the dew And aconite and primrose are unsticking the wrappers Of the package that has come today for you Lambs bounce out and stand astonished Puss willow pushes among bare branches Sooty hawthorns shiver into emerald And a new air Nuzzles the sugary Buds of the chestnut. A groundswell and a stir Billows the silvered
Apr. 9, 2012
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon was written in 1956 and tells of the experiences of West Indian men moving to London for work. It has been described as the definitive novel about the experiences of the Windrush settlers. The narrative centres on a man named Moses who was one of the first to come to London and finds himself the first port of call for many subsequent immigrants: It look to old Moses that he hardly have time to settle in the old Brit’n before all sorts of fellars start coming straight to his room in the Water when they land up in London from the West Indies, saying that so and so tell them that Moses is a good fellar to contact, that he would help them get place to stay and work to do.
Tags: Books, Sam Selvon, Fiction, Twelve, Nineteen
Apr. 3, 2012
I pay to have this blog up and running. That is, I pay for the space where it is stored and I pay for the name. I have to look after all the files and plug-ins, I have to perform all the updates and optimise the database tables. All this is great fun but wouldn’t it be cheaper to slap the mattischro.me address onto a hosted WordPress.com account? Well, yes it would.
Mar. 31, 2012
Five albums for Album Digest March 2012 Fanfarlo Rooms Filled With Light The Shins Port Of Morrow Grails Deep Politics New Build Yesterday Was Lived And Lost Scuba Personality A nice collection of albums this month - things usually pick up in March after a slow period after Christmas. One of these is a “catch-up” (the album by Grails) but apart from that one, everything else was released in the last five weeks or so… I should probably have included the album by Racehorses that I bought on my birthday but I will have to leave that for next month as I haven’t listened to it that much.
Tags: Album Digest, March, Music, Fanfarlo, The Shins, Grails, New Build, Scuba, Twelve