Archive for April, 2009

Here are a list of some of the albums that changed my musical taste, for good or bad . These albums are not necessarily in any order and this isn’t a list of my favourite albums ever, just a list of albums that suprised me or that really affected my current tastes.

OK Computer – Radiohead

This is one of those albums that just grab hold of you! Sometimes i found myself waiting to get home so I could put it on. It is a perfect example of how a sad, almost macabre, feeling can also be beautiful and uplifting at the same time.

The Score – Fugees

Many people just discount rap as a genre of music however even those people would be hard pressed to deny some of the songs on “The Score”. I found this album a perfect softly softly introduction to hip-hop and rap. A mixture of more traditional singing and rap this album kept me coming back for months.

Unplugged in New York – Nirvana

While this album is one of the most low octane Nirvana albums I still think it is one of the best. What this album lacks in adrenaline it makes up for with that unmistakable thoughtful melancholy. See grunge can be low tempo and still kick ass!

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan

One of the types of music I really never thought I would take to was folk. Rarely is being proven wrong so satisfying. Maybe its Dylan’s insightful, witty lyrics or his un-doubted prowess on the acoustic guitar but either way I was sold after the first few songs.

The Lucy Ford EP’s – Atmosphere

These EP’s might not be the most accessible type of music or the most popular. Anyone with a taste for hip-hop and rap with intelligent lyrics (Not about ho’s and guns!) will find Slugs coming to terms with losing the love of his life funny, clever and in the end life affirming.

Renegades – Rage Against the Machine

One word and its “Funk”. Possibly some of the most effort i have expended in learning to appreciate an album but most definitely worth the effort. What was for me rather a steep learning curve in the history of funk (The entire album is comprised of covers). Helped me to appreciate a whole genre of music i was previously ignorant of.

S.O.A.D – System of a Down

When does someone learn to love really hardcore metal? On first listen the entire genre seems totally un-listenable! This was the album that did it for me, every song radiates energy and power. Once the metal has got you in its grasp your only one step away from spending all your money on guitars and music equipment then letting all your clothes become ripped and shabby. Is this a good thing? Who knows but it worked for me lol…

The Queen is Dead – The Smiths

You either love them or your not trying hard enough! At first i was appalled by Morrissey’s foul whining however his lyrics are quite possibly the funniest truest things ever recorded. After digesting a few hours of “The Smiths” Morrissey’s overly theatrical singing and effeminate voice even seem to contribute something to the songs. Proof that 1 + 1 can sometimes equal 10.

IV – Led Zeppelin

I would hope that this one speaks for itself, i have heard this album so many times its crazy. Led Zeppelin didn’t break massive amounts of new ground for me they are just the apotheosis of getting something 100% right. There is an entire graveyard of artists who where not quite right and an entire industry of artists who are getting at least something right. But very few who come close to Led Zeppelin.

OK so i’m not quite finished here…. maybe i will find time for some more of this type of thing at a later date

Media corporations and copyright lawyers who have been trying countless ways to halt free dissemination of millions of pounds worth of their property hailed it as a huge symbolic victory. As expected the file sharing community appears un-daunted by the prosecution of four leading members of “The Pirate Bay”. In reality, despite the media networks hot air, this changes nothing for file sharing websites. The interesting point I found was how much fanfare this got on news networks I am positive that this has absolutely nothing to do with those networks having extremely close ties to the groups urging the prosecution of the four pirates.

A lot of “so what?” talking has been spreading its way across the social media networks that care about this sort of thing and various un-repenting types have jumped in with examples like these:

http://www.thepirategoogle.com/

http://www.caglecartoons.com/

It only seems to me that yes once again something unfair is going on, fortunately this time unlike in for example the unfair bank charges joke we have been playing out, it’s the little man who is seeing the benefit. Eventually something is going to happen to stem the tide of free stuff our media gorged pirate generation is receiving but hopefully not too soon.

Oh one last thing….. All you pirate kiddies should really stop acting as though stealing music is a totally altruistic act because you are anti-copyright blablabla you can’t justify theft no matter how hard you try and making the attempt makes you sound like an ignorant moron.

Mutability

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;
How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
Streaking the darkness radiantly! -yet soon
Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:

Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings
Give various response to each varying blast,
To whose frail frame no second motion brings
One mood or modulation like the last.

We rest. -A dream has power to poison sleep;
We rise. -One wandering thought pollutes the day;
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:

It is the same! -For, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free:
Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but Mutablilty.

Was watching the following clip of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens talking about anti religious sentiments.

It’s amazing! Smoking? Drinking whiskey and Martini’s? Is it possible to look any more like liberal elitists guys, come on? Perhaps next time the proceedings should take place over a fine bottle of Cristal perhaps having an interlude for a caviar tasting.