Okay, so it's been awhile since my last blog. Love to say I was busy swiming with dolphins or living life to it's fullest, but the sad truth is I've been working. And when you write for a living, sometimes the last thing you feel like doing is, well, writing. Now I know how chef's feel and why builders never finish their own renovations.
Just need to spread the word about The Rapture. Awesome, awesome band. With a vocal style somewhere between Jack White of the White Stripes and Robert Smith from the Cure, the sound and the energy of this band are amazing.
I'll post a review of their new album later.
One day I'm going to wake up and be 35. I hope it's not tomorrow. I have no problem waking up at 35, if I feel as though the past few years are full and enjoyable. What freaks me out above all is waking up when I'm 35 and think to myself 'hang on - yesterday I was 25! Where the hell has my life gone to?' Maybe I'm simply facing a form of pretentious (btw does blogging come with spell check?) middle class, paranoia.
What the fuck does it matter if my life is gone by the time I'm 35? Am I afraid of dying on the 25th of June 2011 (the day after my 35th birthday). What is it about our society, which makes us believe being a valid person comes with a timeline of acheivments? Do I really consider myself inferior because I took so long to finish university? Where do I draw the line?
I came across this on engrish.com. Check it out if you havent already. This isn't really and example of 'engrish' but I found it funny - in a strange way...
I hate my life, I hate my friends
I hate the sun, I hate this world
I hate your religion
I don't believe in Jesus Christ
Or any god
I have nine heads
But they're not thinking very fast
Originally a double album, a ‘before’ party album full of the high energy pop, The Wannadies are best at, and an ‘after’ album of heart wrenching ballads and reflective ballads, the condensed release Before & After, is still an excellent offering from the Scandinavian masterminds of bitter pop.
Scratch the surface of these pop-sounding melodies and you have the darker side of The Wannadies. ‘Piss on You’ accompanied on the CD with a bonus video of the song (note the Weezer comparisons in both the music and the film clip), the evil sinister sounds of the pop gurus bleeds through. ‘Skin’ and the opening track ‘Little By Little’ also have their video clips on this album.
Whilst, the generally melodies may not be as strong as many of the bands previous releases, this is an album full of highlights. While there is no ‘You and Me Song’ (from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack) on this album, it is still a great listen if you like your pop with an edge of sarcasm.
Not normally a heavy rock chick, even though I have an odd prediliction for Marilyn Manson... But British band Wire's newest release SEND is a great listen. This is my review of their new album - will appear in the September 18th edition of Forte.
Complied of original and reworked material from an earlier EP release, Send is a tightly wound collection of high energy, tense and often edgy guitar riffs and screaming vocals. Enhanced with electronic production and heavy helping of distortion, there are few low points on this album. Wire has completely reworked several tracks from their Read & Burn EP. Not content to rehash the same sounds, they have completely reinvented the style and energy of each track.
Colin Newman's vocals almost croon in tracks like Mr Marx's Table, through to almost screaming voice of Bruce Gilbert on the heavy industrial track 'Spent'. The album's heavy, angst filled rock, is finalised in the last track 99.9, which builds up gradually over seven minutes into a rock frenzy where guitars and electronica battle to the death - as do Newman's vocal chords.
I think my last blog was a little melodramatic. Hard to beleive from me, I'm sure. Sorry if I inadvertantly upset anyone. I really shouldn't blog when I'm sad/mad/insane.
Have you ever sat on the floor of your room, listening to the saddest CD you own and wondered what it is about friendship we crave so baddly. Espeically when it seems friendship is the hardest thing on earth to maintain. Why is that? Why is friendship, a seemingly fundamental human behavouir we develop from day one, so hard for some people? What is it about a person that makes them your friend? Shared ethos, shared experience, I don't know. What I do know, is I seem to suck at it, whatever it is. But that's okay, because it seems so do the people I pick as friends.
Even though all my friends are fundamentally flawed individuals; I couldn't love them more if they were any other way. My patience for people is about as short as a circus midget, so when I make a friend for more than five minutes I am reassured of their qualities as a person because I can be so god damn judgemental.
I guess it's just the unexplained I don't like.
'The [sic] war ought to have been the most popular of modern times: it was the war of good sense and real interests, of the repose and security of all: it was purely pacific and conservative.
It was for the great cause, the end of uncertainties and the beginning of security. A new horizon, new labours were unfolding, all full of welfare and prosperity for all.'
Pop quiz arsehole! Which war was this quote about and who said it? In light of the recent conflict in Iraq, and to a lesser extent, the deteriorating security dilemma facing Afghanistan in the past six months, one may well imagine this is in response to the perceived failure of the US led forces in Iraq. Freedom for all, purely egalitarian reasons for conflict. Sound familiar? However, this wasnt written this century, in fact this wsnt even written last century. It was written in the 19th Century by Napolean. Whilst in seclusion on the island of St Helena, Napolean had hours and hours to reflect upon his campaigns in Europe.
Few historians would ever believe Napolean's endvours in Europe were based purely on the principles of freedom, egality and fraternity. With this in mind it seems a bit rich when leaders of the western coalition use the same terminolgy. Bush, Howard or Blair, all have used the same rhetoric at some stage.
And in other news today...
Have you ever thought you want something? You know, like really, really want to hear or feel or see something? Except, when you do hear/feel/see it, you question whether it's real. And even if it is real, it's not exactly what you were expecting. Life spun me around today and I'm not sure if I will ever recover.