You know the 'Best of the previous 12 months' thing makes me bork...

I don't get the constant need to review and mark the passage of time specifically in December by being nostalgic for the music of the past 365 days and gazing optimistically into the future with predictions of more music to come in the next 365 days that might just make everything alright.

But if you are going to press me on it then I might do my usual cop-out, I'm not doing a list or a chart rundown of singles, videos or anything like that. It is more likely to be experiences or general moments that resonated with me.

So just give me a moment, okay Blogsphere?!

Here is something old and not from this year to fuck you off.

This is simply due to an old post of mine that I read, from when I used to write well, and while the track and this video (without the amazing Mark Heap) still reflects the inside of my head, I am better off and happier in one particular way.

a whole lot of balls from Rui Madeira on Vimeo.

Thank you.

Caribou

Obviously I have been living under a rock or something equivalent. And I don't just mean my most recent characteristic period of blog neglect. I have never had Caribou in my life until very recently.

WTF! FFS! And other such acronyms.

I am a thorough Caribou devotee now. But apparently not devoted enough to be able to attend any of the upcoming UK tour dates. I'd give my ability to logic and reason (which is admittedly pretty poor of late) to go to the Manchester date at The Warehouse Project where the line-up also includes - you'll have to excuse me whilst I sob gently through genuine hurt at not being able to come up with the funds to go - Four Tet, James Holden and - I'm biting my quivering lip at this one as I've never seen him live - Nathan Fake. It might be too early for this level of upset. I'm not sharing the Caribou tour dates because I would just be too jealous if you were to go. Go and Google it yourself, you show-off twat!

Uncalled for, I know.

I have a feeling that rather than playing with research proposals I'm going to be looking at cheap ways to get to Manchester. Accommodation is out of the question. And although I have never got free entry to a gig through writing this blog, if it were to happen now, for this, I'd definitely say yes. Just in case. You know.

Less about my needs.

Here is the latest Caribou album Swim:

Swim by Caribouband

And whilst I probably like the single Odessa more, I love this video:

CARIBOU - Sun from Caribou on Vimeo.

Leeds Festival

Shaking overly-long hair to James Murphy et al.

Oh, the aftermath. It is nearly over, but it has been painful. I would like back all the sleep that I was deprived of. I slept even less than I anticipated I would. 2 hours on the first night. Excellent.

That said, it was, overall, definitely worth it. I have my gripes about the organisation, and there were a few things that are pretty shameful for such a long-running, established and seasoned festival. But when you get to see performances like that of Everything Everything, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and Funeral Party it is made all the better!

Obviously camping was awful. It had a few amusing moments. Some boys nearby quoting Toy Story. Another boy shouting 'Ben' in a strange voice for nearly an hour. On one day someone shouting "FUCK OFF!" then a pause "I FUCKING HATE CAMPING!".. I feel your pain. Waves of cheers were an auditory delight. The bass from Picadilly Party until nearly 5am shredded my famously fragile nerves.

There were moments of sheer joy. Tears at the wonder of Arcade Fire. Elation on seeing Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) in the flesh. Literal slack-jaw gawping at the energy of Funeral Party.

I'm probably going to pick out stand out performances and blog separately about those bands. But needless to say I was very lucky and fortunate and saw some fantastic acts.

But the organisers of Leeds Festival have left a sour taste in my mouth. Over the years they has put on this event they must have learnt an awful lot of lessons. Many things were vastly improved. But in my opinion they sold the soul of the festival to reignite some lack-lustre, nostalgia-provokers. There was little effort elsewhere on the bill. They should not have named the Dance Stage as such. The sound quality on the main stage was disastrous for many of the acts. Don't even get me started on the shambles that left my best friend devastated that was the performance by Mumford and Sons. Horrible advert folk. But nevertheless, if people next to you spoke you couldn't hear the band. WTF Leeds?! £180! I fucking brought my own accommodation, you twats!

Ahem.

I am clean now. I still have all my personal belongings and most of my dignity. Pictures are available on my Facebook.

Four Tet

I may explode on this day at Leeds Festival.

I have posted this video before. I make no apologies. Mark Heap is a stunningly wonderful actor. And the track will never lose any of its wonder.


Four Tet - Smile Around The Face

Four Tet

Let us start..

Four Tet - Smile Around The Face

X-core panic..

I'm not sleeping. Well, not without intense nightmares/sex nightmares. And the medication I take for my lovely friend, my panic disorder, isn't working anymore.

The circumstances of life pave the way, almost entirely, as to what I will listen to at any given moment. Whether it be breaking sub-woofers in an attempt to create the most all-out, rollicking rave while I drunkenly bounce off walls and bruise every inch of my soft body, or whether I'm curled up, face tucked deeply into a pretty cushion with huge, warm, enveloping headphones singing sweet, gentle melodies into my consciousness. So this blog reflects that, increasingly. It is not something I can help, nor will apologise for. Not always at the cutting edge of the latest releases, because, for me, that is not very frequently how music works and, in my humble opinion, is not how music should be listened to. We've kind of got muddled in this world of immediacy where an album or track is forgotten of as quickly as it is conceived.

Right now my life makes Hollyoaks look boring and banal. (Incest and psychotic murder is never boring)

So, if I'm honest with you, I'm trying hard to put on a very well practised facade. Thus, it is probably no surprise I've found myself listening to very garbled and noisy music. Reflects the inside of my head better.

I love Four Tet.

Four Tet - Smile Around The Face [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Trail of thought..

Walking to buy the Guardian and a yogurt. Mind swilling with the idiosyncrasies that appear to be never-ceasing. The ones which are so fundamentally embedded that one would question ones sanity for considering them strange. Making judgements and filling the blanks for possible reason and rhyme to conclude anything logical. Just as quickly realise that is not going to happen.

Left to its own tangled mess my mind somehow chewed a deluded conversation with itself about a track.

Late Of The Pier - Bathroom Gurgle [via YouSendIt for 7 days]

Not many artists achieve the sort of diverse, changeable, almost rhapsodic form that Late Of The Pier seem to have effortlessly blended into, a less than 5 minute, song.

So, the worryingly tussled discussion in my head went on, who else would possibly be as talented (and even surpass Late Of The Pier) at the art of rhapsody? And who would it be interesting to hear cover Bathroom Gurgle?

My mainstream mind fell to Muse, also aided along by the all-out prog-rock feel of the track in places. Too obvious was the answer to that and probably wouldn't produce anything more than a refined version of the song.

Sugababes? Too pop idyllic even for me.

Four Tet? Probably quite interesting.

No, just nothing sparking that feelin -- Wait! Perfection has arrived in the thought process. The epiphany that one can be happy with.

Joanna Newsom*. A true and great representation of strange and intentive ways of creatively playing with musical forms to get the best out of them. Joanna Newsom is truly astounding.

And, to be honest, in my slightly warped head all I have been playing out is my mental equivilent to Joanna Newsom covering, very brilliantly, Late Of The Pier.

*A fansite. Very nice one too.