Fragments of Fiction

Free Energy - Electric Fever

2012-03-08T09:54:00.002Z

Aaaaah, the sun is shining so today must be a Free Energy kind of day! Listen to their new single below, its a good ole slice of classic rock for a sunny day! Plus, it's a free download so get it downloaded!

He's coming...

2012-02-25T09:03:00.001Z

He's Coming... from Tristan Bodman on Vimeo.

Yesterday in Music

2012-02-24T16:32:00.003Z

Here's a list of all the music I listened to yesterday:

Yes, yes I know there's a Skrillex song in there, don't judge me!

Gorillaz & James Murphy & Andre 3000 - Do Ya Thing (Extended Version)

2012-02-24T15:10:00.004Z

Check this out! If the normal version of the track wasn't awesome enough, a 13 minute edit has surfaced. By all accounts it was recorded live on the last day the guys were in the studio and it is quite simply mind blowing! I LOVE IT!

If ever there was a Friday I tune I think it might well be this!

I think Andre 3000 gets rather excited during the course of the track, seeing as he shouts "I'M THE SHIT!" so many times!!!

Brits 2012

2012-02-22T21:36:00.002Z

Just wrote a long(ish) post about this years brit awards. If you'd like the short version look at the picture below, it sums up my feelings about them pretty well:

The award for consistently poor broadcasting goes to…

2012-02-22T21:32:00.000Z

Please don’t judge me, I watched the Brits last night. Iknow, I know I shouldn't have bothered, and as you might have guessed it put meinto a state of sadness that they can get it so wrong year after year afteryear.

I’d exchanged emails with a friend earlier in the and therewere some awards (best single most notably) where I genuinely didn’t want topick any of the nominees as I really didn’t like any of them. It’s a prettypoor state of affairs, isn’t it? Is this me just being a massive music snob? Probably.But there were some amazing songs released in the last year that could havebeen chosen.

As I watched I slipped deeper and deeper into the pit of despairthese awards put me in every year. I thought things had got bad the first timesomeone walked straight in front on James Corden whilst he was doing a link tocamera. Then, later on it happened for a second time. How, how can theorganisers let this happen? Jesus.

Then, just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, upstepped Adele to win best British album. Now before you start shouting at me, Ilike Adele and she deservingly won best album, so well done her. It was whathappened next that took the biscuit. Corden appeared from the shadows to cuther off after 12 seconds! WHAT? WHY? Oh that’s right, Blur need to perform thelongest Brits set EVER (11 minutes fact fans!). What was Adele’s response? Shevery rightfully stuck her middle finger up at the producers of the awards, welldone her!

Then the moment arrived and Blur played. Now, let’s set onething straight before I go any further, I love Blur, always have. Their comebackheadline slot at Glastonbury the other year was awesome and I loved it.However, last night was a shambles. Albarn was out of tune, there was nopassion in their eyes and certainly no fire in their bellies. It resembled someof the worst indie karaoke I’ve ever witnessed. They can do so much better thanthat, so why didn’t they?

All day, I’d been reading stories online that Blur would beperforming Tender with a full 32 piece choir. I for one was really looking forwardto it. However, after 2 and a half songs the producers pulled the plug on the broadcastand went straight to the news! What a bunch of idiots! Surley they could havedelayed the news for a bit longer! First there is the poor production, thencutting off Adele in her moment of glory and then cutting off Blur midperformance!

What a joke! Bring back Sam fox and Mick Fleetwood at leastthey were actually amusing hosts (all be it unintentionally).

The producers of the show manage to screw it up in some wayeach and every year. Perhaps next year will be different, but I doubt it.

How the producers of the brits saw themselves last night:

How everyone else saw them:

This is EXTREME gaming!

2012-02-20T10:02:00.001Z

Sometimes, when I get annoyed with a game this is how I end up playing it

There you are!

2012-02-17T13:32:00.002Z

You know that moment, when you've been looking for someone for ages and you finally see them, then what better way to express your relief than by acting like Nick Cage

Drink Your Milk

2012-02-17T13:27:00.002Z

Well if the Marvel Universe (well The Avengers plus The Scarlet Witch & Spidey but he was an Avenger at one point) is telling you do it, you probably should

I don't like milk though, so I ain't gonna drink it and not even Hulk (who appears to be wearing shades) could make me!

Keep On Running

2012-02-08T13:28:00.000Z

I could watch this all day long.

Oh, but I CAN see you!

2012-02-02T20:08:00.001Z

Do it again, Throw it! I dare ya!

2012-02-02T19:56:00.000Z

Pictures of Plastic People

2012-02-02T17:33:00.000Z

I have a lot of lego figures so I decided to start taking photos of them!

For more like this check out this Flickr Set.

Tristan's Tunes of 2011

2012-01-05T11:23:00.000Z

In no particular order I give you my tunes of 2011:

White Limo - Foo Fighters

Holdin' On To Black Metal - My Morning Jacket

Ice Cream - Battles

Blue Cassette - Friendly Fires

Make Some Noise - Beastie Boys

Aroused - Tom Vek

Gangsta - Tune-Yards

Take me over - Cut Copy

Waiting For Kirsten - Jens Lekman

Why Oh Why - Laura Veirs

Lippy Kids - Elbow

Calamity Song - The Decemberists

Battleships - I'm From Barcelona

How Deep Is Your Love? - The Rapture

I Gotta Rokk - DJ Shadow

Techno Fan (Diplo Remix) - The Wombats

The Doldrums - Paul White

Newlands - Justice

Do It Again - Holy Ghost!

I'll Take Care Of You - Gill Scott Heron & Jamie XX

Pharohs - SBTRKT

California - Datarock

Midnight City - M83

So there you have. That's me done blogging for another 12 months then!

Ultimate Power! Maximum Life! - Tristan's Tunes of 2010

2010-12-06T17:52:00.000Z

Well here we are again, the one time of year I actually use this blog of mine, Tunes of the year time! I think it's fair to say that 2010 has been a mixed ole bag for music, as this list will hopefully demonstrate there's been stuff I've liked from loud thrashy guitars right through to some pretty fast drum and bass, and as per usual everything in between. So without further a-do here are my tunes of 2010 (in no particular order either, other than the one they appear on the "Tristan's Tunes of 2010" CD):

1) Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait

or if you want to experience this video in a whole different way, check out the HTML5 video that was made for it. It's honestly a lot cooler and interactive than it sounds!

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

2) Free Energy - Young Hearts

3) The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

4) Hold Steady - Hurricane J

5) Dinosaur Pile Up - Birds & Planes

6) Pulled Apart By Horses - I Punched A Lion In The Throat

7) Sleigh Bells - Riot Rhythm

8) LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls

9) Sky Larkin - Year Dot
Alas, there is no video (be live or promo) on you tube for this song, which is a shame. But instead here's Sufjan Stevens doing the song "Too Much" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon recently, and boy has Sufjan got some cool dance moves on him!

10) Band of horses - Georgia

11) Janelle Monae - Tightrope (featuring Big Boi)

12) Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

13) Yeasayer - O.N.E

14) Gorillaz - Superfast Jellyfish

15) Kanye West - Power

16) Duck Sauce - Barbara Streisand

17) Danny Byrd - Hot Fuzz

18) DJ Fresh - Gold Dust

19) Chilly Gonzales - "Never Stop" (Rap Mix)

20) Divine comedy - At the indie disco

21) Eels - I like the way this going

Well there you go, that's the list. I know what you're thinking though, "Tristan, where can I download these songs in one handy, easy to manage package?" well my friend look no further than this link right here: http://www.mediafire.com/?q5veb7new86i6v2 it's about 125MB, so reasonably chunky, but it you'd like me to pop it on to a CD for you then give me a shout and I'll make sure I get it done!

Enjoy!

Tristan's Top Tunes of 2009

2009-12-11T16:59:00.000Z

Righty oh then, here we go then. I'm going to nail my post to the mast and declare what I think have been the top tunes of 2009 and that have soundtracked my year!

Sufjan Stevens - Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes

Matt & Kim - Daylight

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday

The Drums - Let's Go Surfing

Copy Haho - You Are My Coalmine

Sky Larkin - Pica

2 Door Cinema Club - Something Good

The Phenomenal Handclap Band - 15 to 20

Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

Yeasayer - Ambling Alp

Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Link only - Embedding disabled - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFxJuQw8aas

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge

Sub Focus - Rock It

THEM CROOKED VULTURES - No One Loves Me & Neither Do I

Dinosaur Pile - Up Summer hit single

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | I AM NOT A ROBOT

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

The Leisure Society 'The Last Of The Melting Snow'

Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man

Monsters of Folk - Say Please

The Low Anthem - "Cage the Songbird"

Marmaduke Duke - RUBBER LOVER

So if even a couple of them there songs tickled your fancy a little then you can find them all neatly packaged up in a zip file ready to be downloaded via the following link:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TZS3QYCK
I will warn you know though, the file, HE BIG! it's about 120 megs in size, so if you'd rather have a cd copy then let me know and I'll burn one off for ya right away!

So until next year people!

Festive 50

2009-12-11T16:20:00.000Z

OK, so the end of year polls are rolling in and I thought, "who am I to buck this trend?" So I've been thinking, compiling and seeing which tracks that I've heard this year would make my top tunes of the year.
I ddecided to limit myself to 50 tracks as, if 50 was good enough for John Peel the it's just fine and dandy for me. So here, in no particular (ok alphabetical) order are my tunes of the year:

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
Au Revoir Simone – Shadows
Bat For Lashes – Daniel
Biffy Clyro – The Captain - Single Version
Blakroc – Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Beware Your Only Friend
Brendan Benson – A Whole Lot Better
Camera Obscura – French Navy
Copy Haho – You Are My Coal Mine
The Cribs – Hari Kari
Deadmau5 – Ghosts 'n' Stuff (Feat. Rob Swire)
Dinosaur Pile-Up - Summer Hit Single
The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing
Eels – Beginner's Luck
Empire Of The Sun – Half Mast
The Flaming Lips – Silver Trembling Hands
Florence + The Machine – You've Got The Love
Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls
Golden Silvers – Arrows Of Eros
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Hjaltalín – Goodbye July/Margt Að Ugga
Jarvis Cocker – “Further Complications."
The Leisure Society – The Last Of The Melting Snow
Local Natives – Airplanes
The Low Anthem – Cage The Songbird
Marina And The Diamonds – I Am Not a Robot
Marmaduke Duke – Rubber Lover
Matt & Kim – Daylight
Miike Snow – Animal
Monsters Of Folk – Say Please
Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man
Muse – United States Of Eurasia [+Collateral Damage]
Noah And The Whale – Love Of An Orchestra
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Come Saturday
Passion Pit – Little Secrets
The Phenomenal Handclap Band – 15 to 20 - Radio Version
Phoenix – 1901
School Of Seven Bells – Prince Of Peace
Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity Of Huge
Sky Larkin – Pica
Slow Club – When I Go
Sub Focus – Rock It
Sufjan Stevens – Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes
Them Crooked Vultures – No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work
White Lies – Death - Chase & Status Remix
Why – This Blackest Purse
The xx – VCR
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

If you'd like to listen to these fine songs then all you need to do is click on the following Spotify link:

Festive 50

The only thing with Spotify is that they don't have all 50 of the tracks available, only 45 of them are available so you'll have to make do with them!

Hope you enjoy!

Next post will be my tracks of the year (CD version) so lets see who makes it into my top 22 tracks of 2009!

End of year polls and all that jazz!

2009-12-08T15:02:00.000Z

Seeing as NME have just published their Akbums and tracks of the year I thought it was about time I joined in the fun, as I love a good end of year poll! However, before I unleash my picks from the tunes of the year, I thought I woudl include a couple of note worthy tracks that I love but didnt make it into my final "cd length" list.

Both tracks are from Eels, my favourite band who would have usually been included by default but when push came to shove they had to leave the cd list so all the songs that have actually soundtracked my year could make it on there!

The first is for the track "That Look You Give That Guy" from their album they released this year Hombre Lobo:

I can't embed it so click here

However, I can embed a track from their album out next year called "End Days" the track is called Little Bird, check it out:

so anyway, thats enough of that for now. on to the list, which I'll post in the next day or so!

TMMT: The Link-o-rama playlist

2009-09-05T12:24:00.001+01:00

Ok here is the next installment of my mixtapes. However, this months theme involves some thinking! Each track can be linked to the one that follows it, now this might be by band members, production credits, guest spots, etc.

What you need to do is guess all the links correctly and the first one to give me all the answers I have will be rewarded with riches of the drink variety!

Click here to launch it in Spotify

For those of you without spotify here is the track-listing

Radiohead – Anyone Can Play Guitar

UNKLE – Bloodstain

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic

DJ Shadow – Fixed Income

Rage Against The Machine – Bulls on Parade

Audioslave – Cochise

Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun

Screaming Trees – Who Lies in Darkness

Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows

Nirvana – Lithium

Prodigy – Out of Space

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Frank Sinatra – I Get A Kick Out Of You

U2 - Pride (in the name of love)

Brian Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime

Tom Tom Club – Genius Of Love

f the sound of this interests you then let me know and I'll whack it on to a cd for you or make it available to download or something!

looking forward to your answers for the links!

Glastonbury 2009 - Weather report

2009-06-15T11:42:00.000+01:00

Who knows what the weather will be like next week when we all head on over to Glasto for another year. It looks (touch wood) that things might be ok though! Click the link to keep tabs on things:

TMMT - Around The World - Bit of a boo boo

2009-06-14T15:24:00.000+01:00

Looks like I made a bit of a cock up when I packaged up the Mix Tape yesterday! I forgot to apply all the artwork correctly, it's in the folder with the files, just not applied to them! Oooops! And then on top of that I forgot to number them so they appear in order in your tunes library type player! Sorry bout that! Needless to say I wont let it happen again, in the mean time go with the track listing that's in the pic in my previous post and your journey will be complete.

Remember, if you have any ideas for next month then please do let me know and I'll start putting something together for your ears to enjoy!

Any and all suggestions welcome.

Anyway, I'm off out to enjoy the sun whilst its still here.

Tristan's Monthly Mix Tape - Around The World

2009-06-13T17:09:00.000+01:00

Right then, here we have it, a little later than planned so sorry about that but I have it ready for your listening pleasure during the Month of June, so that still counts as the one for this month. Quite what I am going to come up with for July I have no idea, but any suggestions are welcome!

This months theme was suggested by Zoe and it takes you on a trip around the world, which might seem pretty obvious given the name. I've tried to (where possible) stick to my previously outlined rules for these mix tapes and specifically for this one have attempted to keep it only Capital Cities and Country names in the titles of th songs, but there are a couple of FAILS in there, see if you can spot them!

Anyway the track listing for the track listing, why not take a look at this handy little pic, it'll help you see what you're getting for your money (not that you have to pay for these mix tapes, THEY'RE FREE!!!)
So if you would like to download this here mix tape then all you need to do is click here and it'll all be one handy ZIP file which you can unpack and then load on your nondescript MP3 player! :)

Anyway I'm off to enjoy some sun and think of what to do next month!

until then... ROCK!

Tristan

Tristan's Monthly Mix Tape

2009-05-06T13:39:00.000+01:00

From this month on I shall be taking up the monthly mix tape challenge where I will invite you lovely people out there to give me a theme to create a mix tape / playlist around. I will opperate according to only a couple of rules:

(1) the mix tape should fit on 1 audio cd
(2) Only 1 song per group is permitted
(3) I will attempt to deliver it as close to 1st of the month as possible

Other than this it's pretty much anything goes. To give you an idea of the kind of things I've done in the past check out my England Themed Mix Tape, which can be downloaded here

WARNING - It is about 130Mb as it clocks in at about 2 hours long and covers everything from classic English Song writers, the weather and binge drinking!

However, if you'd prefer to stream it you can find it over here although some of the tracks are different on the streaming version, as I could only find live versions or other remixes of some songs on the streaming software, so if you want it as it should be then downloading is your only option!

So there we go! Hope you like what you hear and if you can think of any themes I should cover in future playlists then comment on here, on Facebook or drop me a mail

England - The Mix Tape

2009-05-01T14:38:00.000+01:00

1,2,1,2 this is just a test

2009-01-09T09:37:00.001Z

Righty oh! Thought I would give this blogging via my iPhone a go and see if it works! I've got my fingers crossed as if it does then there might well be more regular posts coming this way! So until the test results are returned farewell!

Just before kick off!

2008-12-30T13:32:00.001Z

This was our dj / lighting rig for this year's pig Xmas reunion! Needless to say a lot of fun was had by all!!!

And here's where I try and act all intelligent!

2008-12-19T09:48:00.000Z

Found a few links over the last couple of days that I've read (not just looked at the pictures and gone oooooh) and thought it might be worth sharing.

Heard about Cryovolcanos from "the king of all men" the other day at work and they sound like possibly one of the coolest things ever. I mean can you imagine a volcano spewing out rivers of ice instead of lava? That just sounds bizarre! I'd love to be able to see one but alas don't think I'll ever be able to find the time to get over to Triton as it's a little bit further than Slough!

Next up a couple of bits I found over at the BMJ, which for those of you not in the know (don't worry I didn't either until yesterday) is the British Medical Journal! There is some really cool stuff on there and these include advice for headbangers who don't want to injur themselves whilst par taking in their favourite activity - check it out .

Seeing as it's almost Christmas I thought I'd pop a little link up here, also from the BMJ which de-bunks several seasonal medical myths! So now you'll learn that there is NOTHING that can cure that hangover you get on boxing day or the day after or at any other time soon! Also, wearing a hat does NOT keep you warm and a bit of a bummer for me, sugar doesn't cause hyper-activity!! It really must be the e numbers and additives then! So give me a jar of E221, wind me up and watch me go go go!!

So have yourslef a merry little christmas and I will leave you with this little image proviing that not everyone loves Santa:

Not sure why but I get the feeling the caption for this picture should be "Finally my plan is complete, I have the child!"

If you want to see even more picture like this one then check this site out, they have over 200! :)

Tristan's Tunes of 2008 - The Final Line up

2008-12-10T21:30:00.000Z

Well then, here it is my "Top Tunes of 2008" now I wouldn't be as bold or brave to rank the songs in any kind of preferential order or say which ones are better than others and determine which album is the best one released this year. However I just like to make a "mix CD" with all the tracks that mean something to me and happened to have been released this year and bought by me! So this means that for each of the tracks in the line up I've gone out and bought the proper CD, as you should all do too!

Anyway, enough with the jibbering , if you want to get your hands on a copy of my fave tracks of 2008 then all you need to do is download it from here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S4DQODUB

in that neatly packaged and yet big (143MB) file you'll find the following tunes, along with Youtube clips of each of them so you can see what you're getting:

1 – my morning Jacket – Evil urges

2 – The Hold Steady – Sequestered in Memphis

3 – Fight Like apes – Lend me your face

4 – TV on the radio – Dancing Choose

5 – Vampire Weekend – A-punk

6 – Friendly Fires – Jump into the pool

7 – Cut Copy – Feel the Love

8 – MGMT – Electric Feel
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM

9 – Wax Stag – Short Road

10 – Hot Chip – Wrestlers

11 – James Yuill – No Pins Allowed

12 – Late of the Pier - Space and the woods

13 – Elbow – Grounds for divorce

14 – Santogold – Lights out

15 – Jamie Lidell – Little bit of feel good

16 – Wood Pigeon – Death By Ninja

17 – Bon Iver – Lump Sum

18 – Fleet Foxes – Oliver james

19 – Noah and the whale - 5 years time

20 – I’m From Barcelona – Paper Planes

21 – Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gones

22 – Los Campesinos – Sweet Dreams Sweet cheeks

So there you have it a selection of songs that have made 2008 such a great year for me generally and musically! So come on, at least give them a listen, you know you want to!

So the big question is, what am I missing????? come on, let me know!!

All I really want is..........

2008-12-05T09:35:00.000Z

Following on from yesterday's couple of posts around music in general and some of the stuff released this year that didn't make it into my top tunes, I want to mention Wiley. He's released a couple of cracking pop tunes this year, with the latter of the 2 clips I'm posting (Cash in my pocket) being produced by that Mark Ronson chap and featuring his vocal bitch Daniel Merriweather, who just seems to crop up on everything he produces at the moment! So anyway enough of my ranting here's some clips for your eyes and sound for your ears:

Firstly we have "Wearing My Rolex" which WILL get stuck in your head if it wasn't before, either that or the dancing foxes will be lodged there:

Next up is "Cash In MY Pocket" which has literally just been released and seems timely given the current credit crunch, again another tune which is as catchy as some kind of audio flu pandemic:

Although I have no idea what Squilla is?? I think he means money.

Lastly, I couldn't post about wearing my rolex and not include the version of Hot chip performing it at Glastonbury with Wiley, it was awesome to watch and was a hell of a lot of fun:

New York I Love You But You're Freaking Kermit Out!

2008-12-04T18:31:00.000Z

Kermit singing "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" by LCD Soundsystem. There are rumors that James Murphy had a hand in this video, if you'll forgive the pun (watch it until the end is all I will say)

Tristan's Tunes of 2008 - Close but no cigar!

2008-12-04T17:29:00.000Z

Well, well, well. It's nearly the end of the year and like every single magazine and website out there I've been drawing together my favorite tracks of 2008. As with each poll there are those entries you wish you could have put in there but for certain reasons you couldn't. For me these are mostly acts that I knew about but didn't really get into until it was too late, like a couple of the tracks that I'll show you below that were actually released in 2007 but I just didn't get round to checking them out until 2008!
The other reason for them not making it into my tunes of the year is because I didn't get round to buying the cd in the end for one reason or another, let me assure you there were more than a couple purchased so I had to draw the line somewhere.

So then into the list of almost made it's, what better way to kick it off than with M.I.A and Paper Planes:

Did you see the Beastie Boys?? They're in there honest! If the chorus doesn't stick in your head for a couple of hours then there is something really quite wrong with you!

Next up is one of my bands of the last 12 months, Yeasayer, who I've had the luck to see live twice. they do a great line in 21st century twisted electronic folk music with awesome harmonies, weird tag to give a band I know but it'll make sense when you hit that play button. I've given you a link to a special performance they did for a French blog called LaBlogotheque and takes in 2 of their songs called "No Need To worry" and "Red Cave". Honestly, the French Metro has never sounded so good:

The end of the song gets me everytime and I just can't help but smile! Soppy I know but I don't care.

And just for good measure I'm going to give you a couple more clips of them, the first if taken from their performance on Later... In this one Vocalist Chris Keating really reminds me of David Byrne in his movements and performance during the song, plus you gotta love the drummer's tarzan outfit! :)

And then lastly is their other performance for LaBlogotheque:

It's well worth checking out the other post's LaBlogotheque have made as they always do amazing little candid live performance. I really love the ones they didn with Arcade Fire, Architecture in Helsinki and I'm From Barcelona!!

Speaking of Architecture in Helsinki, they have just released a new single which I'm really loving at the moment, but alas it's only available in Australia at the moment and you can't get it over here until 2009! Check out, That Beep, it's got bouncy summer fun written all over it:

Finally, for now we have the supreme M83, who usually release an amazing line in etheral shimmering space pop, but this time for their album Saturdays=Youth they're turned to 80's pop for their inspiration and it's paid off, especially when you listen to songs like Graveyard Girl:

Is it just me of does that video reek of John Hughes and especially the Breakfast club, Ally Sheedy's character springs to mind straight away, only with more graveyards, booze and giant floating dogs heads in space!

anyway that's enough of that I shall return at some point with a full run down of my tracks of the year and let you know why i chose them!

So until then people:

Joe Kinnear!

2008-10-03T14:57:00.000+01:00

Never thoguht I'd see the day that I'd write an entry on here related to football (unless you checked facebook about 30 seconds go, where I posted the self same link) but this just made me laugh! Joe Kinnear, who'se been in the Newcastle Manager's job for a week has possibly held the most swearingly genius press conference ever!!

The rate at which the profantities fly out of his mouth even made me blush, as I was reading the transcript! If you want to know what I'm going on about, check the link

SWEAR AWAY!

He looks like such a calm and collected man as well!

Pigs!

2008-06-16T14:05:00.001+01:00

Created with dumpr.net

Ok, so I think it's fair to say that these pesky little blighters that have been cropping up in Bath have some what taken over my waking moments (outside of work obviously) and I nonw seem to have this uncontrollable urge to go and find more! At the time of writing I've seen somewhere in the region of 55 pigs, but that will reach the 100 mark by September when they're all out and about!

If you want to see all the ones I've seen then check out this little photo set on flickr
I'll be updating it each and every time I spy a new one, so if you, like me want to know where they be then this is the best place to look! Also, if you're on the net monolith that is Facebook, then there is a group dedicated to them on there as well, in actual fact there are several groups, but most of them are dedicated to people sitting on the pigs which is not something I do to be fair, don't want to go injuring the poor little mites.

If you'd like to know more about King Bladud's Pigs then check out their site as you'll find out a load of info and even where a few of the pigs are, as your starter for 10!

Also, like the effect on the photo up there? It was taken on my normal digital Cannon Ixus and then manipulated using a site called dumpr, a lot nicer than it might sound! I like the Lomo effect, which is what I applied to my photo, I think it looks awesome!

So come on, join in the pig shaped fun!

Rhythm Is A Dancer and time for Cake!

2008-05-13T21:49:00.000+01:00

Saw this advert on TV literally a few moments ago, had a look around on Youtube, and guess what? there is was already! Hurrah! this means I can share the wonder of it with you guys. Not sure why but it makes me smile when I see it. I really never knew Brains was so funky!

Check it:

and whilst we're there:

and one more for good luck:

and before anyone says anything no I'm not going to get to the stage where I post the video for No Limits, although I did just see it lurking around on youtube. Must resist, must not watch.

instead it's time for cake:

Being Ill

2008-05-12T11:55:00.000+01:00

no no, that doesn't say being 3 as the title but being ill, which is what I am. Since Thursday, I've been struck down with Gastroenteritis, which isn't pretty and means for the most part that I've not been able to get out and enjou the sun. But on the plus side I have nearly completed Lego Star Wars on my DS!

The weather here is lovely at the moment and I only wish I could get out there and enjoy it with everyone else, but alas I need to be near a bathroom at most points in the day, which sucks. But even still, when I look outside and see the sunshining there are a few things that spring to mind and one of them is:

Although I'm still not sure about the joy on that guys face as he sings "boom-de-ada" as he fires a granade launcher! Hey ho, guess it takes all sorts to make this funny little world we live in!

Fleetwood Macaroni and Cheese

2008-03-22T21:21:00.000Z

You know what? I think Ryan Adams is gradually becoming one of my favourite musicians. I can't really put my finger on why, but perhaps it has something to do with the songs he writes (some of which are bloody fantastic) or the way in which he makes such good reading material in interviews or maybe it's because he's taken to blogging a shed load recently and posting a load of videos whilst he's at it.

It's a shame really until a little while a go he had possibly the best Youtube account going. I mean he uploaded examples of new songs he was working on, a fake advert for a fake album that never existed and (my personal faves) a couple of Black Metal music videos he made for his metal band called Satanic, and let me tell you, these videos were dark, and I mean dark as the dead of night with an extra twist of dark thrown in for good measure.

I guess until he see's fit to put them back up we'll have to make do with his new blog, (which you HAVE to go and check out now!) I mean he does post things like this:

"Things I don’t understand. Like…. 1. Why do people say I dated Alanis Morrisette. I mean, she kicks ass, but the A-Team also kicked ass and I did not date them."

Oh and he also posts videos like these:

Remember kids, Don't comb the Leprechaun

And then there's this one where writes the hits:

You gotta love him! You know what I think I might go listen to Cold Roses and love is hell all over again now!

This is why I love The Black Keys

2008-03-22T21:05:00.000Z

Just a quick one for now, there are more posts brewing, but I need to show you this first!

Not only is The Black Keys new single, "Strange Times", awesome, but the video is amazing! Basically, this video shows the guys to be badass, lazer toting Soliders from the future or something! I swear Quazar was never this much fun when I used to go:
Strange Times

All I can say is "mom, call 911!!" and "I think they're using real lazers, run!"

A Little Bit of Feel Good

2008-03-21T14:45:00.000Z

Well looks like there is more good music on the horizon, as Jammie Lidell has a brand spanking new album coming out soon. For those of you who don't know his music let me inform you. Jamie is a former Techno DJ (or so I am told anyway) and he now makes some of the sweetest and funkiest soul music around. Plus on top of that his live shows are some of the most mental things you'll ever see where tracks are created entirley from him looping his own voice and then beat boxing. Seems as if he might have moved away from this mehtod fo creating tracks for now with the first fruits of his new album (called Jim) showing up on Youtube, so please check out,, A Little Bit of Feel Good:

Now I'll be damned if that song doesn't just make me want to get up and dance around! To show you what got me into his stuff in the first place take a look at "multiply":

I'm just gutted that when he played Bath a year or so ago I never got tickets for it, as I'm sure it would have been an awesome show. Fingers crossed he plays at least some of the festivals over here this summer as then I might just stand a chance at seeing the man live.

(Half) Marathon Man

2008-03-21T12:30:00.000Z

So it's been a week since I took part in possibly the most challenging thing I've ever done, I ran in the Bath Half Marathon and I thought it was about time that I put a little post up on here to get my thoughts down on the page.
Since the pack arrived a few months ago I've been living under the shadow of a number, a number that for a few hours would be my identity and would stand me apart from all others. That number was, the not very catchy series of digits, 13217 (check out the pic for proof). Just getting this number meant I had, in books anyway, taken a huge step towards actually achieving something in my life. If you had told me 3 or so years ago that I would be running 13 and a bit miles I would have told you to get stuffed, and tucked into another pork pie. For those of you who don't know up until a few years ago, I was double the man I am these days, quite literally. I knew something had to change as I was getting out of breath just walking up a flight of stairs, so I did it, I lost a load of weight (think it was about 10 stone in all) and got (relatively) fit. I can say it wasn't hard work, because it was but I got there in the end and eventually met the girl of my dreams (which is the best thing to have ever happened to me). But I needed something more I needed to achieve something so I could say "look, look what I've done" So the thought entered my head about running in the Bath Half. Then the thought went away as I thought it was just a bit silly, but then towards the end of last year a good friend of mine mentioned he and another friend of mine had entered the race and did I want to join them, so I stumped up the £30 to enter (reason enough to complete the race in my books) and then worried about what to do.
Thankfully, my personal trainer Andy Collins, was on hand to draw me up a plan and let me know what I needed to do, so on November 5th I went out on my first run and just kept going. I know it's all too easy to draw up "run forest run" jokes, etc but I wont, well not right now anyway. I can't say the training was easy going, certainly not and I think what made it harder for me was going out on my own. But then that's where my trainers and my trusty Nano came in handy. With the Nike + Apple kit popped into my trainers I was able to track ever bloody footstep I took whilst training for the race. In total I ended up running for 42.54 hours and covered a distance of 234 miles. Shocking I know, but it's always nice to have a record of these things.
Eventually the day of the race arrived and I was good to go, but then it rain. And it rained some more. Then we got the runners village and it was a bog, so that meant that even before the race started my feet were all muddy. To top it all off when I was getting ready to head towards taking my place they announced they were delaying the start of the race by an hour! So that meant more waiting, which was a little annoying. But boy was I thankful they did delay it, as it meant the rain passed and was dry for the duration of the race. So when the time arrived, I took my place with the masses (right behind scooby-doo), heard the gun and we were off. The first 6 - 8 miles were fine and I held up a bloody good pace (for me), but then I seemed to hit "the wall" at around the 10 mile mark and the last 3 miles weren't great, but I got there and as I rounded the corner into Pultney Street I swear I could have cried with relief, the finish was in sight. So I was there with a smile on my face as I stepped over that finish line, nothings ever felt better. Then to top it all off I got my medal! I'd hoped to finish the race in under 2 and a half hours and thought the best I could manage was probably going to be about 2:15. But you know what, it's strange the effect the crowds can have on you, as I managed to complete the race in 2:13, which meant I was chuffed to bits!
When I got home I kinda swore to myself that was it and my running career was over, but the more that time passed and keeps passing the more and more I think about going in for the race again next year and you know what I think I will. I don't see any reason why, with a little extra weight loss, an improvement in technique there's no reason why I couldn't break the 2 hour mark. So watch this space as it might just happen!

But for now (well this week after the race anyway) I'm doing no exercise and eating and drinking whatever I like. I think I've deserved it. It does mean however, I'm gonna be back in the gym with a vengance come the early part of next week! Bring on the blisters!

BAM BAM BAM!

2008-03-11T13:13:00.000Z

Yes, that's right it's time for the old lady pretending to fire a gun using only her hand type post of the day.

Granted the chap in this clip has the better form when it comes to make believe guns, etc yet the old lady, you can't help but love her and the effort she puts into her "craft". I have no idea what the director is telling them to do but I'm sure he must tell her to stop at some point, but I think she's "in the zone" by this point and just can't stop herself. Check it out:

This is what they were casting for, a banned Xbox 360 ad, which was deemed irresponsible. I can see where they're coming from with that, but I have to say, it does look like fun! :P or maybe thats just my inner 6 year old shining through again:

I discovered these fine clips thanks to the fine fine people over at Neatorama, a good source for your daily random links, etc.

Who knows I might be abck with more posts later on, so watch this space, regular blogging might just be about to start!

Been a long time and I shouldn't have left you

2008-03-09T18:23:00.000Z

without a dope beat to step to!

(insert correct lyrics here)

so pump up the volume!

So then, been a while hasn't it? But things might actually change from here on in you know, "why?" I hear you cry "we've heard your empty promises before" well my little ones, the reason for the change is simple. I now have the internet at home! So this means I'll be able to blog about all sorts of nonsense now!

I really have no idea what shape this blog is going to take but needless to say I want to have a bit of a play around witht he layout, etc so will be working on that in the very near future. As for the content. Hmmmmm, that's a slightly more tricky one. Think there might need to be bits about music, films, tv and general thoughts coming from this sometimes over active brain of mine. Think I'll also chuck in a few little thoughts and comments about what's going on with me. But keep your eyes peeled people as you never know when you might miss something.

but until next time I will leave you with this little kittie, which makes me laugh, not sure why, but I think Cat's (of all types) make me smile because they're just so cute:

Possibly the best video ever!

2007-08-08T09:29:00.002+01:00

Check it out, It's possibly the best rap video you will ever see:

Reactable

2007-07-05T14:54:00.000+01:00

Ok, so after doing some digging I found out what the amazing table, thing was that was being used in the Bjork video in my earlier post. Turns out it's called a ReacTable (click the link to find out more detailed info) and is possibly one of the most mental and amazing instruments ever made! Needless to say I would love to have a play with one / own one but alas I'm not that sure they're actually for sale! Check out one in action here:

Ah well, guess I'll have to keep on dreaming! :)

Also, am loving this song by LFO the group who's song bjork's turns into in the video I posted earlier on. As you might have guessed if you watched the other video, its mental and very electronic! but when has that been a bad thing?? Well not all the time, not sure I could manage that, think I need my daily dose of indie to keep me going!

Freak by LFO:

Ok, so I think I need to balance things up with a bit of previously mentioned indie and what better way to do it than with this:
Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing!

Loving this song right now!! :)
That is all.

A Day Without Music

2007-07-05T09:32:00.000+01:00

Ok, so yesterday was an odd day. I had to spend the whole day at work with no music! Now granted, that might not seem like all that much of a hardship, but for me the ability to drown out the sound of the office and the chattering of those around me is a given, I need the music to be able to focus and get on with stuff, as odd as it might seem.
Now let me explain a little. The whole reason I had to fore-go the whole music thing was because I forgot my headphones. You can imagine the horror, for someone who consumes so much music when I got to work, found I had my ipod but alas no headphones. Actually to make things a little clearer, this is close to how I felt:

In the end it wasn't all that bad, although it did make me extremely picky when I got the gym and had headphones again, had to make sure I got the quality tunes in! :)
And, if you'll allow me, I'd like to explain a little further as to why I forgot my headphones. It was simple really on Tuesday evening I got to pretend at being a DJ again, which at the moment is quite the rare occurrence. Needless to say I had a great time and think I quite genuinely loved each and every song I played. Thankfully those people who'd come along seemed to like what they were hearing as well, which I'll happily consider a bonus.
It was really nice to see so many people out that I knew as well, it made the whole thing an awful lot easier. I'd just like to apologise to 1 person though, the guy who requested LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge" and left before I had the time to play it! :( Sorry about that, as I would have loved to have played it, seeing as how I seem to adore anything touched by the hand of James Murphy! :) As it was most of the music played seemed to be Glasto centric, but to be fair most good bands about at the moment played there, so it was always going to be!
Speaking of Glasto, I did discover this little clip last night thanks to a great blog called headphone sex, which isn't as rude as you might think either. Kinda makes me wish I'd stuck around instead of heading back to my tent because I was muddy and my feet and back hurt:

What the hell is that table the guy is playing with at the end, I want one!! I am reliably informed he's one of the guys from LFO, which would explain a lot and makes me wish I had more of their stuff, I feel some money being spent already!! :)

right, thats enough for now, I think I really should be getting back to work!

Glastonbury 2007

2007-06-27T12:46:00.000+01:00

Well I'm back and I'm sure in time I'll do a proper review of what went on but in the mean time I think I'll just pop up a list of the bands I saw so that I don't forget:

Pyramid Stage

Friday 22nd June 2007

15.10 Amy Winehouse

Saturday 23rd June

22.55 The Killers

13.30 Guillemots

12.15 The Pipettes

Sunday 24th June

22.05 The Who

20.00 Kaiser Chiefs

17.20 Dame Shirley Bassey

10.20 National Youth Orchestra

Other Stage

Friday 22nd Jun 2007

21.20 Arcade Fire

19.50 Rufus Wainwright

16.50 Super Furry Animals

13.30 Modest Mouse

12.30 The Cribs

11.30 Reverend And The Makers

10.30 Mr Hudson And The Library
Saturday 23rd June

21.30 Editors

20.00 Maximo Park

18.30 Babyshambles

17.00 Klaxons

15.50 CSS

14.40 Biffy Clyro

Sunday 24th June

16.40 The Rakes

15.40 Get Cape Wear Cape Fly

14.40 Coldwar Kids

13.40 Sunshine Underground

John Peel Stage

Friday 22nd June 2007

18.10 Hold Steady
Sunday 24th June

12.45 Tiny Dancers

11.45 Aqualung

JazzWorld Stage

Sunday 24th June 2007

18.40 Beirut

The Dance Village

Friday 22nd June 2007

Simian Mobile Disco

Max Sedgley

!!!

So basically all in all it was a bloody great weekend and I think I managed to see a load of good bands!! Roll on next year!

If you want to see all my photos from the weekend then click here

This is just beautiful

2007-06-16T22:52:00.000+01:00

You'll need to click on the link to get to the YouTube page as inbedding has been disabled on the clip

It's the Flaming Lips covering "Suspicious Minds" By Elvis. Check it out.

Battles - Mirrored

2007-06-13T14:25:00.000+01:00

Battles

Without a doubt this is one of, if not the most mentally epic album I have ever heard. To a certain degree this album is like a 5 year old who's consumed waaaay too many e numbers, I mean take a listen to "Ddiamondd" It begins like a robot falling down some stairs whilst trying to sing and then when he hits a level the sound of a juggernaugnt comes looming, only in reality its the bass and keyboard making the noise and not actually a lorry!
In places this album veers towards a more rock orientated version of Free Jazz and then without warning slams you back against the wall with a hell of a riff that will keep your head pounding for days.
Clearly, this record deserved repeated listens as it's just so dense and complex that one listen will not give you enough of an idea about the hidden depths that are there, waiting to be explored. Granted, some people will dismiss this as nothing but a bunch of random shite, but what do they know?!!
When you combine the drummer from Tommahawk, a couple of hardcore guitarists and a crazy vocalist and what you get is something called "Math Rock". Wikipedia describe it as "It is characterised by complex, atypical rhythmic structures, stop/start dynamics and angular, dissonant riffs". I couldn't agree more, as in places that is exactly what you get, but at times you get some of the best rythms and tunes you're ever likely to find. A prime example of this was the first single, "Atlas" which clocks in a just over 7 minutes and carries you like a baby with the most pounding rhythm you'll ever hear, yeah so the vocals sound like an elf singing, but that helps add to the feel of the track and before you know it, the track's over!
So, if you fancy something a little bit odd, and certainly different and you have a soft spot for things like Four Tet, Aphex Twin, Mogwai, Godspeed.... and any brutal rock band you care to name then you have to check this out! It's already climbing the ranks of my top albums of the year (and I've only had it a couple of weeks!).

Check out the video for Atlas (it's cut to 4 and a bit minutes):

Billie Vision and the Dancers

2007-06-01T13:56:00.000+01:00

Thought I would make my first post proper on here about music, seeing as how its the one of things I enjoy most!

Today I was listening to my trusty lil nano when a cover of Belle & Sebastian's "I'm a Cuckoo" came on and this version was by the fine people in the name of this post, Billie Vision and the Dancers.

Now granted, I'm guessing most of you will be going, Who?? Well settle down and let me explain....

Billie Vision and the Dancers hail from Malmo in Sweden and their sound is that of dreamy, acoustic led, simple indie pop! That's probably a few too many words to use together but it just feels right. Singer, Lars Lindquist has the kind of soft, warm voice that sounds perfect when backed by the subtle rhythms and flows of his band.

As far as I can tell from their website (it's all in swedish) they've released 3 albums including the amazingly titled "I Was So Unpopular In School and Now They're Giving Me This Beautiful Bicycle".

I guess if you like stuff like Loney Dear, Elliott Smith, Belle & Sebastian, The Polyphonic Spree and other such bands then you should check them out.

So you can see what their like, check out this fan made video for their song Summercat:

Oso Polar Welcome!

2007-05-15T13:03:00.000+01:00

For those non spanish speaking types out there, the title roughly translates as Polar Bear Welcome! Not sure why I used that as the title, but I did see polar bear written down in spanish and liked the look of it so wanted to use it and have!

I guess on here I'll be very infreqently updating things around my views on music, films, TV, things I do and all that jazz. I guess to be begin with I'll not be posting images but only because at the mo I can only access the internet at work so am limited in what I can post, sorry about that. Rest assured that as soon as I get the net at home I'll be posting all sorts of silly things on here.

Until then goodbye and speak soon!