You know I nearly laid down and died
October 30th, 2010
For some inexplicable reason, this here blog has been nominated in the ‘Best Blog’ category in the Record of the Day Music Journalism and PR Awards 2010. Which is nice. Not to mention quite surprising. Add to that the fact that the nomination also coincides with the 6th birthday of To Die By Your Side and it’s a tad bewildering really. It certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve been doing this that long. So much has changed since October 2004. For better and for worse. Seems like a lifetime ago that I finally decided to start jotting down my thoughts on the music I liked. Can’t honestly say that I thought I’d still be doing it this far along the line. Or that people would actually recognise what I do and consider it to have any value or quality. Anyway I’m starting to ramble.
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At my window, I was looking down
October 27th, 2010
A dawning realisation has slowly crept up on me. A pretty obvious one when I stop and think about it but not one that I was consciously aware of. The fact is that PJ Harvey is actually one of my favourite artists. I don’t know why I’ve only just realised it. After all, the signs have been there for years. I own all of her albums and listen to them all pretty regularly. I’ve seen her live a couple of times and wouldn’t hesitate to go see here again. Yet if you were to ask me to name some of my favourite bands or artists, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be amongst the obvious names I’d reel off. I can’t say why that is. I think maybe I’ve just never truly noticed how reliably great she is. So I thought I’d take the time to point it out with a theory of mine that I’ve had for years.
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Nothing means nothing to me
October 24th, 2010
As I mentioned them briefly in the last post, I thought it was kind of appropriate to follow on from with a quick post about the Manic Street Preachers. But as I’m not overly enamoured with their new album, I thought I’d post something a little different. No strangers to covers, here the Manics take on the mod sounds of The Small Faces. And a pretty good job they make of it too. Rather than going all bombastic and booming, James Dean Bradfield delivering a (for the most part) rather reined in vocal. One that really suits the song, giving it a certain fragility and uncertainty. It also backs up my personal theory that the Manics are a far better live band than their studio out put suggests.
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Oooh I Want You
October 22nd, 2010
Incase you’ve been wondering what I’ve been listening to recently, I thought I’d do a quick post highlighting a few of the records that have tickled my fancy of late and a few that have left me somewhat unimpressed.
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How’s about cooking something up with me
October 8th, 2010
Wow, is it really nearly a month since I last posted anything? I guess time flies when you’re doing other stuff. Not that I’ve been up to much of anything really, aside from a relaxing and very hot holiday in Turkey. To say that I needed to get away from everything would be an understatement. It’s fair to say that this year has been a challenge and I don’t think I actually knew how much I needed a holiday until I planted myself by the swimming pool and did nothing but read books, listen to music and eat more than I should have done. I’d be lying if I said I’ve fully recharged my batteries but I was running so low that getting away from everything did me the world of good.
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