They say that you cant pick your family but you can pick your friends but in some ways I would tend to disagree, not with the family point odviously that goes without saying but sometimes friends are just as attached and without the filter of choice. Circumstance throws people your way the choice is meerly how hard you latch on, friendships require much more effort than family, I have said and done things to family members that if we were friends we would have ceased that relationship they require more of you and can sometimes take more than they will ever give in return, yet there is a bond that is invisible and occasionally unfeesable that endeers them to your heart. I remember first moving to Brighton when it had been a few years since I was last put in a new situation and asking at the time “how do you go about making friends” forgetting what an organic process it is where they seem to appear and become an intrinsic part of your existence, you dont hunt them or pick them from a shelf you are thrown towards one another on similar tides.
And the most refreshing thing about friends is that they too are the most wonderful tonic to heal the hurts of the most bruised and battered ego, they want you in your life, they will go to lengths to share their time with you, for nothing more than the appreciation of your special brand of funny. The older I get the more unfortunate it is that I dont get to spend as much time as I would like with the people I have met along the way but constraints on my time and theirs and the increasing number and distance between these people makes it impossible, but a good friend will know that this is just one of the sad facts of life and when you find yourself together again then it will be like you never left the room. I seem to always mention Social Media in these blog’s but as that is where I publicise them it seems appropriate and the effects they have on friendships is changing the way we relate to others. Meeting up with somebody you have had no physical or verbal contact with in many months can be less of a boundry because through the process of casual osmosis you have recieved knowledge about there comings and goings from the intracacies of their postings and comments. Som emay say that this is diluting the importance of human contact that to a degree is certainly true but used in moderation and at least sometimes in full sentences it can help to bridge the gaps that the neccesities of life place between people who otherwise would be sitting side by side setting the world to rights.
Seeing friends from the past can be like time travel, a glimpse and a memory into how and who you used to be and where the person you are now came from. This isnt always a proud reflection but there are some of my friends who I am so glad that I still know because they saw me at my worst and they can sympathise with my struggles without me having to sing my tails of woe and sound like an insufferable whinner. There are small victories and funny situations that relayed to strangers would seem trite and mundane but dropped into conversation with the right person can light up the room in a halo of laughter and appreciation. good stories can be like a trading card game which can be traded and used to cut and parry with a stranger and while this can sometimes lead to one upmanship and empty bragging, between friends it is a bartering and swapping celebration where everyones hand is only there to help bolster the significance and hilarity of each tale. A great experience is worth having for the moment but it will be given true value from the re-telling and the connections it will form from its memory in the minds of those who matter.
Placing these memories in places is not always essential but it can help to magnify their resonence standing in the same points of geography and letting the past wash over you like a warm tide or bite at you like a cold wind. Standing at the top of the park where I played as a child was a sobering moment of realisation as to how far I have come in life and how much I have enjoyed the ride. The house that I would call my childhood home has cheated on me, the silver birch has gone and the sorounding fence makes for a quite pompous outlook – its full of other peoples memories now, ours are clouded and live with my family not the building. The path at the side always seemed such a trek and now I strole down in what seems like a few steps, peaking over fences rather than scrambling with haste towards the swings. My school where I was a teenager is no longer there, im sad that others will not get to build a youth in those same corridoors but am glad that I can still sit with someone from that time and turn those dusty black and white recollections into vivid colour.
My life has been enriched by the people I have been lucky enough to have as part of it, I miss people far too often and hope that some people remember me when they hear certain songs or drink particular drinks, I hope they realise that my not being there is a matter of life throwing us its merry way on the tides of life and in no ffault of their own because I think fondly back to the time we may have spent together or the strange and quirky stories that would make sense or humour only to us. My words are worth nothing if it is not collaborated and colured in by your shared reccolection. I am not a conformer to any organised religion but I do have a hope for an afterlife, a party where all the people I have had the pleasure of meeting is attending and each one in turn would get there chance to recall the past and mingle through the rest of your life until all your traits and foibles make sense to everyone in the room – that and getting bladdered and making some new crazy stories even when its long past the time for new memories.
That leads me to a sad dedication, aalthough I did not know him well I would like to dedicate this post and my thoughts to Chaz who sadly passed away last week. Loosing someone so young reminds us all of the fragility of our lives and should be a inspiration to value the ones that you hold dear and not put off meetings and remembering yourself to others – Life is a wonderful gift that we must be careful not to squander and ignore because it passes us by quicker than we would like. Our time here is only weighted by any meaning or warmth when it is populated by others and when we are lucky enough to meet people who fill our hearts with gladness we should make sure to let them know and value each day. I hope that Chav’s friends and family can be strong enough to remember the good times and keep them in that place in their minds reserved for drunken laughter, crazy stories and more than anything brilliantly loud music. I’d say rest in peace but I’m sure he would find that dull so shine on you crazy diamond and we will do our best to keep on rocking in the free world.
‘Animal Joy’ by Shearwater Destined to be underappreciated this eighth release is uncompromisingly epic and soaringly beautiful, but as the project started as essentially a side project from Okkervil River to showcase a softer side who needs the appreciation when you have an outlet for a great musical vision. There is a very marmite sensation with the vocalist in this band but due to this being the eighth release I’m guessing there is enough people on the love it side of the fence to keep the band recording and I personally can’t get enough of it, a falsetto air with a general guttural crunch somewhere far below. This album seems more whole than past releases moving away from that purely ethereal down-tempo output that they were becoming known for, perhaps picking up some ideas and a bolstered confidence from some large support slots over the last few years. There is quite a haunting and unsettling sound at times, such as at the start of ‘Insolence’ but this is counterpointed with a blissful holiness that seems in praise of the world. This music is rich and textural and plays across a large range to sound quite epic without sounding schmaltzy and overdone because there are always enough elements of simplicity to keep the sound grounded. There is a lack of scope over the entire album and themes are revisited to varying degrees of bombast, there is definitely a theme and a sound that is very distinct to this group and this album which I think fits in with the idea of this being a conduit for certain skills and ideas that would not sit well with the members other groups. This is definitely a more accomplished and accessible album than the band have produced in the past, I hope they continue on this positive step forward.
‘Blues Funeral’ by The Mark Lanegan Band Eight years since the gravel voiced dark man of rock released under his own name and with a tough act to follow after the much applauded ‘Bubbelgum’, which I also urge you to go and re-listen to. His voice has lost none of the edge or the tone and is instantly engaging and commanding of respect. All the usual themes are here for this sultry overlord of Blues, heavy drinking, Jesus and Nihilistic alcoholic tears all rolled up in a fuzz of warm deep bass that throbs under the velvet glove of Lanegan’s silken voice. There is less of a desperate sound than previous work more comfortable and statesmen like is this rock panther lurking in a dark mystique of a richer more produced sound that rolls over us in an industrial thrall. More people have been inspired by this style than you might imagine but few can touch the effortless drama of Lanegan’s voice, he is much aged Johnny Cash as he is the reckless abandon of a Queen Of The Stone Age. I don’t think the album has a great deal of scope but it has an epic sound and little to argue with such faultless delivery. You can’t go far wrong setting your stall with a song called ‘The Gravedigger’s Song’ or the ‘to be used in an advert soon of ‘Riot In My House’.
‘I Am Gemini’ by Cursive I listen with baited breath when an artist that I respect as much as this puts out a new release, especially when there …… release ‘Mama I’m Swollen’ was such an epic hit in my eyes and a powerful combination of the crashing post-punk power of the guitar work with Tim Kasher’s special blend of bitter sweet lyrical style, here I am left sadly disappointed trying my hardest to get into the groove and falling short at every song. Kasher has always fused his releases with meticulous sense of story and invented fantastical characters that few others would have dared to try and make work within the theme of rock, but this may be one step too far. Here we have a convoluted tale of Twins split at birth who reunite across the stars as the sun and moon and battle the depths of good vs. evil, if anyone could make this work it would be Cursive but we find them trying too hard and delivering for only short bursts that aren’t enough to shake the feeling in our heads that maybe the more complete rock song ethos of the likes of ‘From The Hip’ are where we most like this bands trajectory to be facing. Unsurprisingly the production is truly first class and the guitar sounds are in a league of their own but the riffs disappear as quickly as they come and far too often the mix of it all descends into some sort of Rush meet Mars Volta road crash. Maybe there was a feel that ‘Mama I’m Swollen’ was too much of a departure from the fantastical tale element and the group feel that they needed to outdo the fairy-tale of Dorothy and indulge in the theatre of it all, but the content seems to vague and the riffs are too tight to descend into wankery that would excuse the out there-ness of the lyric. It pains me to right this band such a poor revue but over seven releases from Mr.Kasher and only one failing to enter the epic status I think he can still hold his head up high in my estimation. 
‘No One Can Ever Know’ by The Twilight Sad. Sad indeed as this bunch of Scottish minstrels pick up their guitars and synths and soak us in a melancholy bath of sparse and eerie sounds that echo of Ian Curtis being found hanging all the photos turned to face the floor. Being superbly hypocritical as is my want I do find it hard when an album has been recommended to me by someone who’s opinion I respect as there is an expectation and you know that if you don’t agree then there will be some explaining to be done.This is at heart a very different and personnel record for the band with a sound taken from a bygone industrial age that floats in and out of fashion with various degrees of mystery and mystique. The sound is cavernous and cold and unrelenting in its misery and tone of closeted emotion. It is a powerful piece of work which speaks of loss and yearning in an aching way that we can’t help but believe, especially when delivered with the brute honesty of a heavy Scottish accent. The songs are not inviting and the noises created can be unsettling but it is a bath of emotion that catches you up and takes you very slowly on a downward spiral. Small drum loops are reminiscent of beats that might grow and spawn into Radiohead beats but the style stays minimal and the production is kept very low key and direct in its delivery. Songs such as ‘Sick’ are really indicative of the sound but for a band known for ear splitting live performances i think it is well worth cranking it up to a volume above doom and letting the album in its entirety wallow over you in its wistful waves of melancholy.
‘Visions’ by Grimes Although it occasionally pains me I do garner some of my musical information from the publications found at Pitchfork Media.com and as I hear this record I can almost feel their salivations as a young Canadian hipster delivers from her bedroom an album of beats bleeps and blissful wails that is completely of its time and as punk as it is glam as it is uber stylish and lusciously good looking. There is an age of music producer now who may have spent their entire musical histories listening to predominantly electronic music so these are the people we can look to who can re-invent the style and cross it with other sounds to make something new shiny and ultimately very engaging and enjoyable to listen too. I become somewhat obsessive about the individual sounds that make up these pieces of music because they are what form the backbone and the character of an album and what give it its atmosphere and individualism, its why I can’t listen to Trance which shares common sounds and regurgitates them seemingly at will, here we have here is a well stocked toolbox of warm and textured beats that have been processed and arranged to tip at all sorts of genre’s and points in time to create something unique and wonderful. One of the first records to utilise the modern whommp effect of a dubstep drop but with a gentle palm and as a platform to soar high above with an ethereal voice that speaks of the unattainable and the ethereal without being distant or obtrusive. The track ‘Be A Body’ is a standout track that I have found hard to resist playing at ear splitting volumes as I try to introduce a few unsuspecting friends to a new chapter in dance noise. It pains me when the music dullards of pop hail artists such as Lady Gaga to be pushing the boundaries because they are doing just the opposite but the dominance of these monolithic vapid artists leaves a great niche for the true artists to blow the boundaries wide apart.
The vocal may be ethereal and distant or sometimes plain twee relying mainly on a variety of ooohhs and ahhhs as the voice is synthesised and modulated but that in itself makes a modern type of organic that swoons and bites in all the right places. When the lyrics do become decipherable they are pointed and in the sense of a teenage love poem but it is the lairing and use of beats to create a warm future that sets this album apart.
It’s been a while since my last post and I’m some way behind on listening to the new music that has been flung at me from every corner, technological problems have held me back and the need to sort out the comings and goings of my life. Hopefully soon I will be getting to the stage where I can resolve my mind to being an even more productive person who can better channel the things that I want to get across, hope there is still some interested parties out there and that the volume hasn’t been turned down too low. Speak soon old friends
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