The future

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Songs of the moment

Hots picks/acts for this year (mostly stolen from BBC'S sound of 2011)

Jessie J - the urban girl with attitude/ the British Nicki Minaj - for people that love cliches and stage presence


Natalia Kills - the girl that isn't like GAGA at all - sharing Gaga's label and some of the same media spiel about music being art blah blah blah... though if you ignore the pretension there is some good pop to be heard.


James Blake - the silent electro kid - the act with the credentials the classically trained pianist at Goldsmiths University and the difference to other acts that could make him stand out. The difference being his love of silence and minimalism. - Seriously Good

Jai Paul - the funky cool one - Possibly my favorite act out of the four a vocal coloured with soul funk electro than a heavy bass line - On first hearing this track i didn't know where it was going which for modern pop music is a real relief. An experimental musician without the pretension - LISTEN NOW!!!!

P.s. Listen to this for a haunting/unintentionally hilarious/ strange remix of Casta from the opera Norma and Beyonce's Diva - AMAZING!!

http://theoisamazing.blogspot.com/2010/12/cry-out-soundtrack.html

It's from Theo Adam's Cry out which recently had its London premiere at the ICA, wish of could of been there if you equally love the diva glitter performance art check him out.



http://www.i-donline.com/i-spy/theo-adams-company-present-cry-out

Thought of the day

Two songs similar but not the same

My Music 2010

Possibly the most beautiful song about breaking up with someone and living the singleton life. This is the first off his unnamed Fifth studio album. The follow up single being the city. From the latest tours it sounds like Patrick has ditched the melancholy of his early work and the depression of his last album (The bachelor) for a more upbeat celebration of life love with a Kylie-esque disco sound. Here's hoping for a successful 2011 for the PW and also a hope that he won't mellow out I still live for those lil experimental tweaks and found sound (see Pumpkin soup)that made his first album (Lyncathropy) so re-listenable.

Note: was listening to PW's Underworld today and was thinking about the video which would include many cut together scenes of Corrie's Underwear factory.

A dutch/Japanease artist, appeared on a few music blogs this year and it grabbed me instantly. The pure cheesiness and over produced-ness somehow sucks you in without the guilt of a guilty pleasure its just a bit of fun, high school musical with some incredible electro hooks. So want to hear more but i'm dreading that he may just be a one-hit-wonder.

Probably the artist of the year if your going by sales, tours and exposure this lil' pop genius needs no introduction. Part of the Fame monster this song deals with loosing yourself in music, drugs, alcohol within an abusive relationship. 'Find your freedom in the music' This really should have been the last single rather than Alejandro which whilst it produced an amazing androgynous orgy of a video was never really a club hit which this could clearly be. I'm looking forward to Born this way, be interesting what Gaga means by 'political', she may have helped bring attention to the 'Don't ask don't tell' law in the US army but can she really muster something that has more substance rather than style. I'm expecting more 'I am what I am' but let's wait and see.

The duo of 80'sesque-epic-melancholy-electro-tunage started the year in the BBC's sound of 2010, Wonderful life was there beacon of what was to come. Though followed up with Better than Love , which was another stand out track of the year the rest of their album was very samey often they had similar lyrics, beats and themes leaving you with the feeling of being short-changed. It was sadly more style than substance, though it has to be said some of the songs they produced were certainly the most interesting and epic sounding pop of 2010.

A love letter to the voyeur

Here's an extract from a piece i'm working on at the moment (developed from the telephone piece in To be or not be a Cunt):

I love you.If only now.

If only in these perimeters.

Well love might not be the word but its the first word that comes to mind.

Your my servant, my Master.

You provide me with joy.

The sweet sound, my percussion, my rhythm.

You hit to the beat of my end, my finale.

You love when I leave,

When the action slowly evaporates into the next,

movement cruelly discarded.

If i'm not there to witness the fallout maybe the celebration will linger,

live a bit longer in your conciousness.

Maybe i'll still be there tomorrow.

Forgive my absence.

It doesn't have to come between us.

Maybe someday we can love without any framework at all

Maybe we can just be ourselves.

Inspiration Point

Recently i've come across some personally and generally inspiring/motivational writing:

The first piece being one of the short stories from David Eagelman's collection called Sum: Tales from the afterlives, a book that has some truly inventive and inciteful philosophies to indulge the mind in, well worth a read or a purchase from only three pounds :)

Subjunctive

In the afterlife you are judged not against other people, but against yourself. Specifically, you are judged against what you could have been. So the afterworld is much like the present world, but it now includes all the yous that could have been. In an elevator you might meet more successful versions of yourself, perhaps the you that chose to leave your hometown three years earlier, or the you who happened to board an airplane next to a company president who then hired you. as you meet theses yous, you experience a pride of the sort you feel for a successful cousin: although the accomplishments don't directly belong to you, it somehow feels close.

But soon you fall victim to intimidation. These yous are not really you, they are better than you. They made smarter choices, worked harder, invested the extra effort into pushing on closed doors. These doors eventually broke open for them and allowed their lives to splash out in colorful new directions. Such success cannot be explained away by a better genetic hand; instead, they played your cards better. In their parallel lives, they made better decisions, avoided moral lapses, did not give up on love so easily. They worked harder than you did to correct their mistakes and apologized more often.

Eventually you cannot stand hanging around these better yous. You discover you've never felt more competitive with anyone in your life.

You try to mingle with the lesser yous, but it doesn't assuage sting.In truth, you have little sympathy for these less significant yous and more than a little haughtiness about their indolence. "If you had quit watching TV and gotten off the couch you wouldn't be in this situation," you tell them, when you bother to interact with them at all.

But the better yous are always in your face in the afterlife. In the bookstore you'll see one of them arm in arm with the affectionate woman whom you let slip away. Another you is browsing the shelves, running his fingers over the book he actually finished writing. And look at this one jogging past outside: he's got a much better body than yours, thanks to a consistency at the gym that you never kept up.

Eventually you sink into defensive posture, seeking reasons why you would not want to be so well behaved and virtuous in any case. You grudgingly befriend some of the lesser yous and go drinking with them. Even at the bar you see the better yous, buying rounds for their friends, celebrating their latest good choice.

And thus your punishment is cleverly and automatically regulated in the afterlife: the more you fall short of your potential, the more of these annoying selves you are forced to deal with.

Copyright goes to the author. No Copyright infringement intended.

The piece is more personal and comes from my late grandmothers collection of poems.

Christopher John Michael (My Grandson)

Christopher John Michael, babe of "89"

I hope your days will always be fine

Bright eyes shining, resolute and true

Ready, willing and able

My wishes to you

Schoolboy of the nineties there's hope to your life

Exciting roads to follow dreams to pursue

May it be inspiring, may it all come true

But be wary don't let danger threaten

To thine ownself be true

Which job will you hold, which road will you choose?

Steeplejack, Writer, Lawyer who knows?

But whatever you do, whatever the score

Be honest, have courage

You cannot do more

The twenty - first century will come and go

You will be here to say "Hello, greetings and Best Wishes"

We all want to say and with good luck we will keep wars at bay

With all our resources, a better world to live in

A vision to fulfil.

Margaret Tsoukatos

I was ever so proud when I found this poem I hope some day I can write a suitable reply to the amazing woman that wrote this. Gran you give me hope,inspiration and a power - rest in piece.

Fuck it

Sometimes I think that when the bomb strikes we won't care we will turn the channel over, we watch another channel then as we are watching home shopping channels, tv quiz and gameshows the bomb succumbs us. We evaporate into nothing but dust.

This isn't some random prediction but a vague attempt at an analogy of todays personal politics. They are just too many people who don't give a shit.

To be continued...