Tag Archives: Music

Music

Lonely Island – Turtleneck and Chain – album impressions

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Ever since I was 11 years old I’ve been trying to work out what music I liked, other than the Beatles / classical music / west-end musical / intricate guitary combo I was brought up with. I remember buying the Cranberries album in 1993/4 for Zombie, and feeling a bit unsettled that – other than Zombie – it wasn’t quite what I expected. And since then I found my feet in a rock/alt rock/folk rock and occasional hip-hop melange that feels like “me” when I turn the volume up.

One slightly more niche genre that keeps rearing its head is musical comedy, and more specifically – comedy rap. My brother introduced me to Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince when I was 11 years old and I distinctly remember thinking that the song “I think I can beat Mike Tyson” was one of the funniest things to be composed ever at the time (I now know it’s not). In it, Will Smith challenges Mike Tyson to a fight and gets seven types of crap kicked out of him.

Needless to say, when The Lonely Island materialised with their epochal ‘Incredibad’ album a couple of years ago, featuring such works of self-deprecating parody as “On a boat” and “Like a boss” (all LI videos are NSFW, btw) I felt that the void that had been made as the Fresh Prince evolved into Wiki-wiki-Will Smith had once again been filled. So it was with not a little anticipation that I checked out some tracks from the new album, Turtleneck and Chain.

Sadly, for me, for the most part, it doesn’t live up to the heights of its predecessor. The tunes aren’t as catchy, the raps aren’t as articulate or funny. But two things made me smile.

First, the song “Rocky”, in which Andy Samberg challenges Rocky to a fight and gets seven types of crap kicked out of him. Sound familiar? I wonder if it was a deliberate homage to the Fresh Prince (in which case it’s clever-ish) or if its (in)advertant plagiarism (in which case, not so much).

Second, “Jack Sparrow”. There are few people whose swagger I’d like to match, but Captain Jack has a certain slurry je ne sais quois that has got to make for a hell of a party trick. Michael Bolton feels the same way – check it out:

Music

Mr B’s Bookshop Band

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I’ve blogged before about the amazing Urusen, my friend Ben’s band and purveyors of wonderful, melodic folk-pop-rock (it’s a hard genre to define, go listen and decided for yourselves).

It’s v. exciting news that they have finished work on a new album, but whilst I wait for them to publish, Ben’s worked on another album with Beth Porter and Poppy Pitt, published exclusively through a Bath independent bookstore, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights. The album is lovely. Preview, more info and purchase details here for those interested in folky goodness – think Urusen + Joni Mitchell sort of thing.

Disclosure: I fully intend to pay for it, but Ben’s not given me payment details yet, so currently I’ve been listening to it for free. This does not negate from its goodness.

Juneathon, Running

Running without music is slower

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…for me, anyway. My pace dropped today, so my 5k route took 33 minutes (as opposed to 31.5 yesterday, 30.5 on Tuesday). So its either that without the music and motivation of Runkeeper telling me my pace, I run slower, or I’m spiralling slowly towards taking forever to complete 5k. Both are probably slightly true, although I’ve been feeling biomechanically OK this week – no aches or pains limiting me since the weekend’s tough running slog. That said, the LSRs are still to come…

Another two bike rides and day 4 of Juneathon will be complete. Enjoying it – though the early mornings (especially pollen filled ones like today) are TOUGH.

Current affairs, Music

Cop15’s got talent – New Urusen tracks and Damo in DK

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Longtime followers will know I’m a big fan of my friend Ben’s band, Urusen, who have a bunch of new tracks up on their Myspace page today, including a COP 15 special (“Wish it was”) – all brilliant, as ever with them. Check them out.

If you’re more into the environmental side of things, my friend Damian is reporting from the conference for Prospect (and has been writing for the BBC in the run-up to it). All worth checking out, and a great overview of some of the issues under discussion and (on Prospect) a feel for the show.

Sorry for lack of posts of late. There’s been no new soup, work’s been manic, as has the Christmas routine which has seen us away most weekends. Expect blogging between Christmas and New Year, as I attempt DIY and to resume my fitness regimen.

Music, Work

The dangers of collaborative playlists

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Had my work stag do on Friday night. It was awesome, needless to say – I work with good people, and my work best men did an exemplary job in organising the venues.

In the hour or so before we left the office, as is our habit on a Friday afternoon, we kicked off a collaborative playlist on Spotify to get people in the mood. Given my impending marriage, you might expect some cheesey / romantic tunes, and indeed, there were one or two of those. However, it seems that there are some cynics in the house (and even more on Twitter as @qwghlm, @krsjn, @flashboy and @jat45 started kicking in their own contributions). Think Charlie Brooker’s moodkill playlist and you’ll have a sense of what’s on there.

If you want to see how the final playlist shaped up, point Spotify here. Be warned; there are some fairly horrible songs in there :-).

Update

Weekend of awesome

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Done so many wonderful things this weekend with wonderful people at the 10th annual coast party Damian hosts. A few brief highlights (in no particular order):

Spent time talking, singing, dancing and hanging out with some of the loveliest people in the world (the whole wide world)
Drove a Porsche
Ran 12 miles
Tried ‘rock’ fish (Huss, a white fish)
Threw actual rocks at other rocks
Contributed to the construction of a giant sand village (chief Architect: Nicky. Chief Engineer: Pob)
Got bowled out in one ball in a game of beach cricket, sulked
Swum in indoor and outdoor pools
BBQ-ed
DJ-ed for 3 hours
Danced for 3-4 hours
Told many embarrassing story about ‘Banana Oops’ Damian
Got styled as Bowie (check out my current FB profile pic)
Acted out all the moves to ‘I’m on a boat’
Ate fresh apples off a tree
Lost a sprint race
Won a push-up challenge
Failed to ignite a grass-filled moat/trench defence at midnight on Saturday
Learned how to play an exceedingly complex board game designed to halt the rise of Cthulu (Arkham Horror, I think)
Was impressed by Serena’s mad poetry skills.
Failed to play any poker due to an inadvertently early bedtime
Failed to go to bed till morning due to an advertently late bedtime
Referenced FoTC at every possible occasion
Tried to take some good pictures with my recently acquired Nikon D-80 (need to work out depth of field).
Discovered I actually like marmite. Never thought I did.

Amazing weekend. Massive props to all involved. Big up yourselves.

Music

Offspring @ Brixton – mini gig review

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offspring at brixton In a word, awesome. I didn’t particularly know the support acts (Broadway Calls and Rival Schools), but (despite being alright) they paled in comparison to the 80 minutes of high-paced, high adrenaline action the Offspring delivered. Can’t help but think they deliberately mess up the levels on the support acts to make the headliners sound better.

I persuaded Matt to come with me, and despite the fact he’s not a fan, the Offspring’s 20 years of performing and recording (!!) resulted in enough tunes for him to recognise and nod along to. Having lost some weight I was able to do the jump-up-and-down-headbanging-thing (bouncing? that’s not very rock) without injuring my knee, which was pretty satisfying when they played Self-Esteem.

Huge fun.

Amusing to see Dexter play a song on piano too (vid not mine, but courtesy of YouTube). In a separate note, Noodles (whose chat is pretty awful) was one of the most precise guitarists I’ve seen for a while.

Music

I’m on a boat

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For people who catch me referencing the Lonely Island over the next couple of months, it’s the fault of the inimitable @patrickyiu, who made the mistake of telling me about the following song whilst we were on a boat. The video is slightly NSFW, if you work in the kind of work environment that frowns on excessive swearing, or, erm, boats.

I’m going through that phase I get of obsession with things I quite like, and am listening to the album more or less on repeat and annoying everyone I know through repeated reference to the lyrics, video, etc. It’s almost as if I believe that things get funnier through endless repetition (they totally do)…

If anyone has any suggestions on music that will get these songs out of my head, or an explanation of (or cure for) my love of musical comedy, let me know.

Music

Come to a festival with us – its gonna be great

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If you’re not festivalled out by Glastonbury next week and fancy another one in mid-July, my friend Ben of awesome band Urusen (who I’ve mentioned before) is organising a cool mini-festival near Bath this year. It’s not expensive (£30), will be fun and includes lots of great stuff. See below for more – its a secret, but tell your friends.

Love, A

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I’m helping promote a mini secret festival in Bath this year called EyeFest, over the weekend of July 18th/19th. They have a great line up of bands, DJs and film for the Saturday. Included in the price is tea and cakes in the afternoon, Hog roast in the evening, and a fry up breakfast the morning after (also veggie options), and all for £30.

EyeFest is not advertising publicly, so it’s all word of mouth between friends to make sure we have a really nice crowd. There’s lots more info / videos / pictures at www.myspace.com/eyefest

If I have sold it to you (yeay!) then here is the link to buy tickets –

The festival is run by some friends of mine to raise money, which this year goes to three watery based charities (more details on the myspace page), hence this year’s theme “Nautical but Nice”.

For those who are super keen, EyeFest are also running an offer whereby you can buy 5 tickets for the price of 4 discounted tickets.

Feel free to spread the word around close friends / friendly who you think might be keen to come (and you would like to be there – I trust your judgments), you can direct them to the MySpace page, or send then the links above.

Music, Technology

Hi Fi Heaven

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My birthday’s coming up and my Dad bought me a new hi-fi kit to replace my aging B&W speakers and relatively cheap Cambridge Audio amplifier as a present.

I’m now the proud and happy owner of a Roksan Kandy L3 Integrated Amp and some beautiful Rosenut B&W CM1 speakers. As someone who’s always enjoyed good music through hi-fi (thanks to a good induction as a child with my Dad, who used to take me around Singapore listening to speakers that cost tens of thousands of pounds, none of which we were ever going to buy, but y’know, it’s good to have a benchmark), it’s wonderful to have the system in place.

The only thing missing from my hi-def living room now is a Blu-Ray player… Hmm…