Time have published a fascinating gallery of photos of the US President-elect.Link
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
ComeOnBoro.com Man of the Year Awards 2008
Gordon Dalton and I have put together this year's ComeOnBoro.com Man of the Year awards.
You can read the countdown from 10-6 now. The top five list will be published tomorrow.
Link
You can read the countdown from 10-6 now. The top five list will be published tomorrow.
Link
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Devotchka on Gears of War 2 advert
I'm almost certain that I'm late to this (that's what comes from a televisual diet consisting solely of The Wire), but I caught this advert for Gears of War 2 last night.
An unremarkable advert that apes last year's Mad World one far too closely but it's nice to hear Devotchka getting synced on a high-profile ad.
An unremarkable advert that apes last year's Mad World one far too closely but it's nice to hear Devotchka getting synced on a high-profile ad.
PopMatters countdown of the best reissues of 2008
Genuinely surprised that Pacific Ocean Blue didn't top this list, but 2008 was a tremendous year for reissues: Exile From Guyville, Stormcock, Odelay, Brighten The Corners and the Mission Of Burma and Replacements catalogues....
Monday, 15 December 2008
Disney World is mine!
Disney are running a fantastic viral promo at the moment that lets you enter in the name of a loved-one and they automagically receive a fake video about Walt Disney World being dedicated to that person for the day.
Link
Link
PopMatters countdown of the best albums of 2008
Now this is more like it. Portishead at number one, Fleet Foxes at number two... I'm not sure what Erykah Badu is doing that high up, but at least my fellow writers had the sense to vote London Zoo into a lofty position.
Link
Link
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Dizzee Rascal nicked in Orpington
Dizzee Rascal was arrested on Friday in my home town of Orpington for possession of a baseball bat.
He might be one of the most original rap artists to ever come out of the UK, but if he thinks he can stamp around my manor thinking he owns the place, he's got another thing coming.
Link
He might be one of the most original rap artists to ever come out of the UK, but if he thinks he can stamp around my manor thinking he owns the place, he's got another thing coming.
Link
Village Green Boutique
Village Green Boutique have finally launched their own online store.
They've been around on ebay and Etsy for a while and sell a lovely range of genuine vintage t-shirts, waistcoats, dresses and other clothing and accessories. What's more, their stuff is cheap, cheap, cheap.
Worth looking at for those (semi) last minute Christmas pressies.
Link
They've been around on ebay and Etsy for a while and sell a lovely range of genuine vintage t-shirts, waistcoats, dresses and other clothing and accessories. What's more, their stuff is cheap, cheap, cheap.
Worth looking at for those (semi) last minute Christmas pressies.
Link
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Damien Dempsey review up on PopMatters
PopMatters have finally got round to publishing my review of Damien Dempsey's The Rocky Road. I only submitted it three months ago, but never mind.
Interesting piece of editing in the penultimate paragraph too, but hey, you'll get the gist.
Monday, 8 December 2008
PopMatters countdown of the best songs of 2008
Estelle and Kanye at number one!? What. The. Fuck.
Anyway, at least we collectively had the sense to include Pork & Beans (my sole contribution to the list) at number 14.
Link
Anyway, at least we collectively had the sense to include Pork & Beans (my sole contribution to the list) at number 14.
Link
Sunday, 7 December 2008
The best albums of 2008
25. Scarlett Johansson – Anywhere I Lay My Head
I liked it, okay?
Best track - I Wish I Was In New Orleans
24. Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
Not vintage Oberst by any means, but there were enough tunes on here to make his solo debut more than a worthwhile listen.
Best track - Cape Canaveral
23. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E
Calling it his best since Ladies & Gentlemen might be damning Jason Spaceman with faint praise, but it really is.
Best track - Soul On Fire
22. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Way short of their best and, yeah, they miss Blixa, but as a slightly softer Grinderman experience, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! worked completely.
Best track - We Call Upon The Author
21. Black Mountain – In The Future
Came out so early in the year that I nearly forgot about it, which would've been a shame because In The Future is possibly the best loud-quiet-loud album since Mogwai Young Team.
Best track - Tyrants
20. Sigur Rós – Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
If the rest of the album had been as good as the first two tracks, this would've been an absolute masterpiece rather than an unpronounceable treat.
Best track - Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
19. Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too
Three tracks. One's 10 minutes long, one's 16 minutes long, one's 29 minutes long. They're all great.
Best track - Where You Go I Go Too
18. Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim
Marling reckons the inspiration for this album comes from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness. Now, it's not as good as that particular example of Will Oldham genius, but what is she, eleven? She's got time yet.
Best track - Ghosts
17. The Dodos – Visiter
Proof that guitar and drums is enough to cut it even when they're not being played by Jack and Meg.
Best track - God?
16. Damien Jurado – Caught In The Trees
That's nine albums now for the Washington songwriter and not a single clunker amongst them. Someone please buy this fella's records, he's amazing.
Best track - Gillian Was A Horse
15. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Even when singing about serial commas and imperialism they don't sound pretentious and snobbish. They sound like the brightest and most buoyant thing all year.
Best track - A-Punk
14. Ben Folds – Way To Normal
He might be as saccharine and goofy as ever but Ben Folds is always full of awesome.
Best track - Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)
13. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
Mash-ups are usually fucking awful but, this... this was something quite different. Still Here, for example, features Whiter Shade Of Pale, No Diggity, 15 Step and Stranger In Moscow, which might make it the greatest four minutes ever.
Best track - Play Your Part (Pt 1)
12. Portishead – Third
In what world The Seldom Seen Kid was better than this, I don't know. Shame on you, Mercury panel.
Best track - Machine Gun
11. No Age – Nouns
Dean and Randy might have softened the edges since last year's debut, but Nouns rattles through 12 tracks in 31 minutes, leaving you wanting more in an extremely good way.
Best track - Teen Creeps
10. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
Somewhere between J Dilla's Donuts and Company Flow's Little Johnny From The Hospital, Los Angeles sounds like it was recorded at least fifty years into the future.
Best track - Parisian Goldfish
9. El Guincho – Alegranza!
Hypnotic and hallucinatory, propelled by giddy Afrobeat rhythms and tropical steel drums; Alegranza! was the party in 2008.
Best track - Antillas
8. Noah & The Whale – Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
Certainly the cutest, most charming collection of songs released this year. Plus a million bonus points for brightening up a miserable Field Day.
Best track - Give A Little Love
7. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Alright, so it's the same as the last one and the same as the one before (and the same as the one before that) but no one writes better college rock tunes than Craig Finn.
Best track - Sequestered In Memphis
6. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Evocative, effortless and epic, I imagine this will top a lot of end of year lists. Were I not so cantankerous, it'd probably top this one.
Best track - White Winter Hymnal
5. Air France – No Way Down
This Swedish duo are due to drop their first full-length album next year (this one had a miserly seven tracks), if it's half as good as this and their previous release, the equally blissful On Trade Winds, we can already safely name the best album of 2009.
Best track - June Evenings
4. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
Notwithstanding Zane Lowe's embarrassing declaration that this is the album that defined music in 2008, Tha Carter III is actually really fucking good.
3 Peat, Phone Home, La La ensure that it never quite reaches the standard of Illmatic and Ready To Die that Weezie was all-too-clearly shooting for (just have another look at that cover) but it's still the best hip hop album of the year; and in A Milli and Lollipop was responsible for two of the year's best singles.
Best track - A Milli
3. Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
After the rockin' Tanglewood Numbers, Dave Berman returned to more traditional ground for his second post-addiction album. But with the heroin out of his system, the world's greatest ever lyricist is now confident enough to write songs about his drug addiction (Candy Jail), paint a beautiful self-portrait (Suffering Jukebox) and on Strange Victory, Strange Defeat tell us why most indie bands suck.
Best track - What Is Not But Could Be If
2. The Mae Shi – HLLLYH
With new records from Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko, Flying Lotus, Beck, No Age, HEALTH and… umm… Metallica, Los Angeles pretty much owned 2008. HLLLYH was the pick of the lot.
No longer content releasing collections of 40 30-second bursts, this time The Mae Shi wrote proper songs and everything. But they still had the balls to include an 11-minute track (Kingdom Come) that offers nothing but snippets of all the other songs on HLLLYH. And, of course, they plonked it right in the middle of the album. Genius.
Best track - Kingdom Come
1. The Bug – London Zoo
From reggae to electronica to grime to dancehall to hip hop to dubstep, London Zoo is a thick, thumping musical fog; a monstrous tour de force that was simply unmatched this year.
Monumental bass and apocalyptic drums are couched in smooth, deep melodies, with subtle bursts and flourishes supporting the mayhem going on elsewhere. At the top of the mix, the likes of Ricky Ranking, Tippa Irie and Warrior Queen toast harrowing and disquieting tales of life in 2008.
Paranoid, politically-charged and brutally rewarding, London Zoo is a truly global record; the kind that could only have come out of the planet's only truly global city. London Zoo represents these corrupt and crumbling times every bit as well as OK Computer captured the pre-millennium blues.
Best track - Skeng
I liked it, okay?
Best track - I Wish I Was In New Orleans
24. Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst
Not vintage Oberst by any means, but there were enough tunes on here to make his solo debut more than a worthwhile listen.
Best track - Cape Canaveral
23. Spiritualized – Songs In A&E
Calling it his best since Ladies & Gentlemen might be damning Jason Spaceman with faint praise, but it really is.
Best track - Soul On Fire
22. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Way short of their best and, yeah, they miss Blixa, but as a slightly softer Grinderman experience, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! worked completely.
Best track - We Call Upon The Author
21. Black Mountain – In The Future
Came out so early in the year that I nearly forgot about it, which would've been a shame because In The Future is possibly the best loud-quiet-loud album since Mogwai Young Team.
Best track - Tyrants
20. Sigur Rós – Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
If the rest of the album had been as good as the first two tracks, this would've been an absolute masterpiece rather than an unpronounceable treat.
Best track - Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
19. Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too
Three tracks. One's 10 minutes long, one's 16 minutes long, one's 29 minutes long. They're all great.
Best track - Where You Go I Go Too
18. Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim
Marling reckons the inspiration for this album comes from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness. Now, it's not as good as that particular example of Will Oldham genius, but what is she, eleven? She's got time yet.
Best track - Ghosts
17. The Dodos – Visiter
Proof that guitar and drums is enough to cut it even when they're not being played by Jack and Meg.
Best track - God?
16. Damien Jurado – Caught In The Trees
That's nine albums now for the Washington songwriter and not a single clunker amongst them. Someone please buy this fella's records, he's amazing.
Best track - Gillian Was A Horse
15. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Even when singing about serial commas and imperialism they don't sound pretentious and snobbish. They sound like the brightest and most buoyant thing all year.
Best track - A-Punk
14. Ben Folds – Way To Normal
He might be as saccharine and goofy as ever but Ben Folds is always full of awesome.
Best track - Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)
13. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals
Mash-ups are usually fucking awful but, this... this was something quite different. Still Here, for example, features Whiter Shade Of Pale, No Diggity, 15 Step and Stranger In Moscow, which might make it the greatest four minutes ever.
Best track - Play Your Part (Pt 1)
12. Portishead – Third
In what world The Seldom Seen Kid was better than this, I don't know. Shame on you, Mercury panel.
Best track - Machine Gun
11. No Age – Nouns
Dean and Randy might have softened the edges since last year's debut, but Nouns rattles through 12 tracks in 31 minutes, leaving you wanting more in an extremely good way.
Best track - Teen Creeps
10. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
Somewhere between J Dilla's Donuts and Company Flow's Little Johnny From The Hospital, Los Angeles sounds like it was recorded at least fifty years into the future.
Best track - Parisian Goldfish
9. El Guincho – Alegranza!
Hypnotic and hallucinatory, propelled by giddy Afrobeat rhythms and tropical steel drums; Alegranza! was the party in 2008.
Best track - Antillas
8. Noah & The Whale – Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
Certainly the cutest, most charming collection of songs released this year. Plus a million bonus points for brightening up a miserable Field Day.
Best track - Give A Little Love
7. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Alright, so it's the same as the last one and the same as the one before (and the same as the one before that) but no one writes better college rock tunes than Craig Finn.
Best track - Sequestered In Memphis
6. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
Evocative, effortless and epic, I imagine this will top a lot of end of year lists. Were I not so cantankerous, it'd probably top this one.
Best track - White Winter Hymnal
5. Air France – No Way Down
This Swedish duo are due to drop their first full-length album next year (this one had a miserly seven tracks), if it's half as good as this and their previous release, the equally blissful On Trade Winds, we can already safely name the best album of 2009.
Best track - June Evenings
4. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
Notwithstanding Zane Lowe's embarrassing declaration that this is the album that defined music in 2008, Tha Carter III is actually really fucking good.
3 Peat, Phone Home, La La ensure that it never quite reaches the standard of Illmatic and Ready To Die that Weezie was all-too-clearly shooting for (just have another look at that cover) but it's still the best hip hop album of the year; and in A Milli and Lollipop was responsible for two of the year's best singles.
Best track - A Milli
3. Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
After the rockin' Tanglewood Numbers, Dave Berman returned to more traditional ground for his second post-addiction album. But with the heroin out of his system, the world's greatest ever lyricist is now confident enough to write songs about his drug addiction (Candy Jail), paint a beautiful self-portrait (Suffering Jukebox) and on Strange Victory, Strange Defeat tell us why most indie bands suck.
Best track - What Is Not But Could Be If
2. The Mae Shi – HLLLYH
With new records from Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko, Flying Lotus, Beck, No Age, HEALTH and… umm… Metallica, Los Angeles pretty much owned 2008. HLLLYH was the pick of the lot.
No longer content releasing collections of 40 30-second bursts, this time The Mae Shi wrote proper songs and everything. But they still had the balls to include an 11-minute track (Kingdom Come) that offers nothing but snippets of all the other songs on HLLLYH. And, of course, they plonked it right in the middle of the album. Genius.
Best track - Kingdom Come
1. The Bug – London Zoo
From reggae to electronica to grime to dancehall to hip hop to dubstep, London Zoo is a thick, thumping musical fog; a monstrous tour de force that was simply unmatched this year.
Monumental bass and apocalyptic drums are couched in smooth, deep melodies, with subtle bursts and flourishes supporting the mayhem going on elsewhere. At the top of the mix, the likes of Ricky Ranking, Tippa Irie and Warrior Queen toast harrowing and disquieting tales of life in 2008.
Paranoid, politically-charged and brutally rewarding, London Zoo is a truly global record; the kind that could only have come out of the planet's only truly global city. London Zoo represents these corrupt and crumbling times every bit as well as OK Computer captured the pre-millennium blues.
Best track - Skeng
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Pinnacle Records enter administration
My former employer, Pinnacle Records, has entered into administration.
While it's undoubtedly true that Pinnacle were slow to adapt to changes in the marketplace, there are some very bright people down in Kent and I sincerely hope they find employment. The firm had fallen on hard times but, just in the time I spent there, had a key role in the success of The Killers, Morrissey, Katie Melua, Joanna Newsom, Tom Waits, The Strokes... the list is almost endless.
I suspect this is closely linked to the demise of EUK/Woolworths who likely would've owed Pinnacle some amount of money when they fell into adminstration. The worry now is how many independent labels will follow Pinnacle into the void. Pinnacle would've been holding a lot of stock in their warehouses.
This ought to be proof, once and for all, that there is simply no money to be had in physical distribution of music any more.
An inevitability, but sad all the same.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Secret tunnel for sale
Unfortunately, "turning the tunnels into a nightclub or hotel is out of the question because only two elevators link them to the outside world; even a small fire would be difficult to contain", but this mile-long tunnel would make a killer bowling alley, skate park, graffiti gallery or rifle range.Yours for a cool $7.4million.
Link
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