Man, am I ever sorry. It's been a good three weeks since my last post, and I started this blog with the intention of updating at least once a week! Damn you, life and laziness, for getting in my way all the time.
Anyway, to make up for it I'll try and make this a sizeable post. Do not worry! I will cut it up into bite-size chunks for your convenience and enjoyment.
So, I downloaded iTunes 8 the other day (my 4G iPod is looking increasingly rustic with each update), and after shifting the new-fangled library system out of the way it err.. well, pretty much looks the same as iTunes always has. It has this new feature that caught my eye though, the audaciously-titled "Genius". Basically you select any track in your library, click the Genius button (which inexplicably has a picture of an atom as its symbol) and Apple will helpfully give you twenty or so similar tracks from your library. The idea is, of course, that you can make spanking playlists instantaneously. Could actually be pretty useful and cool, though it's yet to offer any truly wacky combinations. Less impressive still is when it simply matches one song to another by the same artist. Yeah, cheers for that. Think I'll stick to doing it myself when it comes to the annual "Best Of" playlist. Opening and closing tracks are just too important to leave to chance, dammit!
I'll try and keep this next bit short, as I pretty much spent the whole last post talking about Bloc Party. In short, I really like the new album, though I appear to be largely alone in that sentiment. My enjoyment of Intimacy has only been dulled by the recent unveiling of the lyrics on their website. While a great deal of Kele's writing on this record is remarkably solid and affecting, the few clunkers are a lot harder to ignore out of context. Opener "Ares" in particular is an absolute blast so long as you can disregard Kele awkwardly imploring you to "get out the way, or get fucked up." As I said, aside from that, it's a storming track and easily one of their most exciting.
Other highlights include "One Month Off", a pleasingly rawking track that recalls Silent Alarm with a few Korgs thrown in, and exhausting but beautiful closer "Ion Square". Aside from its length (over six and a half minutes) and instrumentation, it's very much standard BP fare. However, it is standard BP fare done extremely well, and for that it goes down as one as my favourites.
One more note, what bizarre track titles they've chosen! With a couple of exceptions (notably "Better Than Heaven", in which Kele is seemingly trying to outdo both Talking Heads and The Cure), these all sound like game console code names. Still, makes a nice change I suppose.
I spent last weekend on the Isle of Wight, enjoying the quite wonderful Bestival. It was my first festival, so I can't really say how appropriate the title is. Suffice to say it was a brilliant time, despite it raining like a bitch on the Friday and Swamp Thing apparently throwing a tantrum the day before the festival. It would be pointless for me to list all the bands I saw, however I will say that Foals, Laura Marling and The Specials (a surprise act - my God did the crowd go nuts) were definite highlights. I also really wish I'd taken some wellies, and that I'd had the energy to stay for Aphex Twin's entire set (sorry, Richard James, but I was just too sober and aching to enjoy two hours of acid techno). I may well do a proper write-up of the whole event sometime soon, but I don't want to make this post too bloated and rambling.
Well, that about does it for now! Unfortunately I can't say for sure when the next post will be, as I'm moving into new student digs on the weekend and will likely be without Internet for a week or so. Rest assured, as soon I have consistent access to Blogger, I will blog once more!
Anyway, to make up for it I'll try and make this a sizeable post. Do not worry! I will cut it up into bite-size chunks for your convenience and enjoyment.
So, I downloaded iTunes 8 the other day (my 4G iPod is looking increasingly rustic with each update), and after shifting the new-fangled library system out of the way it err.. well, pretty much looks the same as iTunes always has. It has this new feature that caught my eye though, the audaciously-titled "Genius". Basically you select any track in your library, click the Genius button (which inexplicably has a picture of an atom as its symbol) and Apple will helpfully give you twenty or so similar tracks from your library. The idea is, of course, that you can make spanking playlists instantaneously. Could actually be pretty useful and cool, though it's yet to offer any truly wacky combinations. Less impressive still is when it simply matches one song to another by the same artist. Yeah, cheers for that. Think I'll stick to doing it myself when it comes to the annual "Best Of" playlist. Opening and closing tracks are just too important to leave to chance, dammit!
I'll try and keep this next bit short, as I pretty much spent the whole last post talking about Bloc Party. In short, I really like the new album, though I appear to be largely alone in that sentiment. My enjoyment of Intimacy has only been dulled by the recent unveiling of the lyrics on their website. While a great deal of Kele's writing on this record is remarkably solid and affecting, the few clunkers are a lot harder to ignore out of context. Opener "Ares" in particular is an absolute blast so long as you can disregard Kele awkwardly imploring you to "get out the way, or get fucked up." As I said, aside from that, it's a storming track and easily one of their most exciting.
Other highlights include "One Month Off", a pleasingly rawking track that recalls Silent Alarm with a few Korgs thrown in, and exhausting but beautiful closer "Ion Square". Aside from its length (over six and a half minutes) and instrumentation, it's very much standard BP fare. However, it is standard BP fare done extremely well, and for that it goes down as one as my favourites.
One more note, what bizarre track titles they've chosen! With a couple of exceptions (notably "Better Than Heaven", in which Kele is seemingly trying to outdo both Talking Heads and The Cure), these all sound like game console code names. Still, makes a nice change I suppose.
I spent last weekend on the Isle of Wight, enjoying the quite wonderful Bestival. It was my first festival, so I can't really say how appropriate the title is. Suffice to say it was a brilliant time, despite it raining like a bitch on the Friday and Swamp Thing apparently throwing a tantrum the day before the festival. It would be pointless for me to list all the bands I saw, however I will say that Foals, Laura Marling and The Specials (a surprise act - my God did the crowd go nuts) were definite highlights. I also really wish I'd taken some wellies, and that I'd had the energy to stay for Aphex Twin's entire set (sorry, Richard James, but I was just too sober and aching to enjoy two hours of acid techno). I may well do a proper write-up of the whole event sometime soon, but I don't want to make this post too bloated and rambling.
Well, that about does it for now! Unfortunately I can't say for sure when the next post will be, as I'm moving into new student digs on the weekend and will likely be without Internet for a week or so. Rest assured, as soon I have consistent access to Blogger, I will blog once more!
