Musings

Review: The New Lines // 'All That We See And Seem' [The Great Pop Supplement]

2012-01-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

September 5th 2011 marks 34 years since NASA’s Voyager 1 embarked on a journey to the heavens. The spacecraft currently teeters on the edges of our solar system, the furthest man-made object from Earth, soaring like a bird in search of new horizons and is now entering a new region of space never explored by human civilization. The thought of this man-made machine wandering blind into the dark is a profound one. On a human scale, it plays vital to the progress of science and exploration, and the understanding of us. Personally, I feel this achievement relates deeply with the most mundane and common things in everyday life. It is the grandest of cosmic events such as these that weave the tapestry of time and life in the universe. If you can somewhat relate to this rambling, then you might like this new band I have discovered: The New Lines.

After having gone through phases of devouring and researching vintage records, I have been getting into new/contemporary music, and two scenes have notably grabbed my attention this year: firstly a few progenies of ‘library music’ (The Advisory Circle, Belbury Poly), and secondly an 80s revival that has cluster-bombed into an ever-present force in modern pop; A.K.A.: chillwave, glo-fi, witch house, electro pop, dream pop etc. Sleep ∞ Over and John Maus are two examples for whom I’ve found admiration for - I feel they most effectively channel 80s pop values and production techniques with spoonfuls of nostalgic homage and reverence. Whether you reject these new-age revivalists as drivelling nonsense is up to you.

Something which has lacked presence in 2011 is psychedelic pop, which very recently used to be luminously championed by Birmingham band, Broadcast. After the sad passing of lead singer, Trish Keenan, the music world has lost a great talent. But to everything there is a season, and 2011 welcomes a new sage; Hewson Chen and his Brooklyn outfit The New Lines. Easily comparable with the experimental pop of Broadcast, I have recently discovered demos of these remarkable new cosmic voyagers, and their new record (my personal favourite of 2011) All That We See And Seem is something special. Their sound is a blend of 60s and 70s influences, ranging from dark concréte library music, sixties-inspired psychedelia to Italian horror soundtracks, dream pop and new age cosmic synth. They have a retro-futuristic space-age feel about them, and the composed, morose vocals of Hewson Chen are comparable to Stephen Merritt of the Magnetic Fields. The blend of Chen’s vocals, which sound like a Wiccan priest delivering a ritual séance, balances the tension against the beautifully arranged chamber-pop orchestrations. Often pensive, the results are what you would expect if Carl Sagan mastered the moog; full of mood, rhapsodic romance, and rich textures succulent with buzzing tones, propelling jazz rhythms, algorithmic bleeps, fountains of reverb and other garbled effects, anthemic swells, spacey analogue organs, and intricate guitar hooks; It is a fusion that is infectious, sweet-sounding, wistfully alleviating and hypnotic.

If you recall late 90s band Vitesse, a duo comprised of Joshua Klein and Hewson Chen who released four albums of colourfully affectionate lo-fi synth-pop, there are retrospective nuances of Vitesse that can be heard in The New Lines, such as the circling synth patterns and concurrent melodies reminiscent of 80s goth-pop, which run beneath Chen’s warm comforting baritone. Let me just clarify that The New Lines are not one-trick ponies of synthery. Chen has a knack for really beautiful lullaby-ing melodies, murky organ-led vignettes, and fuzzy modular synth warbles. The themes and references in All That We See And Seem are pretty varied and absorbed in poetic realism and mystic kitsch, but musically they mirror the essence of 60s psych folk, which has its roots in early medieval/renaissance/baroque music. I am reminded of Pentangle (sadly another band that also lost their chief instigator this year, Bert Jansch), who lend their foundations in traditional music to The New Lines’ sound, with significant emphasis on the haunting modal progressions and the ‘bell-like’ guitar sound of Chen’s guitar figures.

With All That We See And Seem, Chen offers us an LSD-spiked world of retro-futurism and early science fiction that could easily provide the soundtrack to a trippy 1960s public information video on space exploration. But in between the lines, there is deep conceptual alchemy at work - ATWSAS reflects our ancient ancestors’ eagerness to understand the universe. Our universe - a cosmological box of mysteries that generated a sense of wonder and imagination upon wide-eyed discoverers. This natural curiosity to understand the cosmos has a wonderful charm and purity about it, but as we know today, we have discovered a more powerful and potent method of understanding the universe: science. It is the will to experiment, the desire to explore and remove the veil of the divine that stands out in the history of time, and all naive curiosity merely becomes a fleeting dream for fantasy and fairytale. In the 1950s and 60s, there was a cultural emergence of contemporary paganism and folk custom, which paralleled the birth of the space rocket, and also the popularisation of electronic music. With these timely arrivals brought experimentation and discovery, such as early electronic synths, oscillators, and patchwork. The pioneers of these practices such as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (the incidentals are a humble nod), the cosmic new-age electronics of Roger Davy, and the Jazz-infused jams of Basil Kirchin and Charles Bellonzi reveal Chen’s impeccable music tastes. A flavour of jazz pop underpins the groovy element of ATWSAS, which is crucial. The songs are consistency strong, abundant with detail and mind-blowing hooks, and sound collages which will reward with further listening. The unconventional time signatures and analogue synths fit with the infectious spectral pop that found province in science fiction films and outer-space abstractionist producers like Phil Spector. Perhaps Chen’s most overt homage to his unofficial patron saints The Beach Boys, is the propulsive use of timpani, which beats like the heart of the universe.

The experimental effects and strange alien electronics layered into each song create a disorientating wave of dystopian melancholy, and to glorious effect, much like your favourite Ennio Morricone soundtrack. Library music/Oram admirers would find enjoyment in the incidentals, as Chen momentarily fiddles with synthesizers, sequencers and modulators like a madman, creating unholy, nauseatingly nightmarish sounds (ala My Bloody Valentine); mostly pre-industrial plink-plonk, saddled with drum grooves and timpani gestures, bleeps and bloops, and little formal structure. These entirely electronic and very claustrophobic extracts, demonstrate a versatile capacity in The New Lines to induce a feeling of paranoid confusion between reality and fantasy; keeping true to the album title. Taking a cue from established library and film composers such as Umiliani, Alessandroni, Boneschi, etc… he’s not afraid to experiment with unconventional sounds alongside the more standard jazz and rock-based aesthetics. I get the feeling that he could crank out a few records like these in a couple of hours if needed; a seemingly simple palette of phased whooshes, echoed guitar twangs, and random electro fizz somewhere in the mess.

The most danceable song on the album, title-track, “All That We See And Seem” brings distinct 60s pop vibes with a catchy chiming guitar hook riding an outrageously fetching groove, awash with galvanising synth tones that lay down the cosmic boogie-woogie. The sultry tones of “The Convenience of Numbers” are utterly transporting from the get-go, transposing jazz-inflicted pop to rarefied galactic heights. Another highlight, “The Falaise Gap”, majestic drones in 3/4 give the anachronistic proposal of space travel as envisioned in the 1940s, and the beautifully blissed-out “Buildings to Photograph” which is like euphoric trip to the moon. Sweeping all epics aside, the divine splendour of “Voyager Program 1977”, the climax of ATWSAS, sets off the goosebumps, evoking the romance of the Voyager 1 flight. The complex layering of guitars and harmonies on “A Hunter’s Penance” is a compelling arrest of melody and rhythm. In “Strain Theory”, swabs of sonic sorcery unfold slowly and magically like an epic celestial journey keeping your head firmly in the stratosphere… where it should be. These are clouds of sounds to lose yourself in; vintage electronics swirl through layers of airtight sequences of overlapping and propelling 3/4 rhythms amid a rich bed of swelling organ patterns and buzzing oscillations, like an elegant dance of celestial light. One very insignificant criticism is the omitted “Off Axis”, which was previously released on a split 7” with Still Corners. Without comparing too much to Silver Apples, “Off Axis” sounds like a druidic witch-hunt for a ceremonial sacrifice, leading to a celebratory rave in the nearby haunted woodlands. This description could easily translate to most songs on ATWSAS. The combination of shimmering synths and freak-out drum-thrashing in the gothic “The Grim Smile of the Five Towns” for instance, transcends all heights of consciousness and might just be the last word in hauntology.

Chen’s grandiose ambition of capturing the essence of psychedelic pop of the 60s and the synthesiser is irresistible and his penchant for the golden age of science fiction and new-age optimism is a poignant rejoicing of the futurist paradigm: “the future of tomorrow today” - the exhilarating power of the imagination. Jim Jupp of Belbury Poly, fittingly draws attention to early electronic/cosmic-synth pioneers such as Walter Carlos, Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream as a major inspiration: ‘I think it’s the fact that they were exploring what must have been mind-blowing technology, and giving free rein to musical ideas that had no pre-existing language. There’s also something supernatural in the sound of modular synths and mellotrons; they always seemed the natural soundtrack for a golden age of science fiction and that Erich von Daniken-era pop culture of ancient astronauts and earth mysteries.’ Under a title that nods to the supernaturally-attuned poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, All That We See And Seem is much an invocation to dream-dwelling as it is a realisation of self, and the understanding of the universal consciousness. What an absolute delight. More please, Mister Chen.

Glen Rowlan, December 2011

The New Lines ~ 'All That We See and Seem' [The Great Pop Supplement, 2011],
[out now]
Further listening: 'Witches' Milk' [Moon Glyph, 2011], [out now]

RIP Trish Keenan

2011-01-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

Her unique voice was a force to be reckoned with, and her talent will be sorely missed.
Music that leaves you hypnotized and will last forever.

Trish on lyrics:
The lyrics to 'America's Boy' were generated by my reactions to a tabloid cryptic crossword. The clues were topically about the war in Iraq, and in general, their stance was one of anti-American occupation. In my frustration at not being able to decipher the clues, I began to react to them, make up my own answers, mimicking back the language of the clues. I was interested then in possible answers. I got on a roll arguing with the clues, asking questions back, taking offence to them and deliberately misreading them. What came back was a sort of celebration of the American soldier. Snap shots of the heroics of American Imperialism, the all out impressiveness of its big achievements. Also something that the British do not have in their culture, a self celebratory nature of Americans towards their own country. The lyrics of Tender Buttons were generated through automatic writing. They are my free falling thoughts. I believe that words have their own life. That if you throw words together randomly, they naturally make sense. Language just wants to be understood.

Succumb to the line
The finishing time
The long distance runner
Has stopped on the corner
But i won't give up
Although i've stopped too

Before the end of me and you
The patchwork explains
The land is unchanged

Interpret the rooms
My tears in the typing pool
The letters are sighing
The ink is still drying
I told you the truth
And now i sigh too

The page turns on me and you
Across that white plain
The land is unchanged

KCO Appointment

2011-01-14T18:03:00.000-08:00

Coming up this March 12th will be the performance of my first composition for orchestra (Kingston Chamber Orchestra). The piece is in two movements, taken from the Seven Deadly Sins suite I wrote last year: Avaritia (Greed) and Superbia (Pride). Programme notes below:

Avaritia and Superbia are two parts of a seven-movement suite: The Seven Deadly Sins. Written for orchestra, both movements explore unusual playing techniques with a focus on timbre and texture, reflecting the influences of Penderecki and Ligeti. Avaritia (Greed) begins in slightly unidiomatic fashion with non-tonal gestures that suggest a natural undercurrent, specifically, rainfall. The music seeks this impression through unconventional timbral effects, and a series rhythm and pitch organizations based on serial tone rows and modes of limited transposition – scales based on intervallic patterns that yields systematic atonality and a controlled high degree of dissonance (conceived by Olivier Messiaen). This animates a linear-harmonic motion; a timelessness that avoids any melodic progression, generating a sense of unpredictability, and a flux of harmonic possibilities.
The same concept is relayed into Superbia (Pride) which resumes in tempestuous manner that precipitates the forming of highly chromatic harmonies and dense textures. This study in texture is evident in the form of tone clusters and micropolyphony – a disharmonious conflict between instrumental lines suggesting that with greed comes selfishness, competition and pride.
The apathetic greed of man’s grip on the natural world is permeated with an ecological crisis that elicits the brutal bite of Mother Nature. The idea of rainwater running down a window is one of the key elements of inspiration that connects Avaritia/Superbia. It is a metaphor for the expanding and contracting textures which are appropriated to Superbia in the themes of convergence, colouration and dissonance. The experimental and idiosyncratic nature of these two passages heralded the induction of a new instrument into the orchestral environment: the Thunder Tube.

Concert details to follow...

Almost done...

2010-12-20T07:40:00.001-08:00

Progress...

2010-12-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

2nd Try...

2010-12-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hello...

2010-11-30T04:05:00.000-08:00

Mr Fox in the snow.

G. Klimt

2010-11-26T23:18:00.001-08:00

Can't Hear My Eyes

2010-11-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a scan of my retinal exam with an ophthalmoscope at the opticians today. The dark area is my macula, or the part where I focus my vision. This area is dark because the depression of the macula and fovea (the tissue behind the macula) means the retina is thinner in that area, allowing more of the deeply coloured choroid to show through. You can see a tree-like structure of red veins stemming from the optic nerve where the bright light is. So you can see I wasn't looking directly into the lamp.

(all healthy!)

Happy Hallowe'en!

2010-10-31T13:11:00.001-07:00

Stop The Press!

2010-10-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

Sufjan is back!

On the stereOoOoOoOoo...

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP/The Age of Adz
Caribou - Swim
Helado Negro - Music For Memory
Twin Sister - Vampires With Dreaming Kids EP/Color Your Life EP
Deerhunter - Halycon Digest

The Seven Deadly Sins

2010-10-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

In my two-year stint at Kingston University, I have been working on a programmatic work for large chamber ensemble in seven movements. The subject’s focus, inclusively titled 'The Eye of God: A 21st Century Reflection on the Seven Deadly Sins', is the portrayal of immorality of the human spirit in modern society, specifically the sins of Lust, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony and Envy, as predicated by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century.

The piece below (Gula) exhibits a taste of the series, written for prepared piano. This piece represents gluttony; the act of food comsumption. A stand-out feature of Gula in its performance is my decision to use 'dry pasta' as mutes on the piano's strings. Musical influences that have shaped these compositions, highlight my engagement with 20th and 21st century compositional techniques, cultural inspirations, and concepts that harbour the methods of my own musical idiom. My inspirations stem from historical figures, such as composers, writers, artists, theologians and thinkers of past and present, whom have shaped the popular images of this Christian doctrine.

The finished work is yet to be performed in a live environment (except Gula). I have two/three movements set to be performed by the Kingston Chamber Orchestra in March 2011 at the Parish Church in Kingston-upon-Thames... this includes Avaritia (greed), Ira (wrath), and Superbia (pride) - a 12-minute contemporary study in extended and postmodern techniques. One mentionable aspect about this piece is my use of a thunder tube, a drum-like instrument, with drone-like qualities.

Gula, for prepared piano

Motion Picture Soundtrack

2010-07-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone. The four horsemen of 20th century film music, these are the ones that stand out above the rest as the standard setters. The latter currently survives the lot and is still writing music to add to his already prolific career of film scores.

Morricone is the master of melody and atmosphere, and is undoubtedly one of 20th century's greatest sound conjurors. The way he could grab your attention with the most evocative, unconventional, and simplest effects was extraordinary. His music wasn't always ground-breaking, or challenging, but the key to his appeal was finding the right mood, which was like hitting a nerve that lay hidden in the space between the screen and audience.

His best work came in the sixties... Morricone pinoeered the Western Film score with ferocious soundtracks for Sergio Leone's films, and the sensual Italian jazz-lounge grooves that painted a sparkling picture of life in a time of social revolution and thriving artistic creativity.

Into the eighties and nineties, he continued to write memorable scores, that more often catapulted a film's success. His knowledge and awareness of the orchestra as a tool, as you would expect from any contemporary film composer, is highly competent, but Morricone steered clear of the big-budget blockbusters in favour of low-budget European art-house pictures, in which he could experiment with his rich sound palette.

Composer of over 500 scores; his influence defines his legacy. I beg you to listen.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7ZGOIHH4
86.3mb
1hr 20mins

01. Ennio Morricone - Harmonica Intro/Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (Titoli) (3:25)
02. Ennio Morricone - A Lydia ('scusi, Facciamo L'amore') (3:19)
03. Ennio Morricone - Metti, Una Sera A Cena (4:30)
04. Ennio Morricone - L'estasi Dell'oro ('il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo) (3:22)
05. Ennio Morricone - Astrtto 3 (1:48)
06. Ennio Morricone - Piume Di Cristallo (5:15)
07. Ennio Morricone - Tema Per Oria (2:05)
08. Ennio Morricone - Lontano ('gott Mit Uns') (4:30)
09. Ennio Morricone - Four Friends (2:52)
10. Ennio Morricone - Giu' la testa (4:17)
11. Ennio Morricone - La Lucertola ('una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna') (6:33)
12. Ennio Morricone - Ii Dolore Sulla Casbah (0:54)
13. Ennio Morricone - Ness And His Family (2:46)
14. Ennio Morricone - River (1:27)
15. Ennio Morricone - Il Buio ('l'anticristo') (4:00)
16. Ennio Morricone - The Mission (3:02)
17. Ennio Morricone - H2s ('h2s') (4:22)
18. Ennio Morricone - Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene (4:45)
19. Ennio Morricone - Poesia Di Una Donna (3:15)
20. Ennio Morricone - Ricordo Rosa ('le Ruffian') (2:57)
21. Ennio Morricone - Il Mercenario (I'arena) (4:45)
22. Ennio Morricone - Oceano (6:17)

mothface

2010-07-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

this would make a good mask for a superhero

Mothman - the legend who fights crime but is susceptible to candlelight

You say say it's your birthday...

2010-07-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday too, yeah!

24 years of existence repays me with Joanna Newsom's splendid new album 'Have One On Me', a b/w check shirt, a black waistcoat (which i'm currently sporting), a Bonsai tree, and a shiny Canon Ixus 110.

Also saw Toy Story 3 last night... great film... my heartstrings were well and truly yanked, quoquoversus.

sound & vision

2010-07-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

I watched Up in the Air (2009) last night, it was a good film, it wasn't life-affirming, but gives you something to think about.

Brief glimpses into the personal lives of unsuspecting employees losing their jobs, at times emotional and entertaining, are the best moments of the film. Another strong hold in the film is the relationships concerning the three main characters, and their different perspectives and experiences of love and life in the bubble of career politics. The witty script and sharp-edged direction does at times become clouded by a suffocating smugness, caused largely by the form of George Clooney. The inclusion of Elliott Smith’s Angel in the Snow in the soundtrack was pleasantly apt… but the film went a bit too schmaltzy for my liking by then.

______________________________________

I've also been watching most of Charlie Chaplin's films in the past two months.

I've been enthalled by his talent, his gift of slapstick was pure art.
Every action he gave to the camera was magic... he was a genius. He wrote all his scripts, directed all his films, wrote all the music.

My favourites were The Kid, City Lights and A King in New York.

His earliest are the best, especially when he mixes comedy with emotion. The value of selflessness for the common good is captured in one of the most moving final scenes ever... The scene at the end of City Lights. And his awareness of the current times is needlelike... Modern Times, The Great Dictator.

It's a pity that he began to speak in his later films... this brought out an arrogance/outspokenness that was suitably missing from his silent films... despite all that, a A King in New York is still a classic.

I was moved to tears when I saw this clip (chaplin receiving an honourary oscar in 1972)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Pl-qvA1X8

he doesn't need to speak at all... his expression, as always, says it all.

______________________________________

Current song on the speakers:
http://open.spotify.com/track/4uvKHRmLMlteVh1N4Sxut3
'Range Life'
by Pavement
from, Quarantine the Past (2010)

Africa 2010: World Cup Mix

2010-05-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

The World Cup is finally here.

Team of Choice: England
Backups: Holland or Argentina or Australia or USA
Booze: Magners
Location: Various London pubs
Prediction: Argentina winners.

And football fever has hit the soundwaves,
so I've taken this opportunity to indulge
in some eclecticism and funky beats...

*********

vol. 1 :: Afropop
60s - 80s retrospective...

mp3:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/rs23h7
(40mb)

01. Fela & The Africa 70 - Who're You (8:45) (Nigeria)
02. The Heroes - Come With Me (2:44) (South Africa)
03. Amanaz - Khala My Friend (3:27) (Zambia)
04. Mahotella Queens - Zwe Kumusha (2:36) (South Africa)
05. Flaming Souls - Mosquito (2:50) (South Africa)
06. Leki Santchi - Napo De Mi Amor (3:25) (Benin)
07. The Monks - Blockhead (2:32) (South Africa)
08. Di Rob - Make It Fast, Make It Slow (5:25) (Ghana)
09. Franklin Boukaka Et Manu Dibango - Le Bucheron (3:28) (Congo)
10. Mahotella Queens - Wozani Mahipi (2:20) (South Africa)
11. Melotone Sisters With Amaqola Band - I Sivenoe (2:48) (South Africa)
12. Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Lomhlaba Kawunoni (The Earth Never Gets Fat) (2:56) (South Africa)

*********

vol. 2 :: Latin America
sounds spanning the past five decades...

mp3:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/joca7u
(91mb)

01. Os Mutantes - Panis Et Circenses (3:38) (Brazil)
02. Troll - Mexicana (3:30) (Mexico)
03. Tom Zé - Elaeu (4:33) (Brazil)
04. Jeanette - Porque Te Vas (3:18) (Spain)
05. Huracanes - Cambio (2:45) (Spain)
06. Los Saicos - Salvaje (2:38) (Peru)
07. Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Black Panta (4:33) (Jamaica)
08. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Mas Que Nada (2:40) (Brazil)
09. Beth Carvalho - Andança (3:05) (Brazil)
10. Sonya - En Mi Nube (Get Off My Cloud) (2:36) (Spain)
11. Los Mac's - Dear Friend Bob (2:03) (Chile)
12. Caetano Veloso - Alfomega (5:51) (Brazil)
13. Barry Brown - Tourist Season (3:56) (Jamaica)
14. Gilberto Gil - Bat Macumba (2:35) (Brazil)
15. Los Fronterizos - La Anunciación (2:42) (Argentina)

*********

vol. 3 :: Multiculturism in the Modern Age
17 countries represented, not all of them made it to the finals unfortunately...

mp3:
side a http://www.sendspace.com/file/jo46rw
side b http://www.sendspace.com/file/wxmi0l
(110mb)

side a
01. OOIOO - Moss Trumpeter (2:36) (Japan)
02. Konono N°1 - Guiyome (3:26) (Congo)
03. El Guincho - Kalise (5:07) (Spain)
04. jj - from africa to málaga (2:50) (Sweden)
05. Cornelius - Beep It (4:02) (Japan)
06. M.I.A. - Sunshowers (3:18) (Sri Lanka/England)
07. Under Byen - Alt Er Tabt (3:43) (Denmark)
08. Gustavo Santaolalla - The Skin of the Earth (2:51) (Argentina)
09. Turzi - Afghanistan (5:39) (France)
10. Bonde Do Role - Geremia (2:44) (Brazil)

side b
11. Bjork - Vokuro (3:24) (Iceland)
12. Taken By Trees - Watch The Waves (4:25) (Sweden/Pakistan)
13. Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - Sina Mory (4:28) (Mali)
14. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes (4:03) (France)
15. Lau Nau - Painovoimaa, valoa (5:00) (Finland)
16. Amadou & Mariam - Ce N'est Pas Bon (3:49) (Mali)
17. Shugo Tokumaru - Kiiro (4:00) (Japan)
18. Silje Nes - Ames Room (2:19) (Norway)
19. Monkey - Pigsy in Space (2:15) (China/England)
20. Modeselektor - The White Flash (Feat. Thom Yorke) (4:49) (Germany/England)

*********

new painting

2010-04-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

by mum
untitled atm

lunar observations

2010-04-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

crescent moon & venus

latest pictures from nasa

2010-04-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

spaceduck

Thom Yorke

2010-03-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Painting by my Mum.
I smell a Turner prize...

fish update

2010-01-16T20:35:00.001-08:00

meet the angelfish
catch up with pearl
give a wave to the glowlight tetra

igloo under construction

2010-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

While Britain is in an ice age...

better make the most of the snow.

My Lovely Nan

2009-09-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening, 26th September 2009, Patricia O'Connor (aka Nan) passed away peacefully.

We will miss you dearly and you will never be forgotten.

RIP (May 14th 1924 - September 26th 2009)

xo

i see constellations dancing and a swirling galaxy of colours

2009-09-25T21:31:00.001-07:00

Green Man Highlights

2009-09-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

Thursday
Camera broke. Spent all night taking it apart out of slight fascination but mostly boredom. Had some chai tea, which had a nice ginger spiciness to it. On the positive, we had a few refreshing pints of Addlestone’s ‘cloudy’ cider which was sold at the bars, and saw a luminous rainbow refracting off the river.

Exploring the gardens of the site was one of my favourite memories of Green Man. I loved the little lake with the pink elephant, and the water-filled bubble seats, and the trees that hung little notes that people wrote and attached to the branches. I fell in love with the little streams along the stone gutters meandering around the trees that channelled the water into the lake. I felt like a giant stepping across them. The trees with faces was also a nice surprise, and that lead to Einstein’s garden, which was full of family-orientated activities, pressure group tents and fascinating stalls selling instruments and displaying strange hand-crafted items of wood, hoodoo voodoo, and other wizardry ornaments. Oh, and there were some healing tents too.

Before coming back to the tent, Scott & I bought a lantern from the lantern stall but realised we didn’t have any matches or lighters to light the candle. OOPS. Then it rusted by the morning so we threw it away.

Friday
Today was the best day for bands. We met up with Neil by the bridge, then we went to the Chai Wallahs tent (“a space suffesed with an array of creative talent, energising music, soul-warming vibes and happy smiling hosts...”). With the smell of incense in our nostrils, we saw a performance by a folk band, followed by an awesome dub vocalist, playing with a harmonica and making some tasty beats. Later on, I went to see PIVOT as they fired up the bbq. PIVOT rocked! Only three members of the band and they make such a slaughtering sound. Loved their energy on stage and I was well into it at the front – hardly anyone there.

MAGIC ARM were quite good. GANG GANG DANCE was delightful. At first I wasn’t sure about them, but now I’ve been converted. Their performance was SO spaced out, my mind was in the clouds halfway through.

So I was really intoxicated by about 8pm.

We went over to the bonfire with Wooden Shjips and Four Tet in the background, then over to watch ANIMAL COLLECTIVE. Still buzzing from the liquer, about halfway through I was off my head. I can’t remember the second half of the concert, but I remember loving it.

Saturday
I had the worst hangover ever. But then came GRIZZLY BEAR and we bought a blanket and I felt better after that. Also, Victoria Legrand came on to do vocals for Two Weeks, which was a nice surprise.

BON IVER was the highlight of my weekend. We sat on the hill watching him and it was so relaxed up there as I took in his songs. His bittersweet and honest lyrics are wonderful, and the moment overall was pretty special.

Sunday
So on the final day, we went for a walk down the beautiful river towards Crickhowell and saw some sheep!

We went to the bycicle-powered electricity tent in the afternoon to power up our dead mobiles. After 15 minutes of cycling flat out my legs were completely gone, and all I got was one bar of battery!

Still feeling weary from walking around and drinking too much, we went over to the Chai Wallahs, the place to “relax, recover, rejuvenate, celebrate and fill your soul with good things”, to get ourselves a fix. We chilled in the shisha lounge and I filled my soul with a cherry flavoured hookah, which is basically an elaborate bong. After that, PICTISH TRAIL, then over to main stage to CAMERA OBSCURA and my brothers sat on the hill. They were ok, I really like some of their songs, but it didn’t hit home seeing them live. After that was RODRIGUEZ, then DIRTY THREE who were fantastic. Despite being far away and sitting down, I loved their energy and the lead singer was pretty funny, asking the audience to help them come up with new material for their next album – offering to split the royalties 50/50. That brought the mood up for WILCO, and my goodness, they did not disappoint. I was doubting them for a while, but seeing that show has just brought my respect for them up again. They are quite possibly the best band ever, if not, best live band ever.

Then came a really surreal moment followed by the nicest surprise ever. Two men in white gowns were walking up the hill holding lit torches, and following them were a mass of people. With the tribal drums and the flaming torches, I felt like a pagan from the middle ages as we followed the troupe. Eventually we got to the Green Man statue in the field, which was swarming with people so we couldn’t get close to see what was happening. The kafuffle was silenced with a nice fireworks display, and then they set the green giant alight and we all watched it go up in flames like the end of Wicker Man. No Scottish policemen were sacrificed this time.

Overall, Glanusk Park is an attractive and enchanting place. There were hardly any crowds, the weather was reasonable, impeccable views and scenery, and the attitude of the festival was relaxed and good-natured.

10/10

spider song

2009-09-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

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Where Does The Time Go?

2009-05-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!

2009-01-13T17:19:00.001-08:00

"Local writer"
...Look at me go.

This is a book of poems by Keele University students, and it just so happens I went there and spent most of my time rambling on about stuff, so here it is... polished, published, and apparently to be on the shelves in all decent book shops... so not whsmiths then.

The rap I submitted is called 'Aliquid Pro Aliquo' and can be seen with human eyes by going here -> www.amazon.co.uk or here -> www.authorhouse.co.uk (cheaper!)

Check it out though, there's some really good writing in this book.

Two Essays

2008-11-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

PRETTY UGLY
by Glen Rowlan

CRITICAL REVIEW OF There Will Be Blood OST BY Jonny Greenwood

The music in There Will Be Blood has the sonic asperity of grinding broken glass, but a closer inspection reveals a raw transcendental beauty, accredited to a composer not afraid to draw on influences of 20th century avant-garde techniques for a high-budget Hollywood film.

When you acknowledge the amount of work that goes into the production of a film – the direction, the casting, and so on – the priority of music constitutes a low concern. But the importance is nonetheless crucial. In There Will Be Blood, a Paul Thomas Anderson adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, composer Jonny Greenwood has produced a challenging score that does more than just provide an emotional vehicle; it stands as a work of its own. Richard Davis states a similar view about John Williams’ music for ET: The Extra Terrestrial, and he goes on to say: ‘But when heard in conjunction with the visual...the whole film takes on another dimension’. With the inclusion of music, There Will Be Blood is a beautiful tempest. From the great acting and gripping storyline to the provocatively unsettling soundtrack, I’ve never been so fully engrossed in a film for a long time. The word “beauty” may not fit neatly between the lines in this case, as this is not a happy film (as the title suggests), but what makes the blood run cold is the imagination and fearlessness shown by the creators to colour over the lines and push the boundaries of film-making.

In Anderson’s emotionally-charged drama, emotion whistles to the point of a boiling kettle. The film’s elemental story, set in 1898 and ending in 1927, follows Daniel Plainview, a ferocious oil man striving to find affluence in the wake of the American oil boom, while fathering an adopted son. Oil becomes a symbol of power, and what follows is a greed for oil and wealth, a course that, as the audience is told, will assuredly involve drawing blood. You never know what Plainview is capable of doing to get what he wants. In person he comes off as proud and self-important, but at heart, a family man. In thought, he declares his dislike for “these people”, and as religion takes on the brute force of nature and commerce, things begin to fracture. Finally, when Plainview’s pride is taken from him, he disconcertingly exposes in shocking, sometimes brutal ways his superiority that leaves the audience reeling.

As Daniel Day Lewis gives the performance of his life as Daniel Plainview, Jonny Greenwood, likewise, casually unleashes his inner demons through a series of complex and brash compositions. A shy member of experimental British rock band Radiohead for over 20 years, Greenwood began his musical schooling in 1984 at Abingdon School in Oxford. While taking a fond interest in classical music, he took up the viola, performing with the Thames Vale Youth Orchestra. At the age of 19, he began a course in Music and Psychology at Oxford Polytechnic College which lasted three months, and dropped out to become lead guitarist of Radiohead. Greenwood is generally considered the most musically-gifted member of the band, pioneering and re-inventing Radiohead’s sound by way of introducing new instruments and absorbing new influences from diverse styles such as electronica, jazz and post-modernism.

Over the past 15 years, Greenwood has evolved as a composer. In 2003 he committed himself to his first film scoring project, Bodysong, which is a blend of experimental rock, jazz and avant-garde. It is the sound of a composer working in his comfort zone, whereas Blood is his attempt to broaden his horizons. Invariably looking for new instruments and new sounds for the band, Greenwood stumbled across the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument and he remembers hearing it for the first time: ‘I first heard Messiaen when I was 15 or 16—the Turangalîla-Symphonie—and just found it magical, especially with the ondes Martenot swooping around with the strings’.

His keen admiration for Messiaen, Penderecki and Ligeti comes through in Blood. In 2005 Greenwood was appointed composer-in-residence for the BBC where he had the opportunity to exhibit a new piece. Popcorn Superhet Receiver, an eighteen minute piece for thirty-four strings, is a masterpiece. This is his best work. The sounds produced by the strings appear alien, even electronic and you marvel at how such a sound can be generated from this archaic family of instruments. The real brilliance of Popcorn is in the imagination of the string writing, inspired by Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, as Greenwood recollects, ‘I saw him conduct his Viola Concerto and just couldn't believe it was only strings on stage. Where was that noise coming from? Where were the speakers?’. If the blending glissandos portray the soft syrupy texture of oil, then the ostinatic drumming suggests the frenzied and self-indulged efforts to obtain it – an image still familiar in today’s world.

The music of Jonny Greenwood could be considered challenging, with his compositions containing a myriad of intricacies, and his records with Radiohead are no doubt works of perfectionism, but as a listening experience, there is a lot of gratifying depth. The same belief can be expressed about There Will Be Blood. Anderson recalls a Greenwood composition, Life in a Glasshouse, as one of his favourite songs: ‘The Dixieland one makes me excited and melancholy and really satisfied every time I hear it. I love that song’. Further on, Popcorn Superhet Receiver was to underpin Anderson’s confidence in Greenwood as composer of Blood, when he heard it performed in 2005 at the Ether Festival in London: ‘I just loved the sounds of it, and I just couldn't put my finger on what I liked about it’. Excerpts from Popcorn can be heard in the film, for instance, in the opening focus on the barren, desolate hills. This sequence is illuminated in Greenwood’s score by a wash of dissonant strings playing towards one single F# note, which suggests something unhealthy about this uncultivated land. The first 20 minutes of this film will stay with you for the rest of your life, and the most part is owed to the music. The busy clouds of strings seem to epitomize the competitive thirst for oil, in an age where business began flourishing, forming, and taking on global proportions.

Further excerpts of Popcorn reappear throughout the duration of the movie where there is tension (Henry Plainview , Proven Lands, There Will Be Blood), and Greenwood defiantly exploits the passages of dissonances and jagged rhythms to their fullest potential, although meticulously where needed. With the music and visuals paired together, these scenes expound to terrifying, disconcerting and sometimes intimate effect. The abrasive drumming in Convergence, a gritty composition from Greenwood’s first soundtrack, Bodysong, marks the cataclysmic incident of the derrick fire. The repetitive migraine-inducing rhythms may feel like it’s bashing you over the head for the duration, but it’s an effective piece of music that puts you in the frenetic frame of mind of Plainview.

This excellent recording is a selection of pieces from the film all composed by Jonny Greenwood, and arranged in a different order to the film. The film begins with Popcorn, however, the recording begins with Open Spaces, comprising of short call-and-response motifs played by the strings and ondes Martenot, which momentarily develop into a slow flux of chromatic notes that whither and decline. It is a minimal composition that captures the mood of the film – unrest, change, the start of something to come – on the contrary, this could be a symbol for the film’s weakness to control any meanings or explanations. Greenwood demonstrates this by a progression of tonic-to-dominant, an unfinished cadence and a shift that symbolises instigation, or uncertainty. One interesting thing about this title is that it could allude to the freedom Greenwood has to paint his canvas:

‘I was happier writing lots of music for the film/story, and having PTA [Paul Thomas Anderson] fit some of it to the film /I was a bit like a kid in a candy store, in that I was just given free reign to write a lot of music with the film or certain scenes vaguely in mind’ .

His score is predominantly free from clichés and associations, and this may stem from the same “liberal” image that Radiohead notably possess (musically and politically). There Will Be Blood is a big step up for Greenwood. Bodysong was his first film score but it wasn’t so much devoted to synchronising the music with the visuals, like the common practice of film scoring is all about. However, he states he wanted to avoid advocating ‘specific themes for characters’.

To capture the complexities of struggle and success that lasts over two hours, Greenwood attempts to inhibit the same imaginative attributes as Popcorn, in Eat Him by His Own Light and There Will Be Blood. The wistful melancholy of Prospector’s Arrive is utterly beautiful and neatly assists with the passing of time. Greenwood develops this with Prospector’s Quartet by replacing piano for strings and the effect is what one can describe as pure sinister bleakness. The former sounds like a galactic funeral procession and hearing the ondes Martenot evokes images of deep space. Concentrating more on what’s happening on screen, it evokes the bitter, complex emotions, but also the vast landscape of desolate South California of the early 20th century. However, for a period film, the music itself sounds very futuristic, evoking the soundtrack of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Chris Willman accurately describes this connection:

‘A lot of it is one character out in the desert, with long silences suddenly giving way to screeching strings. It reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey, where Stanley Kubrick had the silence of space and then suddenly ''The Blue Danube'' or one of the more dissonant pieces he used’.

There are two moments in the film, which could be regarded as “breathers”. Anderson has included Brahms’ third movement of the Violin Concerto in D Major, though this hasn’t been included in the recording. I was surprised not to see the inclusion of Arvo Pärt’s haunting Fratres for Cello and Piano, as this is a significant period of underscoring to the film and fits well with the disparaging mood. The majestic splendour of the former is employed as more of a clichéd device, particularly when the derrick is activated. When Daniel Plainview proclaims, “I have a competition in me...I want no one else to succeed”, the audience comprehends Plainview’s ‘external rise and internal collapse’. This sensation could not be expressed more aptly than in Prospector’s Quartet, drawing attention the forward momentum of the upper violins which drives the emotion to a rich climax, and this example of film scoring just demonstrates how Greenwood truly understands the poetic nature of Blood.

Music is for the ears, and for this reason, I would like to see a live performance of the music to see the colours and textures visualised by the orchestra in the environment of a concert hall, while watching the film, or even a performance of the score alone. It is rare that you can listen to a soundtrack, without the film accompanying it. In this case, the music is at times more direct than the film itself, and it is hard to think of a film that pulls this off with such imaginative technical flair. In the context of film soundtracks, these techniques are perhaps not exploited enough in film music. Or are they best left to the concert hall? Either way, Greenwood is an inspiration to future generations of composers. It is difficult not to be aware of the music, even watching for the first time, as there has been plenty of spotlight on the composer Jonny Greenwood. I would like to see him writing in an even more avant-garde style like Popcorn, and not be a slave to the screen and his uninspired contemporaries. With the freedom and capability, he is surely one to take music forward to new creative and innovative levels, be it with the band or with his burgeoning solo career.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davis, R. (1999, pp.15-16) Complete Guide to Film Scoring. 1st Edn. Boston: Berklee Press

Nunn, T. (2002, p.16) ‘Radiohead: Everything in its Right Place’ Q Special Edition

Websites:

Nonesuch (2007) Nonesuch Journal Exclusive: An Interview with Jonny Greenwood – Available at: http://journal.nonesuch.com/journal/2007/12/three-weeks-bef.html (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

Willman, C. (2007, pp.1-4) There Will Be Music Entertainment Weekly – Available at: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20155516_20155530_20158721,00.html (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

Ross, A. (2008) Welling Up The New Yorker – Available at: http://www.therestisnoise.com/2008/01/jonny-greenwood.html (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

Martin, P. (2008) Cinematical – Available at: http://www.cinematical.com/2008/01/22/eight-is-not-enough-jonny-greenwoods-blood-score-dqed/ (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

DISCOGRAPHY

Greenwood, J. (2007) There Will Be Blood. BBC Concert Orchestra, Conducted by Robert Ziegler [CD] Nonesuch Records

AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON
JOHN LENNON’S HARMONIC LANGUAGE

The following entries are commentaries on several sources referring to the harmonic language of John Lennon. These include two chapters from a book publication, a transcription of a recording, another chapter from a book publication, a journal essay and a CD recording. Where there is a source that looks at the Lennon/McCartney partnership, or the band as a whole in regards to harmonic language, I have sought to focus on John Lennon only, and the compositions that he instigated. Subsequent to the commentaries is a further list of sources that relate to the topic under investigation.

Thomson, E. & The Lennon Companion: Twenty-Five Years of Comment. 1st edn.
Gutman, D. (ed.) (1987) (London: Macmillan Press)

This exhaustive publication contains a collection of raw materials such as articles and reprints of criticism on John Lennon’s life and work, assembled by two editors. They state in the introduction their aim is to ‘present the best of 25 years of comment and commentary engendered by a man and his music’, though allowing the reader to ‘make an individual assessment’. My initial reaction to this companion is of surprise, in regards to the amount of intense commentary and critical study has been spent on Lennon, musically and non-musically. The publication is interesting in terms of understanding the views of John Lennon when he was alive and at the peak of popularity. With reference to Lennon’s harmonic language, I would like to concentrate a closer inspection of two articles published at the time of the book: Joshua Rifkin’s ‘On The Music of The Beatles’ (pp. 113-126) and Eric Tamm’s ‘Beyond Strawberry Fields: Lennon’s later style (pp. 211-217).

In Rifkin’s article, he reveals his attempt to ‘justify The Beatles in terms of a particular ideology’ by directing his analytical study towards an advanced level of pop music academia rather than a ‘response to the pop scene’. He firstly considers the maturity in their ability to absorb such a wide range of musical influences and techniques, such as the accuracy and control over their compositions and their improvisational (musical) approach to writing pop songs, while never losing their distinctive profile. With Lennon’s ‘Please Please Me’ highlighted as the first example, the author discusses the organisation within its construction, with emphasis on the ‘third apart’ harmonies; the most characteristic element of harmonic language that gives Lennon and The Beatles their signature sound.

Rifkin establishes the significance in the melody-harmony relationship in this song, which achieves ‘a special consistency through a recurrent emphasis on the subdominant’, paying close attention to the ‘spare harmonic palette’. This harmonic simplicity perhaps alludes to the DIY style of punk music that was to emerge over a decade later, in that Lennon’s means of composing involved using guitar, so there is a great deal of focus on chord progressions and harmonic progressions. The article expounds on Lennon’s methods of harmonic development with the ‘constant interchange of modes which leads to a strong tonicisation of more than one key, creating virtual dual tonal centres of a kind often found in 17th Century music’. His argument here is fascinating to read, although there is no evidence to support this statement, and enthusiasts of the band may not find it relevant. Finally, it is an article that consistently relates to The Beatles as one collective in the compositional process, when there are clearly individuals in the band that wrote most of the music by themselves, with assistance from each other.

The article by Tamm is undoubtedly in favour of John Lennon’s success as a songwriter and is very accessible to most levels of reader. The author focuses on Lennon’s individual musicianship, disconnecting his involvement in the band, and begins by stressing the ‘sheer sound [of his music] that grabs the listener and makes the decisive musical statement’. The argument is straightforward and states that Lennon progressed towards concentrating not so much on the compositional techniques, but the ‘sound and spirit’ of the music.

Drawing attention to the section ‘Melody, harmony, rhythm and form’, it is clear the author is an enthusiast of Lennon, with the bias statement, ‘Lennon knew how to write a rock melody’, although this is not analysed or supported by a reference to any primary material (e.g. a score). There is, however, some fluency in the initial argument backed up by some basic general knowledge and the author’s opinions. In relation to Lennon’s harmonic language, Tamm highlights Lennon’s tendency of writing phrases round ‘very few notes (frequently from the pentatonic scale)’, which forms a ‘tension-release principle’. The mapping of Lennon’s compositional writing by a establishing a cut-off point (‘post-Strawberry Fields’) from where he began to employ more repetitive and simplistic harmonic language, is useful to identify a timeline of his progress in songwriting. There is the assertion that the songs with ostinatic figures Lennon employs in later compositions such as “Well Well Well” and “Gimme Some Truth” which underpin the harmony, are the most successful. The latter’s character is described as ‘mesmerizing’ as guitar ostinatos clash with the changing chord progression creating harmonic ambiguity. Again, the author stresses Lennon’s ‘simple’ use of a piano motif in “Remember” to enhance the song’s character and demonstrating Lennon’s skill at songwriting. Although fairly easy to appreciate, this article would probably be most useful as a supplemental reference to something more theory-orientated.

Jones, D. (2000) ‘All You Need Is Love’ The Beatles: 1. New Music Arrangements (Suffolk: Wise Publications), pp.66-69.

This is a phonetic transcription by Derek Jones, classified as a “new music arrangement”. The song as it is heard on the recording Magical Mystery Tour is the source for this score. His interpretation is a reduction from the heavily-texture recording, discarding the drum part, the strings, the brass, the woodwind, the accordion, the vocal harmonies, the banjo, harpsichord, and the half-improvised shrieks from the band members. What remains is a basic transcription for piano, with a primitive chord arrangement for guitar, and the lyrics to the song. The purpose of this score is presumably to create a simplified version of the song comprehensible for a performer, either at a learner’s level, or perhaps at an advanced level.

The arrangement is so very close to the recording, in that some parts take the same note, for instance, the harpsichord and double bass both adopt the one-bar crescendo in the bass clef leading up to verse one. Care is taken over the rhythmic aspects, though not over the harmonic fluency, which is facilitated by the strings, and thus, a performance of this score would seem even more plodding than the recording already is. There appears to lack the preciseness in Lennon’s melodic delivery in the second verse. In addition, the guitar solo after the first chorus is not included, though rightly so, considering the difficulty in transcribing this to piano. The semiquaver phrasing in the strings leading up to the second verse are also removed, as are the grace notes that accompany the descending chromatic thirds in the chorus. These examples of harmonic reduction could be improvised in the guitar performance to establish a much needed harmonic balance, or a sense of individuality.

On the contrary, Jones’ transcription exposes an unexpected rawness, not apparent in the recording. This may be due to the song’s poor sound quality, with Ian Macdonald stating The Beatles’ recordings in this period were ‘concealed in a slapdash atmosphere...disguising the sloppiness on show’ (Macdonald, 1998, pp.229), leaving little attention to musical values and production.

Bibliography

MacDonald, I. (1998) Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. (London: Pimlico), pp. 229-230.

Discography

Lennon, J. (1967) ‘All You Need Is Love’ (track 11), Magical Mystery Tour [CD] (London: EMI)

Moore, A. F. (1997) ‘Commentary’ The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. 1st edn. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 26-57.

The section of this book analyses very thoroughly, track-by-track, the music of the Beatles album on which this publication is founded upon. Moore also offers an ‘objective account’ of each song, while criticizing the many rock critic accounts that focus too much on the writer and not on the song itself. He establishes this by associating each song with its own section. References to score material are shown in ‘Schenkerian’ format, which serve to demonstrate a closer inspection of Lennon’s harmonic language. Moore is specific with small details of each song such as time duration and tempo. In the discussion of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, the harmony is carefully dissected with a chord progression summary and a Schenkerian graph, which are supported by associations to LSD, a theme familiar with the song’s lyrical elements. Moore attempts settle the argument that whether ‘tone overtakes meaning’ in the song by indicating the texture and production is responsible for its false connections.

As stated in the introduction, ‘the song itself’ is integral to this analysis, and the author refers to several tracks released on another album (The Beatles Anthology Collection), not on the 1967 recording, such as “Lucy” and “Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite”. This second Lennon composition is stated as one of his ‘mid-period Beatle songs crucial to Britain’s incipient psychedelia’. The article is convincing in the way of establishing Lennon’s efforts to develop his sound, after it is well-known that The Beatles wanted Sgt Pepper to be the answer to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds – a tour de force in its harmonic associations.

Everett, W. (1986) ‘Fantastic Remembrance in John Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Julia"’, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 72, No.3, pp. 360-393. (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Jstor [Online] – Available At: http://www.jstor.org/stable/948147 (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

This fascinating journal entry focuses on the function of memory and fantasy in the songs of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and how significantly these elements influence the compositional process. By looking at two Lennon compositions, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Julia”, we are given two convincing examples to support the author’s argument. A recurring theme which is established in these two songs and other selected Lennon songs (“If I Fell”, “Yes It Is”, “I’m Only Sleeping”), is the ‘slithering polyphonic lines’ that portray ‘altered states of awareness’.

Brief attention is paid to memory as a compositional strategy in the Lennon/McCartney relationship, in which each composer has written a song based on the memories of their partnership (“Glass Onion”, which ‘warps the tune of “Strawberry Fields”’, and “Two Of Us”), although Everett does not go into detail on this, and one senses there could be a great deal written on their conscious, or unconscious compositional decisions that allude to each other’s style or technique. Everett states that ‘these examples have demonstrated their ways of dealing with either memories (escaping to them, wishing to avoid them)‘. Lennon is notoriously familiar for this second statement, with regards to his spiteful attack on McCartney in “How Do You Sleep?”, and further discussion could have been included on the aggressive harmonic quality in this song, in relation to “Glass Onion”.

The reference to Lennon’s commentary on “Strawberry Fields” serves well to demonstrate his profound and insightful self-analysis of memory, which comes across in his music, as Everett attempts to show in the Schenkerian transcription the unusual harmonic progression. In “Julia”, this Lennon composition is one of his simplest and is driven by a tonic harmony, despite the shifting colourful surface harmonies. The conclusion is that of all these “wrong” qualities in harmonic colouring, combining them with positive or negative attitudes (through harmonic ambiguity or lyrical wisdom) creates the fulfilment of artistic communication.

Lennon, J. (1986) Live in New York City [CD] (New York: EMI)

This is a timeless recording of John Lennon’s last full-length concert, joined by members of the ‘Plastic Ono Elephants Memory Band’ in Madison Square Garden. It is the second recording in a series of live albums arranged by his widow, Yoko Ono, six years after his death, and was organised to support a charity for mentally-handicapped children. Lennon’s performance is at times clumsy and unprepared, while he declares to the audience “welcome to the rehearsal”, but this sense of authenticity transpires, particularly in “Mother”, where his vocals reaches to the point of toneless screaming. The quality is not great, with several parts of the band drowned out by the poorly balanced levels, and at the end of “Instant Karma”, Lennon comically apologises for their flat finish, with “we’ll get it right next time”.

Despite this, the success of this recording is owed significantly to the fact that Lennon rarely performed live in his later years, and to experience the concert first-hand would have been a precious occasion. Lennon’s affirmation for rock and roll continues with “Hound Dog”, which he screams out with passion. This cover owes some significance to the influence on his musical direction. As a model for first-hand experiences, George Martin recalls John Lennon’s admiration for Elvis Presley, which he regards as ‘Modified blues music of Chuck Berry (Martin, 1995, p. 44). Lennon’s harmonic language in this recording in comparison with his earlier work with the Beatles is more bluesy in nature, and this relates to the ‘sound and spirit’ (Thomson, E. & Gutman, D. 1987, p.212), which Lennon embraced later on in his life.

Bibliography

Martin, G. (1995) Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. 1st edn. (London: Pan Books)

Thomson, E. & The Lennon Companion: Twenty-Five Years of Comment. 1st edn.
Gutman, D. (ed.) (1987) (London: Macmillan Press)

FURTHER BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thompson, G. (2001) Let me take you down...to the subdominant. Tools of establishment and revealing the establishment. Yrjö Heinonen, Markus Heuger, Sheila Whiteley, Terhi Nurmesjärvi and Jouni Koskimäki (eds.), Beatlestudies 3. Proceedings of the Beatles 2000 conference. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä (Department of Music, Research Reports 23), pp. 283-291.

Martin, G. (1995) Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. 1st edn. (London: Pan Books)

Moore, A. (1992) ‘Patterns of Harmony’, Popular Music, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 73-106. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Jstor [Online] – Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/853228 (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

Wagner, N. (2003) ‘"Domestication" of Blue Notes in the Beatles' Songs’, Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 353-365. (California: University of California Press). Jstor [Online] – Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3595435 (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

Reck, D.R. (1985) ‘Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition’, Asian Music, Vol. 16, No. 1 (1985), pp. 83-149. (Texas: University of Texas Press). Jstor [Online] – Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/834014 (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

Riley, T. (1987) ‘For the Beatles: Notes on Their Achievement’, Popular Music, Vol. 6, No. 3, Beatles Issue (Oct., 1987), pp. 257-271. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Jstor [Online] – Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/853187 (Accessed: 07 November 2008)

MacDonald, I. (1998) Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. (London: Pimlico)

For Uncle Bill

2008-11-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

Pour vu

2008-10-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

Summer of Sam

I look out to the silent summer sky
A shooting star in a glow of amber light
Hold my hand... I’m sinking in the sand
Or wait for the tide to carry me

I fell in love with a girl from the Garden State
She lives so far so I write her everyday
She came to stay and we made a lot of plans
And I won’t forget when I kissed her hand

The sun came falling
Down upon its head
To bring another new day
These are words
I’ve never said before
I love you everyday

We danced like ghosts under cherry crimson skies
Her long dark hair and her smiling azure eyes
I took off my shoes and marched into the sea
And waited for the tide to carry me

The sun came falling
Down upon its head
To bring another new day
These are words
I’ve never said before
I think we’re doing okay

The Postgraduate

2008-10-04T16:04:00.001-07:00

This entry is just to help reflect on my first two weeks at Kingston - the initiation of my Masters course in Music Composition. This is also my second ‘Freshers’ experience, and it does feel like I’ve done this all before. And where I should be focusing on the heap of work coming my way this month, I will ponder on good and unpleasant memories I’ve had here so far.

Monday 22nd September 2008

Made my way to the bus stop, and as I went around the corner, there was a bus up ahead in traffic, so I thought I’d fast-walk my way to the next stop, but that didn’t work so I ended up walking past four stops and still waiting about half an hour for the next bus. I hate them so much!! I turned up late for meeting in the studio, with a large number of undergraduates turning up. As I walked in, clumsily, walked in front of everyone with my heavy bag, and made my way to a spare seat on the end. There was a lady introducing herself, and then a tall man with long curly grey hair and an eccentric sense of humour to match his comic appearance. Later on, I nervously I stated my name and my course pathway to a group that was so small in numbers it hardly required getting so worked up about at all. It makes me frustrated I can’t prevent my lack of self-confidence.

I saw a bit of the university band at the social event, and then looking for some solitude, I took off.

Waiting at the campus bus stop was probably the most defining moment of realisation of where I was and what stage I was occupying in my life. This undergraduate asks me what course I was doing and I said I was a postgraduate and he was somewhat impressed and afraid. The inevitable period of silence that followed made me think that people look up to me for how far I’ve reached to get where I am, just like I looked up to Masters students at Keele. I don’t realise it but it sometimes feels like I’m on top of this momentous pedestal and I don’t know how I got there until I realise I’m there, and it’s unbelievably terrifying. To think it took some people all the courage in the world to be where they want to be and to know it, I wish I could subconsciously comprehend I’m always on this pedestal, and instead of trying to keep my balance, I just reach for my goal.

In the afternoon I went to investigate the ‘fresher’s fayre’ and bought a beautiful ‘Japanese print’ poster to complement my love for all things oriental. I’m excited to join the Gamelan ensemble which will be every Friday afternoon – I would love to compose something for those instruments.

Wednesday

Again, I turned up late to the studio due to my bad luck with the buses. As I’m on this subject, travelling to and from Kingston seems like a hassle, considering the 2-hour via two buses and trains journey, but if I can take my mind off it by reading/listening to music, then I’ll get through these two years just fine. The unpredictable bus service is my only grievance at this moment, but a car to drive would be nice.
This morning I had a first taste of choir, and I’ve just learnt I will miss the next few weeks because of a module clash. As I walked in this time, the choir leader vented frustration at me in a comical way to make the others giggle, with: “Next time you turn up late at one of my practices, you will DIE!”

The social evening was also an awkward affair and rather unpleasant. I had a few minor ailments: hangnails, heartburn, wet feet, a persistent cough, sore cheeks, and a twitch on the bridge of my nose (felt more like a stress vein from smiling too hard). All of which seemed to augment the effort of meeting new people to seem even more discomfiting – as if it’s an easy thing to do! Due to my lack of voice projection, or basic social communication, I found myself on my own, staring at my cup of wine, so I didn’t stay long and left without saying goodbye.

On the train home I finished reading Atonement by Ian McEwan, and watching the film on Thursday night provided the impetus to write a hefty review of both the film and book. Here’s a random quote I rather liked: “A conscious mind is a river through time.”

Thursday

Today was a more proper introduction to the MA music course. And there was a bigger turn out of students on the course, mostly foreigners. I was punctual on this occasion. First there was a general talk about the pathways and an introduction to the lecturers and advisors. Then we were escorted to the library for a quick talk about the library’s resources. On the way there I spoke to a friendly Italian girl about my modules and started a PCs vs Macs argument with her.

Later in the evening was the social event for postgraduates which went down a bit better than the night before. I still need to work on my people skills and not laugh all the time. I spoke to a Mongolian/German girl who was very talkative and nice, a guy called Baz (I think) and some others.

Saturday/Weekend

I met up with some friends in Keele. They’re really good company and make me feel comfortable. I felt somewhat nostalgic being back there, but the union is mostly the same, in regards to the music and endless queuing for horrible drinks! There is the addition of a cool chill out area in the back, and I was a bit surprised to see they’re dropping the Union Square for a social meeting place. That was a great bar. That was where I found my love for Magners, watched many Arsenal games, read books, and generally existed in my own little world. The only quarrel I could have that weekend was sleeping in Dave’s car, but it wasn’t too bad I suppose.

The return home journey was a nuisance. I had to get a coach from Stoke to Stafford, then a train from there. The confusion and anxiety failed to disappear that day, after seeing a swarm of police take over the road outside Stoke station to escort a bus-load of Stoke football ‘hooligans’.

First Week of October 2008

This past week has been bitterly cold and windy, so I better start wearing my scarf and gloves from now on. A lot to take in as far as the modules are concerned. I need to begin setting deadlines for myself so I can be more organised and less stressed about the amount that needs done.

Two pieces of music on my mind lately: Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Ravel’s Daphnis Et Chloe Suite No.2. The former is a wonderful piece of Englishness, and to coincide with finishing Atonement, I’ve been feeling a lot of Anglophilian pride lately. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve also been lost in a magical fantasy with Ravel’s beautiful music. I also started reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding this week to take my mind of the numbness of reality. I’ve had enough hearing about failing economies and dramatic election run-ins.

Friday was a repeat of that cold January night in London in the hope of seeing Radiohead at Rough Trade/93 Feet East. This time it was TV On The Radio at the Cargo, as part of the Concrete & Glass event – oh yeah! I won tickets for this! So there we are; my brother and I, waiting in the 1000-strong queue trying to get into a 400 capacity venue in the blistering cold, and we finally give in after an hour. Oh well... Never again will I underestimate the popularity of a big band playing in London again... I’m just going to get there early and not rely on hope that there won’t be long queues because there will always crowds. One thing that made the evening quite memorable for me was when we were walking down Old Street, and passing a kebab shop there was one of the European chefs furiously banging on the window at us, trying to convince us to get a take-away. I was scared he may’ve chased us down the road.

So, finally, this weekend I will get some water babies for my fish tank. I don’t really know what to expect, how long they’ll last, or what creatures I’ll end up bringing home. It’s not going well so far, with the pump not working – I must have some sort of curse with aquariums.

Over and out.

Atonement

2008-09-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

But What Really Happened?

Book/Film Review of Atonement by Ian McEwan (for those in the first two rows who have not read the book, or seen the film – there will be spoilers!)

I’ve never been so fully engrossed in a novel since Birdsong, and this being another focus on the Second World War (a subject matter I find most interesting to read about), Atonement is a brilliant and poignant masterpiece. This is the second work I’ve read by Ian McEwan (the first, Enduring Love). In a plan to confuse and dispel readers, McEwan has written a very thought-provoking and challenging book.

Establishing the conclusion of the novel, Atonement turns out to be narrated by a character in the story: Briony Tallis. This leaves some questions; is the whole story just a fantasy fabricated by Briony, or is this a true account? Is this the book, the final draft that will get published when she dies?

Her first-hand experiences are somewhat abundant, with depictions of some beautifully poetic scenery and vivid imagery, which at times helps to create a certain tension in a climactic moment where you just want to read past it, but this sometimes wears thin. This is something the publishers at Horizon in the book comment on Briony’s draft as being “static”, and leaving “no sense of forward movement”.

That letter is, in fact, rather useful if you want a good in-depth analyse of the book. “The crystalline present moment is of course a worthy subject in itself, especially for poetry”. Is this McEwan digressing his own literary techniques? Or is he purposefully writing in the style of his own character that writes stories “owing to the techniques of Mrs Woolf”? Genius.

The story is quite depressing to some extent, in that the two main protagonists meet their death at the peak of their lives. This, however, is veiled by our narrator. There is hope and the message she conveys to the reader is that love prevails through hope. The two lovers are kept alive by the storyteller, to atone her crime of wrongly accusing Robbie Turner of attacking an innocent girl; this being her “act of kindness”, despite the unforgivable act which dearly cost them.

There is a lot of realism in the form of graphic imagery, real-life places, and the subject of war. The authenticity of the war depiction is as close as you can get, particularly in the hospital scenes, where we get to comprehend the graphic injuries of the soldiers, via Briony’s first-hand experiences. Disease and death also affects reputable characters throughout the book, which is what makes reading McEwan novels so unique – expect the unexpected!

There was a passage I really liked where Briony compared every novel she had written to writing a modern piece of music, and that wonderful satisfaction of holding your own creation in your fingertips. She wrote a story, and though the age of characters and plots was over, much like the age of tonality and structure is over in music, she elucidates, “A modern novelist could no more write characters or plots than a modern composer could a Mozart Symphony”. It’s like you’re just rewriting the rules of past techniques, so all you can do is let art be art and let the imagination work itself through real sensations, and real human emotions of the human mind: “the conscious mind as a river through time”. This quote alludes to the closing pages of her novel, which will exist only in the mind. All great stories are generated by the creative human mind. This is a story of that process, and there is of course, much beauty in that. Love is the essence of the novel, not just between Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner, but for family relationships, for country, for art, and for storytelling.

The end really delivers home. There’s a sense of despondency felt about the growing up and growing old, the loss of loved ones, the loss of innocence and youth, and the decline of health, but then there’s the experience, wisdom and memories that comes with old age, which half balances that out. I feel that because Briony has lived to old age, she has had to endure the guilt of her crime, and perhaps the only way out of that was to live a fantasy life in her storytelling. This, she explains, would let “the lovers survive and flourish”. I would like to have found out more about what happened to Briony after the war, up until 1999.

I spoilt my own surprise by watching the film before reading the book because by the time I reached the part where Briony meets Cecilia and Robbie at the flat, my mind was fixed on the obvious, right up to the end. I desperately wanted to feel surprise, pathos, or something heartfelt, when she repentantly declares, “Robbie Turner died of Septicaemia at Bray Dunes” and “Cecilia was killed in September of the same year by the bomb that destroyed Balham Underground”. It’s a brilliant and powerful twist, and it struck me while watching the film, and it would probably tug the heartstrings of anyone reading the book for the first time. Nevertheless, I cannot disguise any sense of suspicion to wonder whether Briony is actually telling the truth here. Is she lying to conceal their whereabouts? To keep them alone, together, as lovers? But then she says, “what sense or hope or satisfaction could a reader draw from such an account?” The truth is imperfection. Death is an inevitable oblivion. Only in the mind can a happy end be told, until that mind withers, then one will only exist in the imagination.

I think Joe Wright’s adaptation really did the book justice. Firstly, I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the roles of Cecilia and Robbie, other than Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. It’s like McEwan had them in mind when he was writing the novel, for instance, when Briony describes Cecilia and Robbie in the flat – these are the most vivid descriptions. I also liked Wright’s interpretation of Briony’s final testimony, with the TV interview regarding her book, instead of the letter. The music couldn’t have been more suited than Dario Marianelli’s magnificent score. Together, ‘Elegy for Dunkirk’ and Wright’s direction of that famous war scene surely marks as that one of the best unedited sequences in film history. I was enchanted to hear Clair de Lune added in the soundtrack, as it is one of my favourites, and I feel it gives a perfectly fitting aura to the film.

There is a fair amount of 'Englishness' akin to Atonement and I will always keep a devout soft spot for this book. It is set in the beautiful setting of Surrey (my home county) and namedrops a few places in London, with its war history and noble landmarks. Also, I loved Briony’s wistful imagination, her eye for detail and the way she leant all her weight on one foot – I occasionally do that. Though I am frustrated by her poor decision-making – she was foolish not to tell the truth about the incident, and live a lie for a whole five years.

Atonement begins the first chapter basked in a theme of innocence, portraying not so much “The Trials of Arabella”, as Briony writes, but the trials and tribulations of growing up. The story ends on a theme of experience, and the emancipation of death – this is evident in her mood telling the news of her inveterate illness. Suffice to say, Briony is the indirect cause of Cecilia and Robbie’s deaths, not just physically, but in love, so she goes about putting it right – by re-establishing their love as it always was, or how it was meant to be. She knows nothing will be enough to convey her regret, except her conjured fantasy, and that’s what will be remembered. And in answer to this review’s title, as 77 year old Briony puts it: “I gave them happiness”.

Feedback

2008-09-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

There is a sound of electricity, an ambience;
Buzzing like an endless whirring chaos
The alien chime that resonates a hum
The dust that bites my eardrum.

And all the time it hangs in the cracks
Behind my human perception is a firewall,
Signals are a soft breeze in a salty sea
Sighs an algorithm in a magnetic prison.

In the deep chasm of hyperspace hell
The swirling loops of tones are teaming
Churning a roar like the earth died screaming,
Singing from the very water, wind, and rocks themselves

These cosmic sensations align
Flicked and fingerprinted by God
In the dust and the chimes
These are the signs.

I found...

2008-09-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

PART 1

...my A-Level English Reading List from a few years back, after rummaging through my drawer. I am hoping to read all these before I die.

So far = 8

PART 2

...a self-profile from Infant School when I was a wee 10 years old.

2008-05-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

So my new favourite band right now is Fleet Foxes. Harmonies, melodies, guitars, reverbbb... they have a really natural and organic sound, like a wind blowing through the trees, which to me is the true beauty of music. They mention some of their influences like traditional music from Ireland to Japan and film scores... which is just awesome. I bought their EP 'Sun Giant' last week and this is a nice passage on the inside sleeve:

"Sometimes when driving, or riding the bus, or walking around in some park, I will try to get an image in my head of what the land around me would have looked like 400 years ago. The same hills, the same landscape, but in my mind I'll cover it in nothing and wonder what it was like to be the first man to chance upon it. This is always useless to me. There is so much wonder in this world, but I always have trouble getting past our influence, our disasters and clumsy systems. And even in those places where there is some real beauty, like down at Golden Gardens, or on the Olympic Peninsula, or my grandparents' cabin in Wenatchee when it's deep in snowdrifts, all I have to do is take one look at the skyline in the distance, or the cement path I'm walking on, or the white car parked in the gravel driveway to take me out of the tenuous illusion and put me back in reality.

We are constantly tethered to some safety line. There is always a lantern, or a map, or a screen, or a cell phone. These things guarantee that whatever experience we're having is just an attempt at connecting to something foreign and old, that it's not real, no matter how real it looks. We've sketched out a new world over the old, and they are in two separate universes. The old is lost despite the remnants of it we see everyday. If properly prepared, one could live entire decades indoors, in a world of their own creation.

Sometimes I'll stay indoors for days at a time, talking to no one and doing nothing of value. Once I do go outside after a long stretch like that, it still feels fake, like some slide in front of my eyes. At a certain point, I'll have to tell myself, "This is actually real and I am actually here. That dog or building or mountain range in the distance is a real thing inhabiting the same space that I am." I think that must be a very modern sensation, that of having to convince onesself of reality. What a weird feeling.

A very smart and gifted friend of mine told me once that music is a kind of replacement for the natural world. That, before civilization or whatever, the world must have seemed a place of such immense wonder and confusion, so terrifying in a way, unthinkably massive and majestic. And that that feeling of mystery and amazement, is somehow hardwired into us. Once the world became commonplace, mapped, and conquered, that mystery left our common mind and we needed something to replace it with and then along came music. I think she's right, music is magic to me, transportative and full of wonder in a way that I have trouble getting from the natural world. All the human things that make the natural world so hard to connect with just aren't there with music.

I don't really know what I"m trying to say with this. It's not good to romanticize a time of great hardship, hardship I've never known and am not conditioned to understand. I'm also not interested in a "back to nature" thing. As nature as it was is gone for the time being and it would take a very big leap of faith and common sense to ignore that. But, music to me is just as awe-bringing as the world maybe once [was], and I just love it a lot."

Thomas Jefferson
January 2008
New York City

I also like this random passage:

"I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is the sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as natural as sleep."

Willa Cather, My Antonia

My parents are back from China, and here are two striking images to prove that they had an experience out of this world. Also proves you can still take beautiful pictures armed with just a camera phone...

Sandy

2008-02-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

c. 1991
- February 23, 2008

(17 years young)

S andyface, hound of grace
A ffectionate and dear friend
N umber one waggiest tail end
D own the years you stole our hearts
Y our loving presence will always last

I love you
xo

The Castles of Spain

2008-02-22T10:56:00.001-08:00

In between clouds
My pane collects the vapours
In misty shrouds
A blanket of ashen flavours
A vision kissed
My hopes persist

Strewn across the fevered sea
I’m whisked into salty air
An ocean of loved memories
Glazed along the clarion glare
This purgatory of Zen
Is a place forgotten

In a world of parted seams
Frozen are the tides of time
I’m lost in a pearly white dream
I’m towering the city skyline
In mysteries of ambiguities
In obscurities of secrecies

Darkness will soar amid the doom
And bare the devil’s disguise
As beauty beams down from the gloom
And whiteness meets the blackness of our eyes
Open minds will scatter these fantasies
What times! What oddities!

No way of telling
What exists above?
No way of knowing
What speaks my love?
Into absence of the deep abyss
My hopes persist

My Top 100 Albums...

2008-02-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

as of February 22nd 2008.

100) Absolution by Muse

99) Summerteeth by Wilco

98) Discovery by Daft Punk

97) Geogaddi by Boards of Canada

96) The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground & Nico

95) Odyssey And Oracle by The Zombies

94) Rejoicing In The Hands by Devendra Banheart

93) Our Endless Numbered Days by Iron & Wine

92) I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning by Bright Eyes

91) The Pearl by Harold Budd & Brian Eno

90) He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace The
Corners Of The Room by A Silver Mount Zion

89) Happy Songs For Happy People by Mogwai

88) Silent Shout by The Knife

87) Is This It? by The Strokes

86) Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins

85) Dummy by Portishead

84) Out Of Time by REM

83) A Night At The Opera by Queen

82) Bridge Over Troubled Waters by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel

81) Boxer by The National

80) Mezzanine by Massive Attack

79) 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields

78) II by Led Zeppelin

77) The Man Machine by Kraftwerk

76) Sung Tongs by Animal Collective

75) The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake

74) Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth

73) Abbey Road by The Beatles

72) Down The River Of Golden Dreams by Okkervil River

71) Give Up by Postal Service

70) Ears Will Pop And Eyes Will Blink by Bodies of Water

69) Friend Opportunity by Deerhoof

68) Person Pitch by Panda Bear

67) Blue Valentine by Tom Waits

66) McCartney by Paul McCartney

65) Imagine by John Lennon

64) Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis

63) Loveless by My Bloody Valentine

62) Louden Up Now by !!!

61) Felt Mountain by Goldfrapp

60) Ys by Joanna Newsom

59) Want One by Rufus Wainwright

58) Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by Of Montreal

57) Life Is Full Of Possibilities by Dntel

56) The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy

55) Are You Experienced? By Jimi Hendrix

54) Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan

53) The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips

52) Before The Dawn Heals Us by M83

51) L.S.T. by Shugo Tokumaru

50) ( ) by Sigur Rós

49) If You're Feeling Sinisterby Belle And Sebastian

48) Parachutes by Coldplay

47) Asleep In The Back by Elbow

46) Oh, Inverted World by Shins

45) The Bends by Radiohead

44) Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

43) Hunky Dory by David Bowie

42) Gulag Orkestar by Beirut

41) The Beatles [White Album] by The Beatles

40) Blade Runner by Vangelis

39) Nevermind by Nirvana

38) Surrender by The Chemical Brothers

37) All Things Must Pass by George Harrison

36) The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan

35) Teaser And The Firecat by Cat Stevens

34) Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake

33) Blue by Joni Mitchell

32) Moon Safari by Air

31) Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon

30) Yellow House by Grizzly Bear

29) Drum's Not Dead by The Liars

28) London Calling by The Clash

27) Pet Sounds by Beach Boys

26) Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

25) After The Gold Rush by Neil Young

24) III by Scott Walker

23) Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

22) F# A# Oo by Godspeed You Black Emperor

21) The Hour of Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy

20) Close to the Edge by Yes

19) Birds of My Neighborhood by Innocence Mission

18) Funeral by Arcade Fire Funeral by Arcade Fire

17) Music Has The Right To Children by Boards Of Canada

16) Low by David Bowie

15) Revolver by The Beatles

14) Homogenic by Bjork

13) Grace by Jeff Buckley

A Brilliant, brilliant album of fantastic songs. Expressive and energetic.

12) Xo by Elliott Smith

11) In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

It's raw... it's simple... it's beautiful... it's a wonderful discovery.

10) The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths

Yet another classic. Full of some of the most emotionally-driven songs in pop music; all powerful and lyrical, making this one of Britain's most iconic albums of all time.

9) Doolittle by Pixies

Doolittle is a fantastic album, again being very influential to many 90's rock bands succeeding them, and this album possibly did it.

8) Kid A by Radiohead

7) Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros

The songs on this album are fantastic. The melodies, slow beats and long chord changes, everything about this album is amazing. Dark, heavy, emotional. My favourites: Ny Batteri and Agaetis Byrjun.

6) Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens

There are albums you love, and then there are albums you worship.

5) Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco

4) Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd

A complete album. Pink Floyd's best, and another rock classic, experimenting early electronic sounds with guitars and piano. A revolution. Best bit: when the piano begins on The Great Gig in the Sky.

3) IV by Led Zeppelin

The best Led Zep album you'll ever hear. A legendary album. The epic 'Stairway to Heaven' is a breathtaking song; a classic.

2) O.K Computer by Radiohead

One of Rock's finest albums in recent years but definitely Radiohead's best. Each song blows you away each time you listen to them. Lucky and Paranoid Android, particularly, are the two best songs.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles

This album changed my life and rock music as we hear it today. Each song is a masterpiece. Great music from start to finish and includes one of the greatest songs ever composed: A Day in the Life.

Close but no cigar…

The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by Explosions In The Sky

Endtroducing… by DJ Shadow

Sounds of Silver by LCD Soundsystem

Forever Changes by Love

It Was Hot We Stayed In The Water by The Microphones

Arular by M.I.A.

Finally We Are No One by Mum

K by Kula Shaker

The Village Green Preservation Society by Kinks

Exile On Main Street by Rolling Stones

Astral Weeks by Van Morrison

The Joshua Tree by U2

Achtung Baby! by U2

Quiet Is The New Loud by Kings of Convenience

Homesongs by Adem

Closer by Joy Division

The Milk-Eyed Mender by Joanna Newsom

Psychocandy by Jesus And Mary Chain

Gold by Ryan Adams

Stormcock by Roy Harper

Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Rage Against The Machine by Rage Against The Machine

Different Class by Pulp

Parklife by Blur

Think Tank by Blur

that one with live forever on it by Oasis

Music For The Jilted Generation by The Prodigy

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea by PJ Harvey

Without You I'm Nothing by Placebo

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie

Wish You Were Here By Pink Floyd

The Wall by Pink Floyd

Never Mind The Bollocks by Sex Pistols

Automatic For The People by REM

Impromptus

2008-01-18T11:41:00.000-08:00

This was from Wednesday night when we queued and queued, and then queued some more in hope that we could catch Radiohead at 93 Feet East (originally Rough Trade) until we just gave up some time around 11pm.

Best gig ever.

The crowds were mental.

An Entry About Rainbows That Isn't Related To Radiohead

2008-01-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Imagine a world of rainbows...

Christmas Day 2007

2008-01-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

Song for 2008

2008-01-01T23:40:00.000-08:00

Imagine living as though death was not a worry and no harm could come of it because you found true purpose and experienced happiness and love so grand that everything else seemed arbitrary in comparison. I think that is what this song is about.

Radiohead - Videotape

When I'm at the pearly gates
This'll be on my videotape
my videotape

When Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me

This is one for the good days
And I have it all here
In red blue green
Red blue green

You are my centre when I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape

This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face

No matter what happens now
I won't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen.

Thomas Edward Yorke

2007-12-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

I like this picture

Charlie Brooker

2007-12-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

I like this guy

Winter Spirits

2007-12-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

It was such a long time ago
We were angels in the snow
Lying on the frozen lake
Catching all the snowflakes
Then the snow began to fall
And you declared a free-for-all
I kissed you on your swollen thumb
When all our fingers turned to numb

Christmas time had come and gone
Winter spirits we call upon

Fairy lights on the tree
Singing to the family
Santa on the chimney top
Waiting round to see him drop
Later in the afternoon
Underneath the winter moon
Carol singers at the door
We were hiding on the floor

Driving home fast asleep
Lying in the backseat
Sleigh bells on the window frames
Oh the rain was such a shame
We were in a Tinseltown
Decorations on the ground
Toasting to the yuletide
Finding room for gifts to hide

Peace to us on this day
Let’s celebrate a holiday
Winter days and holy nights
Gathering by candlelight
All the school nativities
Sharing the festivities
This is what it means to me
Not just for the shopping sprees

Through the Window Pane

2007-11-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

Views from Knolly's House

London's Burning

Sunset

España

2007-11-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

5th - 12th October 2007

pic i took in spain

2007-10-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

samysam! <3

In Rainbows: My thoughts on Radiohead’s honesty box approach

2007-10-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

You Can’t Put A Price On Art

If we ask, what is an album leak worth? The obvious answer depends on the content of the album. So what is a highly anticipated seventh album from the world’s greatest rock group worth? That would be asking to put a price on a piece of art.

How can you price-tag music? The recording industry has established itself by setting a fixed price for each album, with disregard of its greatness or mediocrity, so it is known exactly how much grossing profit will be earned; therefore the business succeeds in operation.

With Radiohead’s new approach to distribute their new album In Rainbows, their argument states that it isn’t all about money: you can’t put a price on greatness. It is a bold attitude (and a generous one) that signifies commitment to art instead of just business, like music fans like myself strongly believe in. But then asking their fans to put a price on a record they haven’t heard yet seems a bit short-sighted, so it all comes down to trust and loyalty, and these are the key characteristics to building and maintaining your audience.

For Radiohead fans, who are some of the most die-hard you can get (me included), it would be second nature to buy the album, and whether I’ve heard it or not, it would still be in my collection. I didn’t put any price down for the download because I knew I’d be buying the box set in December, and thus, I have earned their trust. Even if I was indifferent to Radiohead, I wouldn’t put down any price until I’d heard it (unless it was going to a good cause), in which case I would wait until the physical copy came out next year, and if it was good, I would buy that. It would be apt if you can go back to the download page once you’ve heard it and pay how much you think it deserves, like a ‘try before you buy’ initiative.

But the question remains, how long are they going to keep the download online for? This then goes back to the trustworthiness of the consumer, which Radiohead are basing their experiment on.

With this download idea, everyone (who has an internet connection) will hear it at the same time. But then that could be a bad thing because you’re establishing a set moment for your audience to hear your music, and it shouldn’t have to work like that. The best musical experiences happen spontaneously when you’re least conscious of the listening activity, like hearing a song at a wedding or a school disco which is perfect for that moment, which subsequently becomes most memorable and personal to you.

Bear in mind that Radiohead want this record to be brought into the mass marketplace so if they go on to make more millions than they did even without a record label, they could in fact become the most powerful quintet in the world and this would (hopefully) signal the end of record labels and record retailers: Revolution!

This isn’t the first time a band has taken a big step away from their record label by releasing their record online for free, but the significance is in Radiohead’s reputation and their gargantuan fan-base, which stretches globally. Radiohead have once experimented with anti-commercial marketing with Kid A when they decided not to release any singles or videos (the album incidentally topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic), and their first album release without a label couldn’t have come at a worse time for record companies, with music listeners continuing to illegally download music instead of buying it, and finding out that one of their biggest selling bands are choosing to experiment with sole-marketing is a kick in the teeth for them. The reliance on record companies and marketing teams to produce, commercialize and promote music records needs reconsideration for the modern age, and I believe this could be the change.

The ‘honesty box’ strategy is symbolic of the industry’s direction towards the digital market, but there are difficult problems putting down a price on electronic data. The most important difference between a CD and a digital download is that one is a real physical object that you can hold in your hand and the other isn’t. Frankly, it’s better to own a physical copy than a digital one, and despite some benefits of digital downloads such as accessibility and playability, this mentality will never change.

If I was to pay for the download, then I should be able to get the physical copy free because I have already made my contribution to the product - So what about paying what you want for physical copies? Packaging and material cost aside, like a download, like music, it just doesn’t have a value. In truth, it’s all about time and who can wait for the real thing. In any case, bands aren’t fully reliant on album sales when they’re playing concerts to bring in the wages, but how long will it be until they let you pay what you want to see a live show?

Above all, Radiohead have looked beyond the commercial potentials of In Rainbows and embraced their audience before everything else, which is fundamentally what making music in a band is all about: Sharing intimately the most important value to the entire world.

My Desk

2007-08-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

My First Proms

2007-08-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY 25 AUGUST - Prom 55
Royal Albert Hall

Wagner
Parsifal – Prelude to Act I and Good Friday Music (24 mins)

Debussy
Three Nocturnes (25 mins)

Interval

Debussy, orch. Rudolf Escher
Six épigraphes antiques (15 mins)

Wagner
Tristan and Isolde – Prelude and Liebestod (17 mins)

Tenebrae (women's voices)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Bernard Haitink (conductor)

Simpson Me

2007-08-21T18:46:00.001-07:00

This...

2007-08-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

is when I saw a dragon breathing out a rainbow...

Brie & Sausage

2007-07-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

on a slice of bread

(thanks samantha)

Latitude Diary

2007-07-23T06:24:00.000-07:00

Latitude Festival 12th-16th July 2007
Attendees: Glen Rowlan & Scott Rowlan
Review by Glen Rowlan

THURSDAY

16:00 – Arrived at the site, set up tent (we were stopped at the door because we had glass bottles so we poured all our beer into plastic bottles)

Lake Stage
19:00 – Screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Lodger’ accompanied by live orchestra, conducted by Robert Ziegler (Introduction by Mark Kermode)

Back to the tent for BBQ

Poetry Tent
22:00 – Aisle16 & Friends

We check out a really cool ethnic instruments stall

Music & Film Arena
23:00 – Beautiful & The Damned DJ’s
1:00 – Daft Punk’s Electroma

I trip over a log, then we go back to the tent

FRIDAY

We pass a small stage on the lake with an acoustic duo covering Bob the Builder

Uncut Stage
12:30 – Grace (short visit)

Comedy Tent
12:00 – Kevin Day
13:00 – Jon Richardson
13:30 – Russel Howard
14:30 – Mark Steel
15:30 – Paul Tonkinson
16:30 – Bill Bailey
I got ham but i'm not a hamster

Obelisk Stage
17:30 – Midlake

Lake Stage
18:30 – Metronomy (in the hot sun)

Obelisk Stage
19:30 – The Magic Numbers (caught the last song)
20:00 – Wilco
21:30 – Damien Rice (short visit)

Uncut Stage
21:45 – Partick Wolf (short visit)

Dinnertime/Stall Shopping… Scott buys a Wilco t-shirt

Comedy Tent
22:30 – Guilty Pleasures

Poetry Tent
1:00 – Aisle16 & Friends (short visit)

SATURDAY

Comedy Tent
12:00 – Sarah Millican
12:30 – Matt Welcome
13:00 – Lee Mack
14:00 – Russell Kane
15:00 – Paul Zenon
15:30 – Dylan Moran

Obelisk Stage
16:00 – Herman Dune (caught the last song)
16:30 – Bat for Lashes
17:30 – The Hold Steady

Walking through the woods, we caught bit of a theatre group performing The Tempest

Sunrise Arena
18:30 – Simple Kid

Obelisk Stage
20:00 – CSS

We head back to the tent and we get a fire going and chat to the neighbours (three of whom went to Keele)

Comedy Tent
00:00 – Guilty Pleasures

We realise the music is really crap at Guilty Pleasures so we go for a dance at the Lake Stage, and someone compliments my dancing

SUNDAY

Queuing up at the Deli, I buy a Latitude t-shirt

Sunrise Arena
12:30 – Peter And The Wolf

Uncut Stage
14:10 – Ra Ra Riot (short visit)

We eat lunch by the uncut stage and we see Charlie, the hubbabubba nightmare chewing gum

Obelisk Stage
14:30 – Au Revoir Simone
15:30 – Andrew Bird (fell asleep)
16:30 – The National (after this we go to buy some funky green glasses)
17:30 – Cold War Kids
18:30 – The Rapture
20:00 – Jarvis Cocker
21:30 – Arcade Fire
No Cars Go was the best moment of the festival for me... i just went crazy

We chill out by the lake stage, eating BBQ food

Comedy Tent
23:00 – Guilty Pleasures

Literary Tent
23:30 – Robin book club (short visit)

Short visit to the woods for a rave, then back to the tent

MONDAY

While we’re packing up the tent a swarm of bees pass over our heads

13:00 – Head home

Floods!

2007-07-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures taken in Wallington last week...

2007-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

The Graduate

2007-07-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

Few more photos

2007-06-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

Look! It's that same red spider... it knows what I did last summer.

Spooky clouds

Zen Glen

My wall of wonder/corkboard of curiosity

Hidden place

10 Years On

2007-06-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

A decade ago today was the release of Radiohead's third LP Ok Computer. After hearing this album for the first time, my musical outlook was changed forever. I remember the day i went to the shops when i was 11 to buy the cassette, and i came home and played it non-stop. It was the first time i began to really appreciate music not just as entertainment, but as an art form and a creative outlet.

Here's my way to pay tribute to one of the greatest rock records of all time...A clip of my favourite song Paranoid Android from Later with Jools, 1997:

so today, on my way to the library...

2007-06-07T11:56:00.001-07:00

i saw this...

i <3 ribena

2007-05-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

Daisy

2007-05-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

More...

2007-05-05T16:52:00.001-07:00

amusing fibs for those pesky small kids...

:D

Weeeeeeee!

2007-04-27T06:02:00.001-07:00

So i've just finished my first (and last) exam, and thus... completed my degreeeeee...

Now what...?

STAR WARS NIGHT!

Voila!

2007-04-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

All coursework done!

One exam to go...

Puppy!

2007-04-06T07:34:00.001-07:00

Home for Easter

2007-04-02T09:03:00.001-07:00

Last Resorts...

2007-03-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

Chip or Dale...

2007-03-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

It snowed again...

2007-03-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Not sure who that man was, but he wanted to be in the photo.

Throw it on the Fire

2007-03-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

I am especially proud of Belle Orchestre, not only because they rawk, and they once supported Arcade Fire, and they have this cool new video, but because I am so proud that I "discovered" them.

And I'm currently listening to...

Panda Bear - "Take Pills"
Stars of the Lid - "Apreludes (In C Sharp Major)"
Of Montreal - "Sink the Seine"
Sufjan Stevens "Detroit" (Live In New York)
Arcade Fire - "My Body Is A Cage"
The Shins - "Sea Legs"
Air - "Mer Du Japon"
Destroyer - "Rubies"
Elliott Smith - "Everything Means Nothing To Me"

Steadily Advancing...

2007-03-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

...is the Ceramic City Choir/Keele Philarmonic Choir/Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's highly anticipated (hopefully well-rehearsed) performance of Elgar's 'Dream of Gerontius', in which i will be performing in the bassiest (manliest) section at the Victoria Hall on 29th April '07.

Here's the dreamy flyer...

To The Moon!

2007-03-03T16:35:00.001-08:00

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

2007-02-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Sufjan Caption Competition

2006-12-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

Remember Remember...

2006-11-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

Sufjan Stevens in London

2006-11-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

(From Friday 3rd November 2006)

Ok, so after months of frantically F5-ing the Sufjan page on seetickets in hope of getting any more tickets, I finally got my golden ticket to this highly-anticipated, highly popular, highly sold-out gig, which unquestionably lived up to its expectations.

This was my second Sufjan Stevens concert I’ve been to now, which I honestly think is pretty good considering his rare appearances in the UK. He’s busy though, I can understand. The first was with his dazzling ‘Illinoisemakers’ in October last year, which was a bit easier to get tickets for. This time round though, now Soofyahn has made quite a name for himself in the Indie-pop scene owing to film soundtracks and stirring appraisal from reputable music reviewers, and tickets have been snapped up like candy bars.

There are too many staggering moments to mention from that night; Sufjan’s hilarious rants, that amazing drum solo, and that moment in Majesty, Snowbird when the air guitar kicks in “NYYEE-OWW”. My pictures came out really badly, despite the surprisingly excellent seats we got (link at the bottom). We were sitting in the front row of the balcony so it was nice to just lean forward and gaze at the beautifully decorated set of butterfly wings. To see each of them moving about in them was enchanting, particularly the guitarists at the back, the angelic Annie Clark (St. Vincent) on keyboards, and Suffy swaying back and forth throughout the hypnotic All the Trees in the Field Will Clap Their Hands.

He opened the 16-song set with a short introduction of crescendo-ing sounds that built up an anticipation that nearly made me wet my pants, then without any dilly-dallying went straight in Sister (still with his Blue Peter-esque assembled mask on), which is one of my favourites, so I screamed a quick "Whoo!" in my brothers ear.

Here’s the setlist. It might not be perfectly accurate, but it’s pretty damn close…
1) Sufjan Stevens – Sister
2) Sufjan Stevens – The Transfiguration
3) Sufjan Stevens – The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
4) Sufjan Stevens – The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders
5) Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day
6) Sufjan Stevens – All the Trees in the Field will Clap their Hands
7) Sufjan Stevens – Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!)
8) Sufjan Stevens – The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! ("-Is it a UFO?, -I don't think soooo")
9) Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy Jr
10) Sufjan Stevens – That Was the Worst Christmas Ever
11) Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans
12) Sufjan Stevens – Majesty, Snowbird
13) Sufjan Stevens – Chicago

ENCORE:

14) Sufjan Stevens – Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
15) Sufjan Stevens – The Dress Looks Nice on You
16) Sufjan Stevens – Jacksonville

He set the mood with an emotive presence in every song, either telling nonsensically long and detailed stories that wander into amusing self-occupied digressions of a perpetually stoned daydreamer’s blog, or just filling the pause between each song with a subtle-repressed-and-hesitant “thanks”. And then he would take hold of every song as if it were his only worthy possession with a shy and yet unabashed approach, with whispered breaths that echo around the space of the concert hall. Probably the most tearjerking moment was at the end of the noisy climax of The Predatory Wasp when the screen reeled footage of a boy playing with his kite. Heart-rending...

The inclusion of the blow-up (squeaky) Santa Claus and Supermen dolls was a nice added celebratory touch to the show. Sufjan and his cohorts dispersed these two huge piles over the audience during Metropolis and That Was the Worst Christmas Ever. To the introduce the latter, Sufjan mentions how he made Christmas albums for his friends and family instead of buying them presents, and then throws out the blow-up Santa’s asking audience to pass them backwards like beach balls.

Most of the songs were beautifully arranged for brass ensemble, and it was wonderful to hear the likes of The Transfiguration and Detroit in their fullest textures and tightest executions, and even The Dress Looks Nice on You sounds prepossessing at its simplest. Concerning the UFO Sighting was also a gorgeous moment from Sufjan on solo piano, and his performance of Seven Swans was amazingly compelling. I was having prophetic visions by that point…

No, he did not play The Mistress Witch, or anything from The Avalanche.
Yes, I wanted to hear What Goes On.

Majesty, Snowbird was the showpece and my personal highlight. The song is so gloriously EPIC, it really went down a storm with the audience, and without exaggeration, it made this concert one of the best musical experiences of my life.

Please come back soon...

10/10

The Sky is on Fire

2006-11-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Badly Drawn Boy

2006-11-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is my jumbled collection of memories from what was the night of Saturday 28th October when Badly Drawn Boy made a rare high profile appearance at our very own concealed cove university of Keele. He jokingly requested that no heckles were made during his set , unless they were sophisticated. The show was nonetheless enjoyable. There was a good support from Isobel Campbell (formerly from Belle & Sebastian) who gave an enchanting psychadelic-folk performance. BDB's set began a little showly with songs from his new album, and the crowd were not that responsive, until he began playing songs from hs earlier albums, but gave good salutations to the new material. The title track 'Born in the UK', which he began with has really grown on me after hearing it live. The audience warmed to Gough's sarcastic humour when the band were setting up for the next song, and it came to the fourth song in, 'Above You, Below Me' until there was a feel-good reception all round. He played classics 'The Shining', 'Once Around the Block', 'Silent Sigh', and my personal favourite from his new album 'Promises'. His solo-acoustic material is still a trademark in Badly Drawn Boy's performance, as he performs with his harmonica/brace, and jesting with the crowd like a stand-up comedian, although it was fun to see him take the mic and wander around the stage during 'All Possibilities'. My favourite part was the improvised homage in 'You Were Right' to some of the great artists of our time; so unpretentiously thought-provoking. Gough closed the set on his own with 'Magic in the Air'. It was a good laugh... despite the easy access to the bar.

Sufjan Stevens tomorrow! I'll be taking the train down to London for the weekend, before seeing the Majestic Songbird himself (in wings!!!), and his glorious Chinese Butterfly Brigade at the Barbican with Scott. I will hopefully give a longer and more detailed account afterwards (i'll remember the setlist in more detail this time).

Heart of Conkers

2006-10-24T05:53:00.000-07:00