Thursday 25 June 2009

Top 5 - Celebrities to 'follow' on twitter

David Schneider - @davidshneider
Jimmy Carr - @jimmycarr
Jonathan Ross - @Wossy
Peter Serafinowicz - @serafinowicz
Chris Addison - @mrchrisaddison

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Vive le 'social network' revolution



Over the last few days I've obviously been pretty struck by all the goings on in Iran.

Despite the awful reality of a rigged vote and the horror of the violence and death that has resulted, the people of Iran demonstrating in their thousands has been inspirational. 'We' in the 'West' so often perceive Iran and its neighbouring countries as part of that unhelpfully termed group, "the axis of evil".

What's particularly terrible about that phrase, is that it dehumanises the people and promotes generalisation. What the demonstrations have shown us, is that despite the aggressive rhetoric of the Iranian leader, the people, en masse, are fighting against it.

Whether or not they are successful in annulling the result of the election, they have ensured sympathy from the international community, their plight giving rise to the usual raft of nonsensical but well intentioned gestures (e.g. turning your twitter avatar green!)

Also interesting though, is that it appears twitter has played an important role in coordinating the demonstrations and providing a means of getting pictures, video and audio out of the country (thus inviting this aforementioned sympathy) in the midst of a media blackout - no censorship on the old information super highway!

Quite to what extent this role has been exaggerated it's hard to tell but perhaps for the first time we have an answer to the question, "Social Networks? - What's the point?

Friday 12 June 2009

Album Review: Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers


*****
Whether deservedly cherished by the wider musical fraternity as one of the albums of our time is a subject for debate but at present, there's no doubting its status as the album of 2009.

If in doubt, read the lyrics left behind by missing band member Richey Edwards, absorb the artwork, consider the context in which it was written. There's so much to engage with before even hearing a single note!

When you do press play, you'll be greeted by an incarnation of the band last heard over a decade ago. Urgent, raging, acerbic, 'Peeled Apples' sets the tone for a newly energised Manics. Indeed, lead singer James Dean Bradfield described this track's musical aim as, "...trying to move the air".

I defer to John Niven when considering the lyrics of the chorus:

"Riderless horses on Chomsky's Camelot" - The most famous riderless horse used for US state funerals was Black Jack, whose oil-coloured mane swung in the cold Washington air behind the coffin of John F. Kennedy. Noam Chomsky wrote a savage critique of Kennedy's foreign policy during the Vietnam era entitled 'Rethinking Camelot.' So - military funerals, sacrifices and fallen warriors, Kennedy, Vietnam, geo-politics. All from five words of the chorus of the opening track.
Just consider whether any other writer, let alone lyricist, can condense such meaning into so few words?

This innate genius is at the heart of what makes the album a success. It has driven the need to reinvigorate, re-awaken the music. They simply have to do justice to these words.

'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time' is a short, sharp burst of kinetic energy, equal parts The La's and Nirvana (some feat to marry these two influences) and achieved in just under two and a half minutes.

On the next track, we're treated to a raucous stop-start riff and vital 'Everything Must Go' era leanings, yet it's the wit of the lyric, 'Oh the joy, me and Stephen Hawking we laughed/We missed the sex revolution when we failed the physical' that is most striking.

Richey has shed his desperate outlook and found a new lightness of touch. Simon Price, in his review for 'The Independent', acclaims this new found pathos, "Wanna know what's really scary? On this evidence, Richey Edwards was actually improving."

As a consequence, this album, although toted as a follow up to 'The Holy Bible', doesn't try to mimic the magnesium white burn of their magnum opus. Instead it finds it's own identity, where a more expansive melody is allowed to resonate.

Nowhere is this new rhetoric more evident than in the line 'It's the facts of life sunshine' from the track 'All Is Vanity'. It's an almost Morrissey like wit you can imagine the ex-Smiths front man crooning.

'Pretension/Repulsion' is another Richey treatise on beauty and exploitation and sounds more like a band trying desperately to break through rather than one now two decades into its existence. Infectious and delightful,'Virginia State Epileptic Colony's' piano solo is a welcome surprise and intriguingly juxtaposed to the theme of institutionalised routine.

It's the final track that offers the greatest surprise however. 'Williams Last Words', edited down from a page and a half of prose, will inevitably be looked upon as a form of suicide note. Nicky Wire, not only songwriting, but lending his breathless, Lou Reed vocals, conjures up the most heart wrenching of songs.

String laden, it transcends the meaning of everything the Manics have previously written, simple in its statement, "Isn't it lovely when the dawn brings the dew/I'll be watching over you". Furthermore, perhaps Richey's lasting words will be those of this quite humble wish, "I'd like to go to sleep and wake up happy."

Given the context, given the Manics, surely one of the most beautiful things you'll ever hear.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Nasty - Nationalist - Nick


"You've got to tolerate some of the people that you hate " - Super Furry Animals (Juxtaposed With U)

I was disappointed yesterday when I saw footage of BNP leader Nick Griffin's attempts to hold a press conference outside Westminster.

Not because I have a gnat's cock of a slivering, fraction of an iota of sympathy for the man, nor his politics might I add; nor even the waste of a good egg or two (although I imagine Edwina Curry might have been having flashbacks), but because I couldn't stomach the thought of the rest of us lowering ourselves to this level.

I know the BNP's policies are unacceptable and I fully believe that their rhetoric masks what is essentially a racist attitude towards immigration and our wonderfully cosmopolitan society in the UK, yet still, we do live in a democracy.

In a democracy, even the most unsavoury of viewpoints, though not to be agreed with, must be allowed to have a voice. Freedom of speech applies in this case just as in any other.

Ridicule, ignore and pity indeed, but don't make a martyr of the man or his followers. It is certainly an unfortunate and sad state of affairs that people have felt the need to vote BNP but we must remember that in truth, this isn't so much a sign of an increasing fascist sympathy infiltrating the country, as a sign of our disappointment at the abject state of the established parties.

We are right to be outraged and upset at the BNP gaining two MEP's, and to decry their policies unequivocally, but don't let it spill over into active spite and aggression.
Here's an interesting article about what the experts make of the election results.
Is fascism on the march again?

Sunday 7 June 2009

Sands of time

Yesterday, Laura and I drove down to Camber, near Rye, on the south coast, to enjoy the sand dunes and the beach, and what turned out to be a fantastically sunny day.

My mate Ian had decided to reprise a fondly remembered trip there a few years ago in celebration of his birthday this weekend.

We lay on the sand, frolicked with a number of balls, round and odd shaped, and even took in a game of 40/40 amongst the sand dunes. For those of you not familiar with the game, in our version, it involved one team (the defenders) using a couple of cricket stumps and hiding them, while the other team (the attackers) had to steal in and snatch one of said stumps without being caught. All great fun!

The day finished with a race to the sea (by the evening a good half a mile away as the tide had retreated). We were all already 'cream-crackered' from our 40/40 exploits, but having taken part in a similar race during our previous visit, we just couldn't resist what was by now a Camber Sands tradition. (I'm almost tempted to refer to it as 'The Great Camber Sands Race', held once every 4 years, as if it were the 'World Cup' of beach racing.)

Ultimately, I think this occasion even bettered the last. It's a beautiful thing how a certain place can have so many wonderful associations. Both Laura and I agreed it would be perfect to take a young McRae junior there in years to come. I love the thought of this little bay being a fond memory for the next generation.

2005


2009

Thursday 4 June 2009

Album Review: The Horrors - Primary Colours


*****
The concept of The Horrors has always appealed. A great name, a great look, a great concept all round. The only problem was the 'concept' was all you really seemed to get. 'All style, no substance' was the cliched maxim doing the rounds but even the most sympathetic observer couldn't find much to prove otherwise.

Nonetheless, the band have regrouped, rethought and the result is actually quite astounding. On first listen, 'Primary Colours' leaves you struggling to believe this is the same band responsible for debut 'Strange House'. Graced with an aural palette of sound, this is a far cry from that album's scratchy proto-punk and strips away all previous preconceptions in an instant.

The influences are there for all to see, Neu!, The Cure etc. etc. but although many see this as cause for criticism, The Horrors should be congratulated on having drawn upon them to create a sound that allows their misanthropic rhetoric to flourish.

'Mirror's Image' bursts into life with it's distorted psychedelia and tale of temptation, resistance and 'crippling shyness', subconsciously urging the subject to, "Draw strength [and] walk on into the night". 'Who Can Say' is a triumph of scuzzy guitar and love lost, it's spoken refrain followed wonderfully by a chiming melody.

Everywhere you turn there is a more adventurous, more interesting and ultimately, more enjoyable record. You can hear echoes of Suede in the verses of 'Do You Remember' and even the Sex Pistols when it comes to 'New Ice Age'. Who cares for originality when the 'rip-offs' are this good?

'Sea Within a Sea', swooning in as the album closer, encapsulates all the best aspects of the proceeding tracks. Faris Badwan's vocals sound particularly haunting on lines such as, "...We walk alone/Bare foot on wicked stone", and by the time the song bursts into a rainbow of riffs and metronomic beats, you realise you could well be listening to a defining moment for this clutch of Shoreditch scenesters.

A triumph - scepticism's shackles have been shaken loose.

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Choice opinion (Reprise - Lowdown on downloads)

In light of my recent blog (some might say essay) on, amongst other things, music downloads and file sharing, I thought I'd post a quick link to this article that appeared on the NME Blog.

With the news that Spotify intend to stream music for mobile phones, you do wonder what this means for the last vestige of record sales through file download. Will we even bother to download music at all anymore and what will the record companies make of it all?

It's interesting to hear that sales of live tickets are on the up too. Interesting times...