Sunday, October 31, 2004

So crazy...my baby

All the freaks will be at my workplace on Monday as Jay-Z's girlfriend and her two pals will be doing an instore signing. Oh crap....expect crazed tourists to push down the doors for a quick glimpse at the three of em'....

Mos Def's 'personal UK manager' came in last week and asked me how the album was selling. I told him that, honestly, it's not really being promoted at all with absolutely no street press coverage (I actually should have just said that the record was shit, but there's honest and then there's honest) and maybe Mos should do an in-store next year. He thought it was a good idea, but insisted the real pusher would be a 'holographic cover that will blow people's minds'...honestly....

Mos Def used to be cool y'know. Now he just wants to act in crappy Hollywood films. The shame...

Drumroll.....The albums of the year so far are...

In no particular order -

Murs - 3:16
Secret Machines - Now Here Is Nowhere
Interpol - Antics
Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
The Roots - The Tipping Point
Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
Bjork - Medulla
The Dears - No Cities Left
De La Soul - The Grind Date
Madvillain - Madvillainy
The Go Team - Thunder, Lightning , Strike
Nick Cave - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of The Orpheus
Kanye West - The College Dropout
John Legend -Lifted
Tom Waits - Real Gone
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
Air - Talkie Walkie
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her

No re-issues on this list. That's for another day... (probably Tuesday)

So, what does this say about music in 2004? Well, for one, there's been very few dance albums that have really grabbed me. Probably the best of them was Mylo's effort, and even then he seemed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes by disguising his theft of riffs from Kim Carnes and Prince with infectious basslines and retro squishy bleeps. There have been a lot of good soul albums out, however as like last year most get slept on (eg. Anthony Hamilton last year, Van Hunt this year). Heaps of great undergound hip hop, especially from the Lex and Def Jux camps. As for good old 'indie rock 'n' roll' (to quote 2004's most over-rated band, The Killers) there's been no real must have records. A bit sick of Franz Ferdinand now, but I'm glad that it's them winning Mercury prizes and not bands like Keane. Care to comment?


Hey ho...let's go!

OK...so, I've succumbed to the world of blogs. Knew it would happen eventually so here's hoping I stick with it unlike every other thang I've started, then turned my back on. Model planes? Check. Playing french horn? Check (yeah, strange huh. Not one for cool instruments, oh no. Had to choose the naff one. Funnily enough, years later my teacher got kicked out of school for getting to close to one of his female students. Scary man...and he smelt of cigarettes and coffee, which when you're 12 isn't exactly inspiring). Writing a novel? Actually, that's just on the back burner really.

Anyway, this lil blog should keep my hand in the ol' writing game. Used to edit the Canberra portal of Australia's largest dance music website, www.inthemix.com.au , and while it was a cool time, moving to London was supposed to ensure I'd take the next step up in my journo career. Well, yes and no. Made contacts, yep. Continued writing, no. Well, that's changing from now. At the moment I'm working in quite a large music store in the heart of London, and bringing it down from within. Fools....however, writing is what I want to do while I'm here so I'd better get back to it.

So...visit whenever you can...I won't bite. Well, just a nibble. (hey, while you're at it, go see Nashie's blog. Thanks Nash...ya big geezer you! http://nasht.blogspot.com/ ). Most posts will be of a musical kinda orientation, but we'll see whatever else comes up.

Oh, by the way, the title is of course a Pavement reference. Go on, do yerself a favour and check out the 'Crooked Rain Croooked Rain' re-issue that comes out on Monday 1st Nov (why, that's tomorrow!), 2nd Nov stateside. 2 discs of Pavementy goodness....besides, Pitchfork gave it 10/10 so how bad can it be? www.pitchforkmedia.com