Things related to music.
Well would you look at the time? It's January 2019 AD. How did that happen? Nobody knows. Join me once again for the annual album of the year awards. Last year was a strange one for me, both personally and musically. But all years are like that, aren't they? I didn’t listen to nearly as … Continue reading Best of 2018: Top Five Albums
In 2016 I saw the video for Radiohead's "Burn the Witch", and I was suddenly hooked and decided to buy the album (A Moon Shaped Pool) when it came out. Then for whatever reason, I didn't bother to go through their back catalogue until this year, starting with OK Computer, and then jumping around with no real sense of purpose. It turns out to my very great surprise that I've come to realise that Radiohead are probably the greatest British band of the past 30 years.
I managed to not publish anything to this blog in 2017. That's an odd achievement that I'm not proud of. The truth is that within the past 12 months I've written literally thousands upon thousands of words that I didn't publish. There are many reasons, but primarily, I lost faith in the idea that my writing was really reaching out to anyone. Why publish something effectively no-one will read? In today's dissolving world, what use are my words? They're buried in noise, subsumed in an endless sea of arbitrary distractions.
Okay, so that's not really a great way to start of a post about my favourite music from 2017. But a little context goes a long way, and on that front it's worth mentioning that in 2017, podcasts have squeezed music out of my everyday life. And I was catching up on a lot of music from 2016 (ATCQ, RTJ, De La, etc.)
For those reasons, and others, I've opted to keep this list to six albums I enjoyed this year. No rankings - although Oxbow would take the top spot for sure. So join me, won't you?
I don't always do one of these lists at the end of the year, because I'm old and lazy and I don't think anybody really cares what I think, and all this needless self-deprecation is no-doubt making you sick. The main thing you need to know is that I did one of these this year, and … Continue reading Best of 2016: Top Ten Albums
My review of the new Kayo Dot album, which is weird in all the odd places, and odd in all the weird complacences.
Yeah I know, I'm five months behind on the travel reports. I'll get back to those shortly. In the meantime, here's something I'm sure you care about just as much - what I've been listening to over the month or so. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool Death Grips - Bottomless Pit John Grant - Pale Green … Continue reading Playlist (Jun 3rd 2016)
It was a bit of an odd year for music - and in general. Mind you, I feel like I say that every year. I ended up digging through a lot of old favourites, expanding collections, and showing up late to a lot of old parties. 2015 saw me chewing through classic Beastie Boys, Pogues, clipping., Cave In, Beck's Odelay, … Continue reading Best of 2015: Music
It's mid November (how did that happen?), but as Glasgow residents will know, winter here lasts from October to about March. I like winter - although I prefer it drier than Glasgow's - which has so far plunged the city into a cycle of continuously grey skies, intermittent mild rain, and absurdly violent wind. Thanks to my upcoming … Continue reading Five Songs for Winter
As an amateur noise enthusiast, I was vaguely interested in Dominick Fernow's main project Prurient back in his long-haired howling feedback with a microphone and an amplifier days, but it wasn't until Bermuda Drain that I became enraptured. That album is basically a darkwave/noise crossover record, a nightmarish vision of synthpop, and I was very into it. Frozen Niagara Falls feels like a magnum opus for … Continue reading Prurient – Frozen Niagara Falls
I realised a couple of years ago that I quite like Björk. Of course, I only realised this after I had already accidentally collected every one of her non-soundtrack albums. This is the kind of weird situation I find myself in sometimes when I buy more records than I can actually absorb in reasonable time. Vulnicura … Continue reading Björk – Vulnicura
