en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal The Last.fm journal for thisisall1word. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/05/10/2pqhys_welove2009_-_a_quick_look_at_the_best_of_2009_so_far Sun, 10 May 2009 22:10:10 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/05/10/2pqhys_welove2009_-_a_quick_look_at_the_best_of_2009_so_far First off - each year I try to record which tracks I fell in love with each year. I was meant to limit it to singles only but gave up on that sometime during 2008...

I've not done so well this year, the complete list is a lot less than the previous years, even though there's been some great stuff maybe I haven't heard it - I'm out of the indie scene & loops which was a good source of fine 7"s - less 7"s are 99p nowadays so it's less likely that I'll buy something I haven't heard before. Shame!

Anyway, in no particular order here's my top 10 so far;

Bon Iver - Woods
Joker - Digidesign
Animal Collective - My Girls
Dan Deacon - Build Voice
LD - Traumatic Times
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
soy un caballo - robin
Burial & Four Tet - Wolf Cub
Skream - Trapped In A Dark Bubble
Guido - Orchestral Lab

The complete list is here; http://www.last.fm/tag/welove2009 - so please add to that if you want! What have I missed?


Edit:

+ Mount Kimbie - Maybes - which is hella good]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/04/18/2nr33v_happy_independent_record_store_day%21 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:18:28 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/04/18/2nr33v_happy_independent_record_store_day%21 Hooray for record stores!
Hooray for racks of unknown vinyl
and boxes of second hand 7 inches
walls plastered in promo posters
and postcard size gig adverts

Hooray for the grumpy looking bloke
who needs coffee and has been working
for 21 days straight
11am to 11pm
8 cigarette breaks a day

Hooray for the DIY Scottish lo-fi single
playing loud on the store stereo
they will soon become
your
new favourite band
and this was the first time you heard them.

Hooray for the physicality of it all
This is sex vs. online cyber-sex
Vinyl vs. the download
The wild eyed store clerk thrusting
a white label under your nose
proclaiming the second coming
"you HAVE to hear this"
vs. Amazon.com telling you
You may also like xyzzzzzzz....


The last week I've bought online and offline; boomkat, amazon, HMV, sister ray, & sounds of the universe.
Walking past sister ray I knew I had to get Black Dice - Repo and at the same time pick up the new Camera Obscura 7" and an old Joker 12" - which leads the store clerks bloke to tell me they have copies of the new 12" by him in, fresh that day. I pop back the next day to pick up the Thrill Jockey compilation LP - released to celebrate Independent Record Store Day - and a cassette tape from Rough Trade which looks ACE!
Sounds of the Universe deals Dubstep to me and Boomkat does so too. Amazon supplies cheap CDs of stuff I missed from the last few years. But Amazon is boring.

How long will record shops be with us? Cherish these years people! They may not last forever. Go shopping! Pick up something from the wall of 'recommended new releases' - ask the people who work there to recommend you some obnoxious loud punk, bass heavy dub techno, or weird anti-folk. Pick up a 50p fanzine. Hang out! Explore! Go on, its sunny outside, go shopping, go find something, go fall in love.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/03/30/2lyvq8_blackmore%27s_night_to_forget Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:51:44 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/03/30/2lyvq8_blackmore%27s_night_to_forget I must admit, like a lot of you I'm sure that I think of myself as someone who loves all types of music, or at least a large majority.
A lot of people who say to me 'oh well, I'm fairly open minded, I like different stuff' end up revealing that they love black-metal, thrash-metal and some other non-metal stuff that they have on a soundtrack album. But anyway...
...I must draw the line somewhere. That somewhere is directly around Blackmore's Night and their medieval balladry of Crowning of the King. It takes a lot to push me to hit the 'Ban this track' button but this one hits the spot.
This song came up on my neighbourhood radio and so, which one of you was it? Come on -hands up. We're not leaving until whoever it was admits it. I can wait here as long as you.
But seriously, it's laughable wank.

I'm really sorry if you like this sort of thing - there's a lot of listeners so I guess that there's a big demand for this sort of thing, but is this band even a good example of the genre of medieval? I will happily listen to Espers - that's fine, but this, no, just... no... no.

Nothing much against Richie Blackmore but any band that he's in that mentions his name is a big no.
Rainbow? Maybe.
Richie Blackmore's Rainbow? No.

Any way, to stress a point, if you like this then good for you.

Oh, and Candice is still a babe.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/03/12/2k1y6x_walk_through_london_blog_entry_nicked_from_my_proper_blog_and_stuck_here Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:40:44 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/03/12/2k1y6x_walk_through_london_blog_entry_nicked_from_my_proper_blog_and_stuck_here We’re over the cold snap, after work I’m more than comfy walking round in shirt and scruffy jacket. Where as I used to walk at lunchtimes I have of late taken to staying in, sat at my desk where its warm, so a bit of a walk is long overdue. There’s no great need to be home either; the whole weekend is ahead of me and, as ever, I suspect the majority of it will be spent inside, so I can happily set off without paying much mind to where it is that I am going.

Through Westminster underground station to avoid the traffic lights and main roads above and then out next to the Thames, passed a new busker on the officially assigned street-performers marked pitch - the usual bloke only plays Bob Marley, and only one of Bob’s songs at that, I think it must be redemption song but small doubts nag me to say maybe its not.

I take it that liking Bob Marley is a universal constant, like the speed of light? Although of course the speed of light is not always constant - try light through liquid nitrogen at close to absolute zero and it travels about the speed of a traditional bicycle. But does anyone actually & actively dislike his music? Redemption song was covered by the late, great Joe Strummer and its his version that stays in my mind whenever I hear the song, his London, not-cockney, voice closer to mine than any Jamaican accent is and if I sing the song to myself, inside my head, then I do not try and adopt some cod-reggae accent. Strummer, I guess, adopted his London, punk(ish) voice, shedding his middle class well educated inflections which is one thing but at least he never went down Stings vocal route.

The Thames greets me with rows of wooden huts selling river cruises to tourists. I’ve never taken a boat down the river and its something I would very much like to do. I can happily fantasise that I helm some decent sailing boat both lazily and when its gusting, along the river from Rotherhide as far west as I can get. Strolling along the North bank listening to my mp3 player; Rancid - ‘...And Out Come the Wolves' - an album that still invigorates me with some long lost youth. I think to myself that ‘Journey to the End of the East Bay’ is one of the greatest songs ever written and tease over the possibility that its better than ‘In My Life’ by The Beatles. Both songs have comparable stories of travelling and expectations not matching reality but there’s love in both for a period of time. Only one has that righteous punk wonder though.

Across the river the London Eye looms large and magical and I wish that I carried my camera with me. I wonder if I could take some sort of slow release picture and what the lights would look like. This reminds me of Ben’s photo’s of street lights which showed the phosphorescence arcing out from the head of the light across the night sky. What’s he up to now I wonder? Maybe Phil knows…

I cut through Embankment station and walk up towards The Strand, I try and work my way through throngs of people drinking outside of a wine bar but there is maintenance work going on and the route is blocked. I thread my way up to Covent Garden, past multitudes of shops, pubs and cafes all seemingly catering solely for Kiwis, Aussies and Springboks.

I now have a destination in mind; Neal’s Yard Rough Trade. I quicken my pace, winding, side stepping, overtaking, squeezing through the throngs of shoppers that now seem to be planted in the ground outside shops, a dense forest of stationary, bag carrying, aimless obstacles to my record shop. Partly immaterial due to said record shop having relocated some 2 years previously, a fact that the skate shop owners who sit a floor above the old basement imparts with a half smile to suggest that he’s been saying this for 2 years and expects to be saying this to wondering vinyl junkies for years to come. Although they must cull skate shop employees when they reach a certain age, 26 maybe, so he might not have long to go.

Off through Soho next, where I end up outside Sounds Of The Universe, ogling the 12″s on display and reminding myself that I need to buy that Boxcutter/Kinnego Flux record. It’s a great record shop but I limit myself to whatever money is in my pocket and after flicking through the dubstep I get the above record (good stuff) and a Peverelist 12″ - Clunk Click Every Trip/Gather - the second of those is rather fine indeed.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/02/15/2hjh7h_monthly_top_tracks Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:52:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/02/15/2hjh7h_monthly_top_tracks Monthly Top Tracks - Link To Calculate Yr Own!

Well, as you may be able to tell, I don't often listen to the same tracks ad finitum, and so the lower number ones were probably tied - but you just can't get the data these days can you - Or can you?

Aug-2007 Wolf Parade : Fancy Claps (1 plays)
Sep-2007 The Futureheads : Meantime (2 plays)
Oct-2007 Nick Drake : River Man (3 plays)
Nov-2007 The Good, The Bad & The Queen : Green Fields (6 plays)
Dec-2007 Patrick Wolf : The Magic Position (3 plays)
Jan-2008 Simone White : The Beep Beep Song (1 plays)
Feb-2008 Crystal Castles : Air War (3 plays)
Mar-2008 Björk : Bachelorette (3 plays)
Apr-2008 Burial : Wounder (3 plays)
May-2008 The Shortwave Set : no social (6 plays)
Jun-2008 MGMT : Time to Pretend (3 plays)
Jul-2008 Portishead : The Rip (3 plays)
Aug-2008 Skream : Tortured Soul (3 plays)
Sep-2008 Camera Obscura : If Looks Could Kill (5 plays)
Oct-2008 Butthole Surfers : Pepper (5 plays)
Nov-2008 Ida Maria : Queen Of The World (5 plays)
Dec-2008 Fleet Foxes : Your Protector (5 plays)
Jan-2009 Sigur Rós : Gobbledigook (4 plays)
Feb-2009 Frank Black : I Don’t Want To Hurt You (Every Single Time) (3 plays)
Mar-2009 Joker : Digidesign (5 plays)
Apr-2009 Dan Deacon : Build Voice (5 plays)
May-2009 Guido : Orchestral Lab (5 plays)
Jun-2009 Gorky's Zygotic Mynci : Patio Song (5 plays)]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/01/20/2eyv4l_vinyl%3A_to_burn_or_not_to_burn Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:54:18 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2009/01/20/2eyv4l_vinyl%3A_to_burn_or_not_to_burn Well, never did make any offical new years resolutions. tho lying on the floor of my friends flat that morning after I felt ok enough not to say or think that I should get on the waggon or cut down. Maybe a few thoughts on doing some sit ups every once in a while. meh.

But I see clearly now what I could be doing; burning more vinyl to my compupod.

I have had a PC for nearly a year now and I've got maybe 2/3 or even 3/4 of my CDs burned - about half my hard drive I guess - should be able to finish of the CDs this year.

In the same time I have burned maybe 30 records - mainly tracks off of singles and often mixed together not just 'straight' or standalone.

I quite like burning mixes - often these end up with one of my mates and I keep a copy on the hard drive - if I want to listen to a record I play the record.

Is there any point in burning vinyl? maybe from an archival sense, if you have a collection that is likely to get damaged then maybe you want to keep a copy. OK, and if you have an mp3 player you can listen to those tracks but when at home you would just stick the record on right?

Any thoughts?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/12/30/2d5icr_10000_and_counting Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:10:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/12/30/2d5icr_10000_and_counting 10,000 tracks scrobbled - the 10,000th of which is Roky Erickson with the song John Lawman.
What does this track say about me? Not a lot - I'm listening on random to my library and this was a song I heard once before - its pretty good rock and roll, loud and lost - a bit more of a read through and I find that he was in The 13th Floor Elevators - there you go.

16 months, or thereabouts, of listening - a lot less songs than a lot of people out there - who listens to over 1000 songs a week? Is that possible?
I've seen people listen to 2000 Green Day tracks a week - I question your sanity and the truth about how actually listen to stuff.
I've got a library now of 2271 artists - a few of which are no doubt incorrect spellings but thats not too bad - meaning about 5 plays on average for each artist.

Not sure of the point of these posts but whatever - HAPPY NEW YEAR! to you all and happy listening in 2009 - hope you fall in love with some new music!]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/12/04/2bedrc_2008_round_up Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:21:14 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/12/04/2bedrc_2008_round_up We're into the home stretch now and barring a few last minute releases (and who releases stuff in the last 3 weeks of the year except X-factor winners?) 2008 is about over.
There's been some cracking stuff to listen to over the last 12 months as well as a few disappointments and I thought it would be a unique and novel idea to review the years music, possibly in some sort of list form. Please note that I have now sent off a patent application for this so please ask permission before attempting anything similar or you will be hearing from my hapless despairing lawyers.

MGMT were one such band that I said waaaay back in March or something that would be sat atop the pile at the end of the year and, after some shoutbox naysaying and mockery, I am still proud to say that
Oracular Spectacular is still sounding as good as ever and I can not think of a better LP released this year.
Live they were shambolically great fun at Glasto Park stage - with punches thrown at nazi security for good measure. each song sounds awesome on LP and live - although Electric Feel never really does it for me in the same way that it does it for a lot of people out there.
Some fantastic singles too;
Time to Pretend and Kids especially are a fucking wild trip.
Boo to the haters and love to everyone who felt this LP.

Having said all this Metanoia was a bit bobbins wasn't it? Full marks for weirdness tho...


Ida Maria is a fucking star and someone should resurrect Smash Hits just to put her on the cover. She's rock and roll and cool but not too cool or trying and her début Fortress Around My Heart is a short sharp shock of pop-punk rock and roll oblivion that causes singing, dancing and celebration whenever it plays chez thisisall1word's gaff.
Oh My God was a 2007 release but it can still count as one of 2008's best tracks too I guess. We loved it then, we love it now.
Stella is a throat abusing love song to a dealer and Queen Of The World is just THE party tune for all clumsy heroes who have found immortality through mistakes. I can not wait for the next LP...
...the B-sides for all singles contain some very very good demo's, live tracks and non-album tracks too and there's a slew of winners to be found there too.


Mercury Rev were written off a few years back by most but they've come back with a double album that (for me) over trumps Deserter's Songs - sacrilege maybe...
Both Snowflake Midnight and Strange Attractor contain nothing but beauty; psychedelic experimental dreamlike otherwordly labyrinths to ensnare the ears and the mind.
I said it before... these albums feel like ALBUMS not collections of tracks stuck together and for that we salute the Rev. So best listened too all in one go.
This is seasoned troopers creating, crafting and honing a sound and a world to fit that sound into. Can't see how this will play live as I've always felt that they do not do justice to the more adventurous side of the band, but what a studio album! (or 2...)

Part 2!

This is a late purchase for me - had it a week or two but its been played twice and its very good - Santogold with Santogold - a real good mish mash of styles and attitude which contains some blinding tracks - I'm looking at you L.E.S. Artistes especially. Party music for the coolest parties. I wasn't expecting to love this one and so I'm glad to have been proven wrong. Good good stuff.

Late of the Pier had a fairly storming year too - Fantasy Black Channel was not a nu-rave album it owed more to Franz Ferdinand than to The Klaxons - not that this is straight-ahead indie pop - there are stabd of electro rock cutting up whatever templates there are and gluieing noise back together through an 80s pop sensibility. Or something.
Anyway Focker, Bathroom Gurgle & The Bears Are Coming were all fucking ace, quality clever tracks. Foals? Pah! No thanks, keep em.


This post is going to grow over the next few weeks - I shall snip it here and come back with more...]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/11/01/295ufu_2000_artists Sat, 1 Nov 2008 19:27:00 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/11/01/295ufu_2000_artists I was planning on writing a lengthy piece about which ever artist hit my library with to become the 2000th artist. However it was never going to be someone who I knew much about because a better known artist or band would not have been 2000 but much higher up.
2000 is just a number, albeit one with lots of zeros, and it was meant to be kinda a big thing at the turn of the century so why not. I didn't do this for 1000th artist and I have no idea who that would have been either - is there a way to find out I wonder?

2000th artists hits with the 8410th track I've played giving me an artist to track ratio of about 1:4 or thereabouts - so lots of one hitters in there. Ex-mathematician and statistician tendencies reveal themselves.

Anyway its Warren Suicide.

Picked up the CD for a song at a cool Oxfam shop (support yr local charity shops people!) which was mentioned in a previous post; Charity Shop Haul.
I know little about the band and you will get more insight by checking out their last.fm page than I could ever offer. But here goes... They are electronic, left field synth-pop, a bit industrial and a bit strange. That's the short version - I will now have to listen to the whole album to get a good feel for them.
On 1st listen I can't see them becoming one of my new found loves - who knows, who knows.

Is this important I wonder?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/10/31/292uz3_in_praise_of_a_silver_mt._zion Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:25:23 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/thisisall1word/journal/2008/10/31/292uz3_in_praise_of_a_silver_mt._zion A Silver Mt. Zion are the sound made after the next great catastrophic event to hit the world. When cities lie in ruin and the sky will for decades be darkened dust red by war, when the countryside is quiet and ravaged by disease and electricity pylons become relics of some old religion and after the radiation has sufficiently released its grip upon the outside world, when all this comes to pass people will begin to emerge again and try to rebuild and sing of their fight and their hope. Voices cry out in folk chanting, rhythm is important because it is stable. Solo melody is less so, seen perhaps as a luxury, the focus is on the group. the cause. the struggle. This is our folk music. This is our punk rock.
Listened too side by side with Godspeed You! Black Emperor reveals the effect of voice to be so important. GYBE sound redundant, old fashioned and frivolous, ASMZ sound needed, necessary and important. Instrumental post-rock (apologies to those who abhor the term) may be pleasing to the head, may inspire and evoke beauty or chill us if haunting but the singing voice speaks to the soul and nourishes in a more universal way. It is inclusive and reaching as opposed to exclusive and narrow.
Not that I am against or for either style, both I love deeply, but A silver Mt. Zion have stepped outside the musical safety zone of their peers by incorporating more traditional song sections and they have a real sense of passion for humanity which without the voice could be seen as only passion for some unknown (most likely just music).]]>