Yet!
I got off the bus a little past noon, having read about a third of Ali Smith's Autumn and listened to some music. I made the following conclusions:
-Ali Smith is good at writing. I'm glad the Man Booker committee and I agree.
-Lana Del Rey is very good at making it sound like she doesn't care about her vocal quality, even though she's totally paying attention to and controlling her vocal quality.
-Sia's 2004 album Colour the Small One is very different from her current oeuvre. Think minimalist electro-influenced folk sad-on-a-misty-day-in-a-café and you have the cornerstones, if not the second story. It's very good, and includes the stunning "Breathe Me", which I've liked for years.
-Coldplay was, and I make no apologies for saying this, a very good band up to and including their 2008 album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. They stood on the shoulders of Radiohead (who aren't, as a unit, actually that tall) and mixed in a bit of pop sensibility, as well as going the lyrical route of "not making you want to kill yourself with cement bricks", which tends to send you further into the mainstream than Thom Yorke. They had a good run (if you overlook the repetitive, overstuffed, schmaltzy X&Y), with a strong debut in Parachutes, all clear electric guitars and bright-orange vocals; the really quite excellent A Rush Of Blood To The Head (highlights include "Politik", "In My Place" (which takes the drum pattern from Radiohead's High and Dry and writes a happy song over it instead), "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face", and the title track). And the Eno-produced Viva La Vida, in which they wrote ten absolutely marvelous, make-you-grin, brightly-colored widescreen anthems covering topics of a pre-Enlightenment generality, all dressed up in French Revolution paintings and costumes. Great stuff. Alas, the mainstream that they entered eventually corrupted them, and now they're another set of hitmakers, writers of songs rather than albums. At least we have their early work.
Now I'm eating leftover pasta from last night and debating whether or not to spring for vegan Doc Martens. I mean, obviously I should, especially because my walking shoes are falling apart, and on the other hand, of course I should. Glad we could have this chat.
I'm going to see a post-punk band tonight! At a cool-looking club! £6 entrance fee and they said on the website that they don't turn people away for lack of funds! I'm still going to pay full price, of course, but that means this club is good people. AND they have a Tuesday special on vegan burgers! £5 with chips! What a city!
Good luck to Zoey, who today performs a mind-blowing dance with electronic walls for the Grand Viziers of GrooVM.
xxx
Sammy
It took me a while... But I'm now caught up on all your posts! Sounds like you're having an amazing time getting cultured over there! I've been reading all your posts in an british sammy accent, so you already sound smarter than you did when you left. Keep up the good work being a young explorer of the world! I'm sure it's lonely over there at times, so remember you've got friends at home that will run you into the ground later this summer doing rollerski intervals. When you're lonely you can then say to yourself, "well at least I'm not crumpled up in pain at the end of an interval". And it might make you feel slightly better.
ReplyDelete-Eli
Hey Eli! I'm so glad you've been reading! I'm less glad about the rollerski intervals! I'd rather hill bound. I'd rather coach an entire team of Nigels. I would rather die. Although this might happen on an interval anyway! Who knows?
DeleteWhich is to say, I hope everything's going well on the homestead, and I look forward to this summer.
Came across your roller skis and poles today, Sammy. Should I try them out?
ReplyDeleteSure!
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