November 2008
DJ Martian's Page: Uncut Magazine Top 50 Albums of... →
offnotesnotes:
Man, 2008 is BOARING (nice to see Neon Neon up there, but even that’s just a really good record, not a great one). This might be the first year since I’ve been publishing year-end lists on the internet that I will turn in my lists with only the minimum number of tracks/albums required. And even those lists will be too long— I’ve heard so much stuff that I think is basically good,...
Twitter and the Mumbai attacks
I think the point Tweetip (who aggregate Twitter signals around a subject ) made about the pattern resonated with what I saw: - First there is a signal [news], then noise, then the bandwagon.
And in terms of ratios I’d estimate it followed the Social Network standard of 1 : 9 : 90 in terms of percentages - ie c 1% was signal, 9% was noise around the signal. The...
Castlemania
The bits of Freaky Trigger that aren’t me reviewing UK No.1s tend to get a bit neglected, but I was really pleased by how this book review turned out.
(I am getting really into Medieval history at the moment - it’s grim enough to fit the times but escapist enough to, well, escape them.)
Isn't it?
barthel:
The people who hate it when Puffy samples an extremely well-known song love it when Girl Talk does the exact same thing.
I wuv both.
“The “split-personality” gimmick is now a tired and, more often than not, hapless...”
– I Am… Sasha Fierce | Pitchfork
The Return of the Dombal. (triumphant)
(via offnotesnotes)
Apparently there is a post-rock song on it! I am surprised not to see this mentioned.
“Videophone” »> “Single Ladies” is about all I can muster so far tho.
Points for effort →
So, on an album-specific level, I wanted to ask: Why the apparent assumption that a failure to engage is not also, on some level, a failure to communicate?
Can “hmm, I can’t quite get my head around this but it’s OK” ever be a valid reaction? Or do we have to get to love/hate— just in case the author of the work considers it “exceptional”?
(follow...
tom ewing is still the smartest guy in the room....
maura:
how can intelligent humans achieve happiness in a hypermediated and hypersexualised environment which shows every sign of worsening?
― maura, Wednesday, 29 November 2000 01:00 (7 years ago)
…
By finding other intelligent humans and being nice to them, I think.
― Tom, Wednesday, 29 November 2000 01:00 (7 years ago)
who can argue with that logic?
I have not always lived up to this...
Shore To Shore
“Don’t the police care about enforcing the law of the land? Are they not troubled about what is happening to our young people? Just when will they decide to smash the evil drug pushers in our midst? Only when the drug habit has spread to all of Britain? When the party stretches from shore to shore?”
- The Sun, editorial, August 13 1988 (quoted in Altered State)
Very fluid
“That’s when it went full-on commercial. There was no style, it was for the masses, the sheep. Nicky Holloway’s club was just Astoria, rammed full of people standing on the tables waving their hands in the air. They were acid teds and they didn’t have a clue. They couldn’t dance, they just stuck their hands in the air and waved them. All right, we might have put our...
Rocktimism?
I have never knowingly heard “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey.
For about 10 years I have been under the impression Calexico were an OK instrumental band instead of - more frustratingly - a good instrumental band with a really beige singer.
“So the role of criticism in the networked, free music era isn’t to act as an...”
– Poptimist #19 | Pitchfork
This is a damn good essay by Tom Ewing.
(via offnotesnotes)
Cor! Glad you liked it. Writing it coincided with some personal difficulties (now positively resolved) so I wasn’t sure how it had turned out - still think it’s the start of some thoughts rather than...
Barack Obama had all the best tunes - Telegraph →
(via offnotesnotes)
I remember when the ipod lists came out thinking Obama’s seemed considerably more sculpted and less believable than McCain’s! Though both lists had plenty of good tracks.
John McCain’s Top 10: 1. Dancing Queen - ABBA 2. Blue Bayou - Roy Orbison 3. Take a Chance on Me - ABBA 4. If We Make It Through December - Merle Haggard 5. As Time Goes By - Dooley Wilson...
Indie Bands Are The New Pets.com →
barthel:
Warning: Jakob Lodwick content.
The indie-is-a-business-now rhetoric reminded me really strongly of all the “New Pop” rhetoric quoted in Dave Rimmer’s Like Punk Never Happened from 1985 - this half-ironic half-breathless embrace of corporate culture and business speak from the likes of Adam Ant, Culture Club, etc. and that during a severe recession too (though...
33 1/3: Would you like to write a book? →
offnotesnotes:
perpetua:
Game on.
Yet again I realise I can’t think of any album I’d like to write about. :(
