Elita – The Death’s Eye Monster
July 18, 2009 at 9:51 pm | Posted in Elita, Short story | Leave a commentElita stands on her balcony. Elita surveys the scene. Salsa rhythms bounce off the roads and make the most hard-faced man sway in time to the music. The Africans below and opposite continue to peddle their wares kerbside. Directly below Elita, young girls peddle their wares kerbside too. The Africans leer and shout at the girls but they remain oblivious to the insults. The young girls remain pure despite their twists and turns as the cars slow down to inspect them.
The blue sky seems everlasting to Elita it covers everything in a benign blanket. The chalk colours that epitomise the city stand out brighter than the sun. Elita looks downward. The poorly tarmacked strip to her right contains the street market selling pots, cds and assorted junk. The locals adore it and once again the bare chested men doing the selling are enjoying a brisk trade. The changes that have occurred here recently haven’t diminished peoples’ lust for a bargain. Elita may pop down later to see if she can find a new vase. Her last one disappeared and Elita isn’t quite sure how.
Elita thinks she hears a noise in her apartment. She turns around but can only see the poster of the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s hitting the wall where she didn’t place blu-tac. Elita only puts blu-tac at the top two corners. She feels that should be enough to hold up posters. The wind has picked up and is causing the poster to twist and turn and bounce back off the magnolia wall in her living room.
Elita returns to gazing at the city. Elita catches a glimpse of another poster. This time it is attached to the crumbling white wall next door to the America bar. The poster is advertising the upcoming carnival. Elita enjoys the carnival but she is sad when she remembers last year’s carnival. All of a sudden the blue blanket seems more like a vengeful, all-knowing beast. Elita can understand why people believe in God. The scale of nature takes her breath away. It frightens her yet beguiles her too.
This is a gift. It comes with a price.
The carnival was the first time Elita had seen a dead body.
His fingers clung to the metal bar like roots wrapped around a neolituhic rock. His face would remain eternally impassive despite the terror he had endured. Although he would be made beautiful in time for his garish funeral Elita would always retain the image of his death face for the rest of her life. It was the face of someone who not only had given up life but was begging the question of “Why are you living too?”
It was all Elita could think about for weeks. No matter where she was, at a party or in bed trying to sleep the young man’s face was always questioning her. Questioning Elita’s right to exist, her right to an opinion, her nonchalance, her anger and her broken dreams.
Elita talked to the young man every day. Elita did not visit his grave. Instead she looked in the mirror and all she could see was his mocking, oddly gleeful face staring back at her. Every day Elita stood in the mirror, stared at the man and smiled at him.
All I Wanna Do Is Take Your Money
June 12, 2009 at 10:40 pm | Posted in Politics | 1 CommentTags: bnp, european politics, globalization, immigration
The BNP, immigration – the whole situation. It’s all gone a bit mad hasn’t it? There has been a lot of guff spouted in support of the BNP and a lot of well-intentioned yet occasionally misguided attacks upon them, often without context in the modern world. And that I think is the crux of the situation. A refusal by people who support the BNP or parties which although not overtly fascist espouse anti-immigration and nationalist policies.
Terrorism is not the biggest issue facing the world, nor climate change, or immigration (as a subject to be looked at in isolation). The biggest challenge is how to effectively manage a world which is now so interconnected in every respect. At the most simple level, nationalists want to fight the progress of globalization. However this is impossible. It’s not a case of British jobs for British workers, the end of some false image of a united ‘British culture’. These are the false prophets which the nationalists base their case on. They miss the point completely.
If you are the child, conceived by a rapist or the child of a paedophile are you liable to be judged on this yourself? Of course not thus what gives you the right to automatically demand a quality of life far beyond what 75% of the world aspire to? Nothing; that’s what. If you are born in the slums of Mogadishu or Islamabad and your parents want to take you for a better life why not?
This is naturally a simplistic premise but the forces behind are true and immensely powerful. In a world where Westerners are so much richer in comparison to people in poorer countries allied with modern communications and cheap global travel it is to be expected that people will want to travel to the West in search of a better life.
The answer is not to brick up the borders but for the global community to act to bring quality of life. A united stand by the West to refuse to deal with regimes which do not befit a modern, democratic state should not be traded with. Pressure needs to be applied to nations which continue to ban free speech, deny human rights and impinge democracy. Any state, especially theocracies, which bode a genuine (unlike Iraq) threat to nations which employ (or strive to employ) these ideals will need to be dealt with, with every option available.
Raising the levels of education, health and infrastructure is a momentous and hugely expensive task. That is why governments will not do this. Rather they will piss around as usual debating the pointless stuff dictated to by the media all the while parties such as the BNP will exploit this. Their politics are based on divisiveness, populism and jingoism. Put frankly, it’s bollocks.
Let us take a look at the BNP European Manifesto as seen on this rather undelightful website http://www.bnp-chronicle.com/2009/05/bnp-european-election-manifesto.html
The big one – withdrawal from the European Union . That is their ultimate aim and there is nothing wrong with that. If the British electorate vote in parties which want to do that and they achieve party than the democratic will of the UK will have spoken. Then the UK can pull out of the “dictatorship of the EU” as some idiots call it. What kind of dictatorship let’s unhappy people leave on their own accord with no ramifications to security?
They also want to expose EU corruption and waste, another laudable aim, and it’s hard to disagree with their intent to devote part of their MEP wages to cultural groups. Naturally that is open to abuse, however let’s give them the benefit of the doubt for now.
But then it all goes a bit daft. We should have British control over British borders so as to stop unlimited and uncontrolled immigration and reduce crime and terrorism. The UK does have control of its borders. Unlimited and uncontrolled immigration is not true either. However they raise an important issue. I also enjoy the seamless way they subtly link crime, terrorism and immigration in one big ball of Daily Expressness.
The first part of this essay was a more theoretical muse, now we move in to reality. Personally I don’t care who comes to this country as long as they want to work. Immigration and migrant patterns are self-policing surely? If there are no jobs, no houses and no prospects people won’t want to live here if they are economic migrants. For asylum seekers that is not the case, most places in Britain are better than a warzone (except for Liverpool of course).
Anti-immigrationists love to spout the lies about job-stealing and benefits yoinking and the easy life they have. But again, it’s bollocks. Who would want to uproot their family and move them literally across the globe where they will be treated with suspicion by many people just to take forty quid a week in dole money. It’s utter rubbish and a view I believe that stems from Thatcher’s demonisation of the poor. The media slam dole-scum but fail to mention that the sum that benefit cheats steal pales in comparison to the tax that the rich avoid to pay. Again it’s theft but evidently not when it’s the proprietor of a newspaper.
British jobs for British workers eh? A vote winner eh, even Gordon Brown was saying it. In the modern world it’s a concept which has no meaning. And that’s not a left-wing counter. Left-Right politics are over. Fukuyama may have been right that liberal democracies have won the ideological battle. Modern UK politics has been dominated by two rather centrist parties fighting over middle ground in providing the right balance between social provisions and the a flourishing free market.
People can complain about the death of the British car industry but if British consumers are unwilling to pay for British cars then whose fault is that? The Chinese because they can build it much cheaper? No and it’s facile to argue otherwise. Britain needs to excel are things that can’t be done in backward countries, that is where out future lies.
I think people are bemoaning the death of manufacturing and the community aspect. I agree but Western society is too rich to reclaim those days. The working class has divided between the genuine working class who are now technically on middle class incomes and an underclass that has been created who are committing the majority of crime, have no jobs, no understanding of society and be can found frequenting the Jeremy Kyle show.
I could go in to the Britishness (as in, it’s a meaningless concept) issue but I’ve ranted for long enough I reckon. I think it’s easy to lump anti-immigrationists in with “racists”. There not the same although they are both based on ignorance. The BNP raise pertinent questions about immigration, globalisation and identity but they have completely the wrong answers. The world has changed, reverting back to a golden age that in reality never existed, instead we must adapt and thrive.
Muchos amores.
Super Self-Indulgency – My Blog, My Rules!
February 21, 2009 at 11:15 pm | Posted in Words | 1 CommentThere’s nothing like Red Stripe to start getting the fizz going in your brain. This sensory is aided by listening to the Andrea True Connection and More, More, More. Sadly I’m sat in my room with the heating on musing on stuff instead of sitting in a bar in Jamaica surrounded by lots of booty-shaking harlots. The lower I feel my creativity starts to crackle and erupt again. The motivation to find a new job has totally ceased. There’s no point I’m unemployable (for a decent job) thus I have given up. Much like when I failed my driving test seven years ago I enacted my new philosophy – If at first you don’t succeed, just give up and don’t bother trying again. It has served me as well as the option of try, try, trying again would do, I’m certain of that.
My utter lack of drive, ambition and work ethic condemn to a miserable life sat next to a greedy, hypocritical heffalump at work whom I am finding it hard not to strangle at the next mention of her diet. A diet which comprises cakes, biscuits and crisps and the occasional moan about going to the gym once every two months. The punishment for not being a tryer is to be sat next to the most trying person I’ve met for a long, long time.
Sweet as a nut, Keep the Car Running has come on and thus my air drumming too. When I hit this scribbly rhythm I feel jubilant, triumphant and incredibly for me, positive. This will naturally dissipate when I run out of Kingston Happy Juice but until then I’ll see what develops. Glastonbury hopes fell by the wayside as my lack of money forbade it. My money worries have got so bad that I’m not sure I can even afford to live in Manchester anymore. The worst thing that could happen to me is that I end up back in Selby again. This terrible situation is looking increasingly likely and making me very sad indeed at the moment.
I won’t stay long there. Finally I’ll get the cojones to do something a bit radical. If worse comes to worse and I end up back in Brown-town then I’m leaving as soon as possible to Spain and escaping this sham of a life. My 20′s are flying by and I’m not making the most of it. “And God only knows what I’d be without you” – nice lyric.
I always knew I’d get trapped in a shit job working for a faceless corporation and at the moment that is the better option that returning to my home town. It’s all a bit of an anti-climax. I want my life to be exactly like the intro to Sabotage by the Beastie Boys – jagged, violently dynamic, uproarious, uncontrollable. At the moment it’s more akin to Snow Patrol.
“You know your problem? You keep it all in.” Another good lyric.
Elita – The Beach, the Girl and the Scorpio Wall
February 16, 2009 at 6:21 pm | Posted in Elita, Short story | Leave a commentTags: Short story
Elita walks along the beach.
She walks in the no-mans land between land and sea, where the tide rolls up and then pulls back as if ashamed of its own impertinence. Elita likes the no-mans land. She visits nightclubs and stands with an arm resting on the table nearest the dance-floor. She watches with a fascinated intensity friends and strangers contort and convulse, share looks and shed inhibitions.
She nods at passing dog-walkers and joggers. They return the gesture and offer a few words too sometimes. Elita likes to listen to the voices of strangers. She likes to think about how they would sound talking to their lovers. Elita is wearing a white summer dress that starts five inches above her knees. The weather today is cold though and Elita is cursing herself for not wearing an additional layer. The man with the labrador who has just walked past agrees. Elita could see it in his eyes. They were big, blue and sad – eyes that have spent too much time pitying others. Elita feels a fleeting wave of nausea pass. It does not halt Elita’s journey along the wet sandy coast.
In one more day Elita will return to the city and to her normal life. Sixteen years living by the sea feel like a week compared to the three years in the city. Elita does not want to return to the city yet she does not want to stay by the sea. Elita feels uncomfortable by the sea as if she has been tarnished by her exile in the city. People shy from secrets and gossip as though she can’t be trusted. She holds her own secrets and revels in not wanting to tell the people from by the sea. Everybody holds their knowledge to their bosom like they would a newborn baby.
The sun has nearly dipped out of sight. The red of the setting sun fails to illuminate the rest of the sky. The sky is blue, a dull blue you may see in a newspaper or on a billboard. Elita feels like the sun is not her friend anymore. Only the moon gives her comfort. When the moon is out people become friendlier to Elita. Elita mingles and chats, and occasionally dances.
The wet sand has gone now. Elita realises she has reached the wall at the end of the beach. The Scorpio Wall the locals call it. Elita never knew why that was and she knows that no one will tell why now. None of the locals would dare divulge that to someone from the city. Elita shakes off the sand from the sandals and crosses the road to the apartment where she stays when she is back by the sea. Her flat-mate has never visited her in the city but that is how Elita likes it. The less she knows about the city the better it is for her.
Before she enters the grimy door that leads to the stairs to the apartment block Elita enters the bar on the ground floor to buy herself a Coke. The bar is deserted. Portraits of days gone by litter the walls like an untended park. Elita looks at one photo that takes pride of place behind the bar. About twenty locals are all sat on the wall, the Scorpio Wall. The bar owner whom she recognises – or is it his father? Or grandfather? – is in the centre of the shot. In front of him is a beautiful young woman. Elita thinks the girl is the same age as she is now, barely more than a child but with a woman’s gaze. The bar owner – or his father, or grandfather – has his arms around the girl. His arms grasp the girl closer to him and to the Scorpio Wall. Elita swears she can see the man smiling at her. She walks away and heads for the door to the apartment. Casting a glance back at photograph Elita goes back to her apartment and begins to pack her stuff up. Elita is looking forward to returning to the city. But that feeling won’t last long, Elita tells herself.
Best Songs of the Decade – 2000s
December 11, 2008 at 10:34 pm | Posted in Music | 2 CommentsTags: 2000s, best, best songs, best songs of the decade, greatest, list, Music, songs
One of the joys of the internet is the ability to look at list of Greatest Songs of all Time and similar shit and you can often discover quality gems of music. I thought I’d give the old list thing a bash. Instead of going for the 60′s and 90′s where my favourite music mainly originates I thought I’d take a stab at the current decade. Despite being a two years shy of an actual decade and with my initial misgivings about how music was much better in my day (well, the previous decade) I had a fucking mission to limit my choices. I had to go to 180 songs and I may even edit my choices in the next few days.
This decade has produced some quality tracks in a wider variety of genres than ever before. Although it could be argued that there more “instant classics” in every prior decade since the 50′s. Looking through my list there are too many bands that have really becoming immensely huge. perhaps Coldplay who confound many (including myself) in having three songs in the list. Stunning achievement from a shockingly derivative and boring band. It’s also a shame to see only one Oasis song in there. Probably the best band of the 90′s have had an abysmal decade and it seems like the Streets are going the same root. Original Pirate Material is my choice as best album of the decade but from the third album onwards, Mike Skinner has released mainly turgid, monotonous tracks with the wit or rhythm of the first two albums.
This decade has been scarred by shite like Usher, Akon, Chris Brown, Britney, Sean Paul, 50 Cent, The Game and countless reality TV wank. However there is a wide variety in the list and no act seems over-represented which surprised me as I thought a few of my favourite acts like Bloc Party, Ian Brown and the Go! Team would dominate the list. Again this list is my own opinion but it would be great to hear your choices. Obviously I will have omitted many tracks, either because I’ve never heard the track before or I’ve forgot. Either way I’ll add them to the bottom as honourable mentions if I feel they deserve recognition. Anyhoo enough chat here are the best songs of the decade…..
Click the song title to be taken away to a magical aural place.
1. The Go! Team – Ladyflash. Taken from the Brighton collective’s debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike Ladyflash is a blast of everything good that pop music should be. Groovy, sassy, edgy; this song puts a smile on your face and makes you want to dance. Many of the songs in this list have a really good grasp of a definitive sound (MGMT, Hot Chip) but it all pales compared to this. The sound of the decade, simply brilliant.
You started out as friends, said you’re the kind of man that, takes every girl for a fool.
2. Doves – There Goes the Fear. The moment this came in to the charts it seemed to shake the pop world. Despite the declining significance of the charts the one-week only release of this track put Doves at number 2. It is a beautiful pumping track that harks back to the Stone Roses, which is always a good sign. It’s immediate chiming intro rises in to an anthemic epic.
You turn around and life’s passed you by. You look to ones you love. To ask them why ?
3. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy. There is a hint of UK bias in the list. There are factors why but that’s for another blog. To be honest Gnarls Barkley are a one hit wonder – nothing else they have done comes even near this. But what a one hit wonder. Modern soul music with a driving beat, unique vocals and the kind of things Americans do best. Pop perfection.
“Even your emotions had an echo”
4. Estelle - American Boy. What a comeback from Estelle. 1980 was a stunning track (scroll down to see where it is! How exciting!) and the sound can be compared most closely to Kanye West. Randomly she yoinks him to assist on this song, the best song from a British female since Dusty Springfield.
Take me on a trip, I’d like to go some day. Take me to New York, I’d love to see LA.
5. Eminem – Without Me. The biggest star in the world for the first part of the decade this is Eminem’s finest hour. Withering wit, a fantastic beat and the ultimate example of a performer at the top of his game.
So everybody, just follow me. Cause we need a little, controversy. Cause it feels so empty, without me
6. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. The most hyped band since Oasis. Even though they’ve not matched the dizzying era defining music of Gallaghers this song shifted the music world’s axis. Forget the debate about internet bands they made it because of songs like this celebration of riotous youth. Astounding musicianship and wonderfully descriptive lyrics make result in one of the great rock songs.
Oh, but you’re an explosion but you’re dynamite.
7. M.I.A. – Paper Planes. The British/Tamil star is Britain’s most original artist and this is her most well known song. A hymn to immigrants this is a sonic tour de force. Stripped down yet exquisitely produced the gun shots in the chorus have provoked Morrissey-esque controversy. However this is a humorous, cool pop song that places M.I.A. firmly at the forefront of the UK music scene.
Everyone’s a winner, we’re making our fame. Bonafide hustler making my name.
8. Ian Brown – F.E.A.R. Ian Brown has defied the critics who predicted failure after leaving the Stone Roses to become the best solo act in Britain. His solo back catalogue is one of the best in the business and this is the best song he has done this decade (although isn’t as good as Corpses, Dolphins Were Monkeys and perhaps My Star). A string-laden, epic track with every the verses containing lyrics beginning with the letters of the title. Sheer brilliance from the godfather of modern indie music.
Free expression as revolution.
9. The Streets – Turn The Page. Mike Skinner’s magnum opus. Although he may have crafted better songs this is what made the Streets the most vital act in the UK for a few years. Just a pure rap from Skinner with blazing metaphors, wit and an incisive delivery. Top quality song.
The sea of black, the beaming heat on their faces, Their figure emerges from the wasteage, Eyes transfixed with a piercing gaze
One hand clutching a sword raised to the sky, They wonder how, they wonder why, The sky turns white it all becomes clear
They felt lifted from their fears, They shed tears in the light, After 6 dark years.
10. Idlewild – Idea Track. Idlewild could be Britain’s most undervalued band. The Scottish band are incredibly consistent and I could have picked many of the songs from 100 Broken Windows in this list. Idea Track is thrashing, hard yet melodic rock song. I never tire of this song and the end is a scintallating climax.
Your grave, it’s your grave.
11. Bloc Party – Sunday. The highlight of the band’s second album, Sunday is touching and devilishly accurate portayal of young love. A fantastic tune with the typica raging drums and plaintive vocals. A classic from one of Britain’s top bands.
When you’re still strung out, When I’m with you, I am calm. A pearl in your oyster, Head on my chest a silent smile
A private kind of happiness. You see giant proclamations, Are all very well. But our love is louder than words, I love you in the morning
12. Dr Dre – The Next Episode. The King of hip-hop returned with 2001 and this is the highlight off it. Full of swagger, bravado and a wonderful sample of David McCallum’s “Edge”. Great, flowing by Dre and especially Snoop made this the ultimate song of 2000.
13. Morrissey - First of the Gang to Die. Morrissey returned to the centre of the indie world with his stunning Irish Blood, English Heart. The second single even better. A great riff combined with typical Morrissey lyrics- humourous, touching and always perfectly complimenting the music.
14. The Arcade Fire – Wake Up. Arguably the best North American band of the decade the Arcade Fire are simply stunning. Wake Up is an epic. Immense guitars, a wailing vocal wall of sound and the best rock song to come across the atlantic since Killing In The Name Of.
15. Bloc Party – Banquet. Silent Alarm is undoubtedly one of the great debut albums and this is the best track of the album. Banquet comprises the main ingredients of the first album. Vocals, drums and lyrics are top notch. The momentum builds throughout the track to rousing finish. Check out the Phone Disco Edit too.
16. Mary Mary – Shackles (Praise You). One hit wonders often deliver absolute classics and this is a true soul wonder. Nothing much to add – just a great vibe and brilliant vocals.
17. The Cribs – Men’s Needs. Superb track from the Wakefield boys. Great guitars and lyrics that seem to strike a chord with me.
18. Babyshambles – Fuck Forever. Arguably Pete Doherty’s finest hour even including the Libertines’ debut album. Brilliant guitars, great rhythm and a great exploration of Doherty’s self-destructive behaviour. Although he has led a really unfulfilled career this is an example of the brilliance he is capable of.
19. British Sea Power – The Lonely. A classic sound from one of Britain’s most underrated act. The Lonely is a melodic rock music with an intelligent edge.
20. Chicane – Saltwater. The man who brought ‘chill-out’ music to the mainstream. Both Far From the Maddening Crowds and Behind the Sun are classic albums. Behind the Sun is more well known and deservedly so. Saltwater is the standout track from the album with a fantastic sample of Clannad’s “Harry’s Game”. Máire Brennan’s vocals and the driving beat combine to make the summer anthem.
21. Martina Topley-Bird – 
Need One
22. Lamb – Gabriel
23. Outkast – Hey Ya
24. The Libertines – Up the Bracket
25. Kelis – Milkshake
26. Kanye West – Jesus Walks
27. Macy Grey – I Try
28. Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor
29. Amy Winehouse – Rehab
30. Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict a Riot
31. Estelle – 1980
32. M.I.A. – Hussel
33. The Concretes – You Can’t Hurry Love
34. British Sea Power – No Lucifer
35. Corinne Bailey Rae – Put Your Records On
36. The Strokes – Last Nite
37. T2 – Heartbroken feat Jodie Aysha
38. The Zutons – Valerie
39. Muse – Time Is Running Out
40. The Courteeners – Not Nineteen Forever
41. Ian Brown – Kiss Ya Lips (No ID)
42. Bloc Party – Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
43. Ty – Music 2 Fly 2
44. Portishead – Machine Gun
45. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
46. Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks
47. The Arcade Fire – Keep the Car Running
48. The Pussycat Dolls – Don’t Cha
49. The Go! Team – Bottle Rocket
50. The Twang – Wide Awake
51. MGMT – Time to Pretend
52. The Streets – Don’t Mug Yourself
53. Justice Vs Simian – We are your friends
54. Quantic – Don’t Joke With a Hungry Man
55. The Enemy – Away From Here
56. Limp Bizkit – Take a Look Around
57. The Arcade Fire — Neighbourhood #3 (power out)
58. The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger
59. The Libertines – Time for Heroes
60. Chicane – No Ordinary Morning
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61. Sigur Rós – Hoppípolla
62. Doves – Pounding
63. R.E.M. – Imitation of Life
64. Ian Brown – Keep What Ya Got
65. Kate Nash – Foundations
66. Morrissey – Irish Blood, English Heart
67. Primal Scream – Country Girl
68. Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
69. CSS – Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
70. Marilyn Manson – Disposable Teens
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71. Papa Roach – Last Resort
72. Eminem – The Real Slim Shady
73. The Go! Team – Huddle Formation
74. The Guillemots – Made-up Lovesong #43
75. The Courteeners – What Took You So Long?
76. Super Furry Animals – Rings Around The World
77. Idlewild – American English
78. Beyonce – Crazy in Love
79. Reverend & the Makers – Heavyweight Champion Of The World
80. The Gossip – Standing in the Way of Control
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81. The Libertines – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun
82. The Pipettes – Pull Shapes
83. The Holloways – Generator
84. The Streets – Fit But You Know It
85. Arctic Monkeys – When the Sun Goes Down
86. Coldplay – Clocks
87. The Streets – Weak Become Heroes
88. PJ Harvey – This Is Love
89. Frans Ferdinand – Take Me Out
90. The Killers – Mr Brightside
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91. Chemical Brothers – Galvanise
92. Santogold – Creator
93. Kings of Leon – Molly’s Chambers
94. Editors – Munich
95. Elvis Presley vs. JXL – A Little Less Conversation
96. Manic Street Preachers – Masses Against The Classes
97. BRMC – Spread Your Love
98. The Streets – Empty Cans
99. Craig David – Walking Away
100. The White Stripes – Hotel Yorba
101. Avalanches – Since I Left You
102. Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
103. Bloc Party –The Prayer
104. Alicia Keys – Fallin’
105. The Rapture – House of Jealous Lovers
106. Muse – Plug In Baby
107. Little Man Tate – This Must Be Love
108. Norah Jones – Sunrise
109. Doves – Words
110. Chicane – Halcyon
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111. Arctic Monkeys – Mardy Bum
112. Ash – Shining Light
113. Richard Ashcroft – A Song for the Lovers
114. Stereophonics – Dakota
115. Athlete – Wires
116. Keane – Can’t Stop Now
117. Embrace – Ashes
118. The Libertines – Can’t Stand Me Now
119. All Saints – Pure Shores
120. The Strokes – New York City Cops
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121. Idlewild – You Held the World in Your Arms
122. The Strokes – Someday
123. Kasabian – L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
124. Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag
125. The White Stripes – 7 Nation Army
126. Sugababes – Overload
127. Mansun – I Can Only Disappoint U
128. Dr Dre – Still Dre
129. Doves – Catch the Sun
130. The Charlatans – Love Is the Key
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131. The Streets – Dry Your Eyes
132. Sugababes – Freak Like Me
133. Arctic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent
134. Saint Etienne – Milk Bottle Symphony
135. Goldfrapp – Black Cherry
136. Chicane – Low Sun
137. Nelly Furtado – Maneater
138. Dirty Pretty Things – Bang bang you’re dead
139. Snow Patrol – Run
140. Oasis – Go Let It Out
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141. Martina Topley Bird – Carnies
142. Black Legend – See The Trouble With Me
143. Sunshine Underground – Put You In Your Place
144. Klaxons – Golden Skans
145. Hot Chip – Over and Over
146. Modest Mouse – Float On
147. Zero 7 – This World
148. Embrace – Drawn From Memory
149. Little Man Tate – House Party at Boothy’s
150. Lily Allen – Smile
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151. DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies – Do You Really Like It?
152. Daft Punk – One More Time
153. The Divine Comedy – Come Home Billy Bird
154. Kaiser Chiefs – Oh My God
155. Coldplay – Yellow
156. Zero 7 – I Have Seen
157. Eminem – Stan
158. Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood
159. Kanye West – Golddigger
160. Chicane – Overture
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161. Goldfrapp – Strict Machine
162. Lily Allen – LDN
163. Destiny’s Child – Survivor
164. Sugababes – Push the Button
165. The View – Same Jeans
166. Maximo Park – Graffiti
167. The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name
168. Coldplay – Fix You
169. The Ordinary Boys – Talk Talk Talk
170. Basement Jaxx – Romeo
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171. Kings of Leon – On Call
172. The Strokes – Hard to Explain
173. PJ Harvey – Good Fortune
174. The Go! Team – We Just Won’t Be Defeated
175. Bloc Party – The Prayer
176. Wyclef Jean – Perfect Gentleman
177. Editors – Bullets
178. Franz Ferdinand – The Dark Side Of The Matinee
179. Hot Hot Heat – Bandages
180. Wu-Tang Clan – Gravel Pit
-
181. Gorillaz – Dare
182. The Go! Team – The Power Is On
183. Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire
184. Destiny’s Child – Independent Woman
185. Razorlight – Stumble and Fall
186. Green Day – American Idiot
187. Aron John – Greatness and Smallness
188. Arctic Monkeys – Fake Tales of San Francisco
189. City High – What Would You Do?
190. Electric Six – Danger! High Voltage
Stream of Consciousness Bollocks – Episode 1
November 26, 2008 at 10:30 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTap tap tap. To a be a monkey and not listen to music. Chains everywhere.
Plinky plink plink running wild threw the tress and the letter ‘H’.
A pleasant furore skipping gently through the wilds. Genuine article racing and running. Escaping. A Viennese whirl and a leap, a drop.
Startling improvisation and it begins, I’m crying, truly remarkable. Euphoria, oh sweet unnatural euphoria! I’m doing this every day and nothing will stand in our way, nay laddie.
Rushing forward like a sentinal plague flakes drip outside some uncouth surface. A rap, a rhapsody flutters through my brain, startling once more. A crescendo builds – Elgar knows his onions.
This may well be the drapes over my eyes. Free spirits in my eyes, a sop to the greats.
… it returns. Pachalbel as always strums my heart strings. Aortas aren’t they called, not as poetic. The snowy truck. Is nothing sacred anymore? What is it ever. When it was pure I was a child, cynicism did not and could not bite me then however couched in money it was.
Flamoyant, egalitarian. Music for the masses and the occasion. Jubilant springs and jovial winters. Demerge and lassooed around the bells. It skips and returns and brings us back to where we once belonged.
Feathery touches and heigthened senses. (“out of the corner of my ear”) Publish and be damned. Damn the damners except at Hoover. Good job there fellers. Forget your Uri Gellers, he makes you think about life. The vapidity, the harness of unreality like an Hungarian Derek Acorah.
The raps are back, shivers down my spine at Für Elise the first tinglings. We can do it, brings you all the way like a pure orgasm pleasure, the ones you read about in books – not that kind of book! Furry, fuzzy felt felt good.
Dreams are coming, a beach. Beautiful sounds, orchestral cinematic sounds. Big, bold, gentle – they’ve clawed at my senses. Hurry. Belsen had nothing on you.
Power is unlimited money is inherited love is universal.
Massacred and humiliated. Declothed and humanised. Stripping away everything including the existential shit. An impending emergency, if not doom. If not else a war – our Megiddo.
The whole gamut, shaken, stirred and delivered in bite size chunks. It’s too much to comprehend and use. Sit back, kick back and let it flow.
Chi mai, he sobs
Glastonbury 2008 Musical Highlights
July 20, 2008 at 4:03 pm | Posted in Music | Leave a commentTags: 2008, candi staton, courteeners, estelle, Glastonbury, highlights, leonard cohen, Music, the verve
I finally have the chance to jot down some musings on the recent Glastonbury Festival I attended. Rather than focusing on the randomness and other assorted adventures I thought I’d mention some of the musical treats I encountered in no particular order except for them being the stand out moments of this year’s Glasto experience.
1. The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony/ Love Is Noise. A truly stunning set culminated in these two final songs. The Verve were at the top of their game on the Sunday night at the Pyramid Stage. The sound quality was top-notch (and much better than when I watched the TV highlights) with Ashcroft at his messianic best. They kicked off with the thunderous This Is Music and Velvet Morning and The Drug’s Don’t Work were also magical moments. However the finale was breathtaking.
When the strings to Bittersweet Symphony kicked in the crowd went berserk. They sensed this was a perfect way to end the festival. “You’re a slave to money, then you die” touched the crowd and the atmosphere as the song was fantastic. Not many people expected them to play another song but the Verve segued in to their new single Love Is Noise which had an astonishing thumping beat that the Prodigy would have been proud of. Although a new song the crowd were in top form dancing away to the last song of the festival. A brilliant way to cap off a successful Glastonbury 2008.
2. The Courteeners – What Took You So Long? I was on my own for this gig in the John Peel Tent and it was truly sensational. It really was one of them “I was there” moments that I always watch on television and rue. The band were clearly touched by the crowd response and their set ending tune lifted the tent to a whole new level.
The fans were going to ballistic and by the end of the tune where they also managed to sneak a verse of Tomorrow by James the place was in ecstasy. The end of the song and departure by the band only caused the fans to remain in the tent singing the “oh-oh-oh” refrain. This singing continued as people poured back in to the sunshine past the befuddled Vampire Weekend fans who were now entering probably realising that they had missed one of the performances of the weekend.
3. Candi Staton – You Got The Love. A rainy Friday evening witness soul legend Candi Staton deliver a vocal performance Amy Winehouse could only dream of. The fans naturally went crazy for Young Hearts Run Free but show ender You Got the Love sent proceedings closer to heaven. One of the greatest songs of all time was delivered in Staton’s wonderful style: sassy, direct and soulful. The tears welled up in my eyes as the power of the song swept over the Jazz World stage.
4. Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah. Before the Verve came on Canadian legend Cohen produced a stunning set which produced the biggest audience reaction I have ever seen. His magnum opus, Hallelujah defined Glastonbury for me this year. Seven wonderful minutes of balladry which was received with literally a couple minutes worth of applause. The ovation clearly shook Cohen who later described the fans as “Angels of the Mud”. For those of us lucky enough to be there it was a truly awe-inspiring moment.
5. Estelle – Friday night at the Jazz World also contained a super set by Estelle. Estelle is currently the darling of the global pop scene after her successful collaboration with Kanye West and she only further enhanced her reputation at Glasto. Her band and the girl herself delivered a top-notch set of modern soul music. She had a on-stage persona that captivated the crowd the performance was of the standard that everybody in the vicinity was dancing- always a sure fire winner.
So those are my top five Glasto moments for this year. Honourable mentions also go out to Jimmy Cliff who delivered a great set full of classics tracks to end the Jazz World Friday extravaganza in style and also to Martina Topley-Bird proved she is the sexiest girl in music with her Sunday morning performance on the Pyramid. Another highlight was the Fun Lovin’ Criminals and Scooby Snacks which caused the fans to go nuts for, shame the rest of their set was a bit lightweight.
Driftwood & Flotsam
June 7, 2008 at 1:21 pm | Posted in Words | Leave a commentTags: life, Love, sex
It’s quite scary how sex is such an integral, diversionary thing in (my) life. I am pretty much obsessed with sexy girls. I’d say at least 90% of my life is spent thinking about girls, doing things to impress girls and bemoaning my complete lack of girls in my life.
Just today I’ve spent most of it wishing I had a nice lass with me. Just someone to chat shit to, have a rut and perhaps forget about my hangover from drinking way too much Red Stripe in South. I’ve drank two cartons of Tropicana today as well, that’ll be a positive for my guts I’m sure. However if I was with someone again would it all turn to shite as usual with me wondering what the point of it all is.
I think if the girl in question was the girl I used to see on the way to work last year. She was amazing. An absolutely stunning girl who reminded me of Naomi Campbell. She looked stunning and sexy every time I saw her and wished she’d ask me to marry her that day – which I would have had no hesitation in doing. Finishing my last job meant I never got to see her again.
Until last Thursday. I was walking past what used to be a KFC on Portland Street. I glanced up and saw her. She looked like an angel. She was wearing a flowing white summer dress which complimented her lovely dark skin perfectly. She had her eyes to the floor but I sensed that she saw me and I swear I could see the beginnings of a smile. Maybe it was my imagination but either way I was in a great mood for the rest of the day.
To be honest there’s not much point to this post. But then again, there doesn’t seem to be much point in anything really. I still can’t understand what I’m gaining by going to work a large company for five days a week for a pittance wage. Before I know it I’ll be thirty and wondering how on earth I could waste my 20s so easily. That inescapable feeling that life is slipping by never abates. I wish I had the guts to make a stand for myself and fuck off somewhere nice and hot with plenty of poon around. However I won’t I’ll just flit from one meaningless job to another being pissed off with my life but without the gumtion to do it. Ah well.
Gloriously Irrelevant
April 14, 2008 at 8:50 am | Posted in Words | Leave a commentPerhaps the isolation one feels when you are jobless, potless and ladyless makes you dwell upon your life. Hitting your mid-twenties and having nothing much to show for it except some good laughs with your mates sobers you up. When your eighteen or nineteen you still feel that you may do something of note. Whether headlining the pyramid stage at Glastonbury or scoring the winner in a World Cup Final. However it never turns out like that. You just keep plodding along and hope something amazing happens.
It really is a strange feeling I’m experiencing at the moment. I want to do something a bit out of the ordinary. I was considering becoming a heroin addict but I’m not sure that’s the way to go. It must be a fucking good feeling to do brown but it fucks you up. Look at all the junkies in my home town. Why would you start to get on heroin, it’s not as if you don’t know it’s not great for you. You have to be in a pretty fucked up place to even try it.
I’m sorely tempted to fuck off abroad to make my fortune (I always thought ‘abroad’ had an extra ‘r’ before the ‘d’ but the spell-checker tells me it ain’t so. Something new every day eh?). Have I got the guts to do it? Probably not. I’m trying to find menial work to do so I can start earning some cashola. Am I just going to become a 9-5er despising myself for wasting my life away or am I going to bite the bullet and try and achieve happiness.
Being unable to go out and party I think is what is making most dwell on my life. It’s always to good to have a beautiful girl in your bed. Again, that is something I habitually fuck up. I’m not sure I am cut out for relationships, I’m a pretty selfish guy in that respect I think, not one for compromising and always thinking I’m right. Which I always am so there’s no point arguing with me.
Perhaps I’m not finding the right girl but how on earth are you supposed to do that. The whole arbitrariness of finding someone to love is ridiculous. In the UK you meet girls in clubs or in the workplace. There’s probably thousands of girls around the world that I could happily marry but I’ll never meet them. It’s that sort of fact that makes me want to travel the world discover what is has to offer.
After the breakdown of my last relationship I pledged to myself not to bother again with that kind of shit. I think when I’m earning I’ll try sticking to it. What’s the point letting yourself get close to someone when all it results in is a load of stress and bollocks? It’s just the vicious loneliness I feel occasionally. The worst is when I wander around Manchester and see beautiful girls who I fall in love with immediately like Yossarian in Catch-22. Bloc Party sum it up perfectly.
Heavy night it was a heavy night
Feels like we come back from the dead
If we get up now we can catch the afternoon
Let’s sit in St. Leonard’s in this alcoholic day we’re doing the best with what we’ve got
I love you in the morning,
When you’re still hung-over
With you I am calm
A pearl in your oyster
Head on my chest a silent smile, a private kind of happiness
You see giant proclamations are all very well
But our love is louder than words
This is a big year for me. I’ll be moving to a new flat in a couple of months and hopefully will be able to afford to go out a few nights a week. I miss dancing and girls. By next year I’ll hopefully be able to make some important decisions. Hopefully it won’t result in me doing a Mark Speight.
All I want to do is live somewhere hot and sunny with a girl I love and enjoy my life. I don’t give a shit about money or a ‘great job’. I don’t have ambition but I don’t see that as a negative. In the end all that matters is if you enjoy your life. Why work sixty hours a week if you are empty inside? I can’t get my head round that shite. LIfe is for living, not for existing. Sadly that’s all I’m doing at the moment. I need my blaze of glory. As Danny Blanchflower said, ‘It’s not about the winning, it’s about the glory’.
Mark Ronson versus Great Music
April 7, 2008 at 11:03 am | Posted in Music | Leave a commentTags: Mark Ronson, Smiths, Stop Me
I was in the car on the way to le Centre de Trafford a couple of weeks ago Radio 1′s terrible Edith Bowman played the Mark Ronson version of the Smiths’ classic Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before. Leaving aside the sheer lack of reason to not play the original anyway so the younger listeners may be educated to music before the Kooks my head nearly exploded as the song warbled it’s asinine way through my bleeding ears to my brain.
Ronson (who I heard one quote labelling him the world’s most expensive jukebox) has a habit of ruining perfectly good songs in to bland rehashes. The Valerie version is a pointless exercise as it is which is not a patch on the Zutons’ heartfelt lament but his treament of the Smiths is tantamount to musical rape. And his use of some whining Aussie “R’n'B” singer just increases the pointlessness of the exercise.
Stop Me… is a musical tour de force, the song grows on me every time I hear it and ranks up with the very best of the Smiths. Whereas Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want is the mournful, succinct expression of Morrissey’s world Stop Me… is arguably the most soulful of the Morrissey/ Marr compositions. It’s driving rhythm and vocals are reminiscent of The Temptations or The Miracles. It combines this groove with some of Morrissey’s best lyrics. Funny, touching and with depths of meaning Ronson can only dream about.
I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
Friday night in Out-patients
Who said I’d lied to her ?
Oh, so I drank one
It became four
And when I fell on the floor …
…I drank more
The over-the-top lyrics are grounded as usual by the typical Morrissey wit. The song to me reminds of my days in Selby. I think reading Catch-22 and the absurdly quick way that Yossarian feels love is reflected in the lyrics. The four lines at the end of my lyrical quotation seem a daft, silly lyric but to millions of people they reflect the harshness of life and the only to escape. The UK’s booze culture is ingrained and many peoples’ only escape is through the bottle. And why not? Another brilliant Smiths song sums it up: I Want The One I Can’t Have.
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