A place for everything…

Between blogging and living… weird.

Very, very tired. Kthxbye!

“Tunes” is not my favourite word, but I’ve got this alliteration thing going on.

Plus there’s not ten tunes, there’s twenty (couldn’t help myself).

Oh and they’re not purely from 2007, in order to qualify my arcane rules, the track must either have been released or I must have first heard it this year and listened so many times that I wore out the mp3.

And, finally, they’re not in order of favourites, rather I’ve stitched them together into a playlist that flows from song to song.

Links (with mouse-hover explanations) are to last.fm radio where you can listen to snippets. If you really like em, come find me and have a listen to my iPod :)

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1. Faultlines - Avast! (Faultlines, Flagship Audio, 2007)
2. Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth - The Brunettes (Structure & Cosmetics, Sub Pop, 2007)
3. IWE - The Noisettes (What’s The Time Mr. Wolf?, Universal Motown, 2007)
4. Hello Meow - Squarepusher (Hello Everything, Warp, 2006)
5. Hajnal - Venetian Snares (Rossz Csillag Alatt Született, Planet Mu, 2005)
6. All Is Full Of Love (Brussels 26-09-01) - Björk (Livebox Disc 4, One Little Indian, 2003)
7. Summer Goddess - Soil and “Pimp” Sessions (Summer Goddess EP, Victor Entertainment Japan, 2005)
8. Bed Of Roses - 4 Hero (Play With The Changes, Raw Canvas, 2007)
9. Kissing The Lipless - The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow, Sub Pop, 2003)
10. To Be Alone With You - Sufjan Stevens (Seven Swans, Rough Trade, 2004)
11. To The Sky - Maps (We Can Create, Mute, 2007)
12. Genesis - Justice (†, Because Music, 2007)
13. Omega Man - Fred Falke (FabricLive 29 - Cut Copy, Fabric London, 2006)
14. What Else Is There? (by Röyksopp) (Trentemøller Remix) - Trentemøller (The Trentemøller Chronicles, Audiomatique, 2007)
15. Everyday - The Field (From Here We Go To Sublime, Kompakt, 2007)
16. ‘Cross The Breeze - Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation, Geffen, 1993)
17. The Past Is A Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal (Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, Polyvinyl, 2007)
18. Headlights - Nine Black Alps (Everything Is, Island, 2005)
19. A Last Act Of Desperate Men - The Longcut (A Call And Response, Deltasonic, 2006)
20. No Cars Go - Arcade Fire (Neon Bible, Merge, 2007)

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That’s it, thankyou 2007, I had a ball. Can’t wait for what 2008 will bring!

Edit: The Lost Levels played in Tommy Flynns last night and were superb, hope they get signed soon, have a listen at their MySpace.

A neologism I’d like to coin: Microhobby.

In these days of constant distraction, hyperactive advertising, media, social networks, cool devices, gadgets, geekery, sport, clubs, activities, short haul weekends away, gigs, shows, films, festivals, and er, the 9to5 work that pays for it all, can anyone really have the time to form a proper hobby? Devote regular time each week to actually turn up and do stuff? I’m not so sure…

Do you sit, as I am now, in front of a film you’ve seen 10 times before, know all the plotlines and aren’t really paying attention towards, because you have your laptop warming your legs, have youtube playing in the corner window and playing with a devastatingly cute bunny? Yep, welcome to the world of Constant Partial Attention.

This is not multi tasking, this is trying to do everything at once, to only a reasonable level gaining broad but shallow experience. A more advanced manifestation is N.A.D.D. which afflicts the geek in all of us - always searching for something new, something cool, the new high thats comes from finding something out, finding out how it links into the world and expands your mental map of everything. Once linked, of course, it serves no further purpose in itself, why should it? Why stop there when it can be used to understand the next cool thing? Time to move onto it. Now, now now!

Which brings me back round to hobbies.

I’ve tried a lot of hobbies in my years, visual, musical, sporting, some even using my brain. But none, save for an unhealthy appetite for new music, seem to hang around for long. I bought a gorgeous racing bike over the summer, rode it around the South Downs for a few weekends and never did it again. The weather wasn’t great, and it demanded a train ride to get down to the club in the first place, but I could have gone if I really wanted to. Tried Capioera, Far Eastern films, long-distance running, playing guitar, snooker, weights, poetry, writing, producing music, swimming, video games, golf, hiking, climbing, badminton yadda yadda yadda. Point is, I’d love to be brilliant at something, anything, but there’s simply too much I want to do. There’s too much I know about, so much opportunity to try new things, that I seem to never build up depth in any particular area… Microhobbies all of them: entered into with much gusto, buy all the kit, get involved, get bored, go home, try something else…

Hmmm.

Microhobbies. What shall I try next?

***

I finally found the quiet steps that lead down to the Thames to let you see this imposing view:

I’ve been scribbling the past few days, getting out to a public place, people busying around, and simply sitting down with a pen and tiny notebook, jotting down very short stories and haiku.

I’m happy with the five published here so far and have some more in the wings which need polishing. The one hundred word drabble limit is an interesting target and constraint in quite a similar way to haiku. Word choice is paramount, purposely choosing the right concise sequence to translate an idea, set a scene - yet I’ve had fun playing with meter and word structure, especially on Vanishing Point.

Time now too for deciding the annual aural list of my year’s favourite music…

***

Oh, have a haiku:

“An Hour Beneath Curved British Sky”
Percussive plate crash.
Two hundred murmuring thoughts.
My pen, my book, me.

Soho has cakes too, is there nothing you can’t get here?

(8 days to go!)

I, however, could use some practice. It’s been a good 6 months since I stopped playing even twice a week… (Orange, Orange, Blue, Green, twiddly bit, grark!!).

Anyway, if I want to justify my dressing up at a party next week looking like this:

…I better start playing like this :O