Fimbulvinter

I'm avoiding essays by writing, which is really pretty dumb but better than lying around doing nothing productive at all. I'm determined to do something today, even if it's just compile a list of stuff to read tomorrow in the library. I am not very good with the library. I have not been inside before, apart from to buy some coffee. I think I will not last very long...


The best thing that has happened recently is Tristan coming to stay. He is an all round excellent dude from Bath and we had some mondo good times. He's just started a blog, which is here. We had some curry, drunk a load of beers, invented band names and shot fireworks off in Platt Fields with Marcus. It was wicked rad. The band names I can remember were... Nonce Power! and Ebola Laser Terrorist Pipe Bomb, both of which are excellent.

This was only for cool kids, yeah?

Me and Tristan also checked out the latest Urbis exhibit, Home Grown, the history of UK hip-hop. It was really well laid out, and the pieces were interesting, but I didn't really get it. I knew quite a lot about the influences of British hip-hop anyway, but the whole place didn't seem to be much more than a time-line for people who knew nothing about it. It was also really weird to see 80's B-Boy and 90's Garage outfits up in glass cabinets, labeled and separated for exhibition, when people still wear that style on the street. It was just as odd to see Jehst up on the wall like a 'artist', I can't take it seriously, I used to sneak into his shows ages 15 with cans of beer in my hoody pockets. It can't be cultural! It's super good, if you know literally nothing of rap in the UK. I think I'm hating too much though, so of it was awesome. The old flyers for breakdancing nights and the pictures from reggea street parties in St. Pauls in Bristol were wonderful, really cool.

I went to the Royal Exchange a few weeks ago, to watch Punk Rock, the debut play by Simon Stephens. It is a properly wonderful play, and I think it's starting to tour now so if it comes near you, definitely go and watch it. As a debut, it's a phenomenal play, and the dialogue is almost perfect. Set in a 6th Form, you might expect the script to be a little dated or not very well written, but the modern slang is fairly good and the acting was brilliant, making it flow really well. The tension and the slow build up towards the inevitable final confrontation was dealt with wonderfully. Even punctuating the scene changes with loud cuts from Big Black, Sonic Youth and Dead Kennedys worked alright, although it was a little pointless. I know there was quite a lot of undercurrent and subtext in this play and it all worked well so I have no need to mention it. 

However, I have a few problems with it that few of the reviews (they're all glowing) seem to deal with. Firstly, the characters are all basically tropes, each one conforms to the basic stereotypes, there is a bully, the straight-and-narrow, the disliked, emotionless nerd and the slutty girl. Despite giving each character some kind of emotional problem or insecurity doesn't give them depth, just makes all of them conform to the teenage depression/finding ones-self/why-am-I-here stereotype which doesn't find an individual character in the play. Fortunately, not every single kid in school is as fucked up as this lot. I know plenty of people who emerged from 6th Form a happy and well rounded individual with hobbies and interests. Some might not have done, but plenty did. The reason the characters were believable and engaging was the quality of the acting and the modernity of the script, which despite being written by a 30-something could've been written by a school kid. It was like the upper-middle-class Kidulthood, set in Stockport.

My second problem was with the finale, which I will be spoiling massively, so if you have any intention of going to see the play, STOP READING NOW. This play could have ended in two ways. I could have been, as I had expected whilst watching, a punch up. Nick or Bennett could have happily kicked the living shit into William, and he would have learned from it, or switched out of school. It could have been pretty brutal and shocking, and been much more realistic. The tension was just right, and it was a straight build up; however they decided to go to the proper extreme. The full on school shooting. Posh Columbine. And it was, whilst very interesting and well put together, totally unnecessary. It ramped the play into a totally crazy final 20 minutes, which just didn't sit right with the perfectly balanced first 3/4ths. I just think it was excessive, a proper school fight an a couple of upturned desks would have been much better for the believability of the play in general, and the final scene in the psych evaluation was just pointless. Sorry, it was idiocy. If you have to cook up a final scene totally outside of the confines of where the play has been set this entire time to tie together the strings from your crazy shoot-out in the final scene, you know it's been way overblown. Ah well, it was awesome to watch anyway, like someone had stuck a Michael Bay scene into a gentle Alan Bennett play about coming out (totally hyperbolic).

You can start reading again now.

My third quibble was the whole 'Punk Rock' thing. I don't like Punk being used as a by-word for teenage rebellion and problems fitting in. It's so much more than that, and when people try and jimmy it into a play like this for some 'edge' it's totally embarrassing. It's as simple a choice as picking songs with titles that correspond to your product in adverts. That fucks me off too. Without going off on one, stop sidelining Punk as music for troubled youth, if you want that find some emo. Go listen to some Black Flag and tell me Henry doesn't have something to say.

I'm going to the theatre tomorrow as well, to watch 'The Entertainer'. I guess I'll write what I think about that too. I like Osbourne so I hope it'll be a good production.

Yesterday I did a shoot with Umbro and VICE as a model, for the first time. It was mental. I also sourced a load of other people to model, basically in the hope that I might avoid getting photographs taken of me and assist more than pose. Alas, this didn't happen and I was dressed up right pretty. The photographer Liz (blog)was lovely and talented, and the stylist Luis is a really wonderful guy, the entire Umbro team were excellent in fact. The clothes were fully insane, totally space-aged fabrics and weird placements of padding and metal supports. I'll post some images up when I get round to it, but here is Luis' blog, with a load of the clothes we used on it, and here is a behind the scenes blog on the Umbro website, and a little interviewette with Liz.

I'm not going to be posting much music this time round, mainly because I'm in a frantic scrabble to put together a playlist for Friday night. Jack from Mazes and the ever ridiculous Marcus have given me a few hours at the new Gin & Sonic night at Trof Fallowfield to spin a couple of my non-existant records. This worries me because a) the only music I'm listening too is in no way fit for public consumption at the moment b) I don't have a fucking clue how to DJ and c) NO REALLY I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DJ WHY DID YOU GIVE ME AN HOUR ARGHH. I think I'm mostly playing punk, lo-fi, no-fi and classic crap. I am basically trying to work out how to drop Will Smith in a achingly hip bar without being laughed off the decks. It's hard.

I'll be using my laptop, so if anyone has any advice on software to use, or requests; the sooner the better so I don't sweat to death under the stress of playing punk covers and no-wave b-sides to drunk students. I probably shouldn't worry, but you probably should come. I'm gunna be shooting for VICE between DJing and drinking too much, so it'll be worth the quid to get in just to see me falling over drunk before midnight and breaking expensive camera stuff.

Here is something I discovered on LFGSS's wonderful Punk Thread, that Jello Biafra and the Melvins have been recording together since '05. That is mental! Why did no-one tell me? They're some of my favourite music people ever and they work perfectly paired up! Seriously it is excellent.

Seig Howdy! - Jello Biafra & The Melvins

Me and Tristan might break into a musical partnership when I get back down to Bath, I've been dying to do something interesting and out of my realm of experience for a while now, so hopefully that'll be cool.

If I can get these essays finished on time I'll be fucking stunned. If I do, however, I'll take some photographs of my new Colnago which Tristan was good enough to bring with him from Bath, and generally post a load more good music.

Here is a taster of a song I may well be playing on Friday. It is wonderful, and if the crowd don't like it, it's clearly their fault and not mine.

Never Gonna Give You Up - Crucial Dudes by mechamorgan

The Fall of Autumn

I've been asked by a number of people now when I would write again. This is both quite gratifying, unexpected and terrifying. I don't really expect anyone to read this despite my constant hawking of it on the internet. Oh well. I guess I should comply. I'll write more frequently too, and in smaller pieces. Encourages me to think more, I guess.

I am having a difficult time coming to terms with Autumn this year. It's a great season if it's slow and golden and crisp, but Manchester Autumn seems to be more constant, soaking rain; even when that abates it has none of the ice-lined leaves of proper Autumn, just a soggy decomposing ramp of brown matter pushed against every curb just waiting to slip your wheels out, or conceal a pothole in the road. I am not a big fan of this moist Autumn. It also marks the point of the year when I completely retreat into books and music. I just can't handle the all consuming cold that grips my hands like a lover scorned. I can't write or concentrate on anything without being in bed and well heated.

I've started reading my unbelievably dog-eared copy of Lord of the Rings again; a book in 3 parts in 2 parts is my joke, which you'd understand if you see it. It's covered in ink and cellotape and water stains, probably the only things holding it together. If some books are well loved this is clearly an abusive relationship. I still love reading Lord of the Rings, for what might be the 1st time for all my joy of re-reading it. I constantly struggle to read the words and obtain my imagery from there, rather than the (admittedly quite good) films. Whatever, I like it. In other literature news, I'm trying not to be really pissed that Biffy Clyro have named their latest album after Only Revolutions, by Mark Z. Danielewski. This is entirely stroppy indie to mainstream footstomping by me, as his House Of Leaves is probably the best book I've ever read, and certainly my favourite.

If you get the time and really want to dangle your sanity over the edge for a little while, try reading Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. It is pretty insane and come really highly recommended by everybody. I like it.

I've been pretty 'culture' recently I guess. I'm just more likely to go out for a gallery or a play than for drinking at the moment. I don't have the money or the inclination for drinking any more. I recently went to see Angels of Anarchy at the Manchester Art Gallery with Shadi and Mona. It was really lovely to see them, and the exhibit was ok. It wasn't paticularly well curated, and sadly it seemed that they were trying to drag some surrealist feminist movement out of art that really didn't exist. They were simply female surrealists, admittedly some where feminist, but there was no underground movement that this exhibit seems looking for.

Some of the work was wonderful, the sculpture was excellent as was the more fantastical paintings, and the more cubist/futurist art shown. Some of the other stuff fell a little flat, especially about half of the still life images, some of the portraits (which were just figurative paintings) and the inclusion of the cadavre exquis. I know that the surrealists invented it as a parlour game, but that's what it was. Just because these ones were done by female members DOES NOT in some way make them important. If they contrasted the imagery used with some of the male artists it might be useful, but no such contrast was made so it was crap.

Also, lost of the heavy feminist work tends to make me a little uncomfortable. I'm all down with feminism in general, and I understand the context and impact of work like this; but really heavy and obvious vaginal imagery just seems crude, simple and more than anything dated. I don't like it.

Another exhibit I popped my head into was Stanley Donwood's El Chupacabra, hosted at Bristol's tiny Weapon of Choice gallery. It was laughable. Don't get me wrong, I love Stanley Donwood, and this was kind cool, but it was so wonderfully knee-jerk and angsty it made me laugh. It's Donwood riling against bankers, politicians and other be-suited hate figures of modern media. I think Donwood's own write up, almost dripping with bile shows what I mean better than my pathetic write ups.

Everyone is revolted by naked, slavering greed, and these fucking bastards are the embodiment of that..

That fucker ‘Sir’ Fred Goodwin was out of the country when his house and his Range Rover got trashed.

So naturally the cops went after the ‘vandals’.
The politicians rip us off for thousands whilst telling us to shop anyone who finds a way to supplement their miniscule giro.
People get their houses repossessed (or foreclosed, as they say in the US) and someone comes along and boards their windows up with plywood.

Bankers and politicians wear suits and ties so they don’t look like criminals.

If I wasn't so honest it'd have to be a satire on media frenzying.

I recon in this whole area I should show you the blog from a girl I met. I recon she's pretty good at stuff and art, and can recognise obscure comic references I make so that is pretty awesome. She is called Holly and lives in London and this is hers. She writes more frequently than me, and with more style. Oh well.

Oh I took some more photographs for VICE magazine, at Horses house party. Mazes, Spectrals and Royal Rajah (so legit right now) played, and it was amazing. This was basically the show Times New Viking and Lovvers should have been and totally wasn't. I'm getting really annoyed with rock and roll gigs being full of middle ages music journos with their earplugs in and tiny girls with canvas tote bags standing dead still and thinking about how furious 'a blog post this is going to make'. I realise how hypocritical that is of me, but at least I drink beers and dance like a prick right at the front. That is what this music is made for. Thank you. Here are the photographs on VICE, but there are more (and in my opinion better) on my neglected Flickr.

Another thing VICE has done for me recently is start off my reviewing of my own band prejudices. It started with Gallows. I didn't like Gallows until about 3 days ago. I thought they were crap London kids trying to do a cross between DK's social commentary and Cro-Mags anger with little success outside of their pre-teen myspace fanclub. I was wrong on this, and totally willing to admit it. Gallows are fucking awesome. Angry, grim and brutal.

It's weird to think that I haven't really got into them before. I know they've had Dan Mumford artwork (which sells shit to me instantly anyway), and I've even seen them live a couple times, but kind of sneered my way through their set from the bar. Which is possibly the most bullshit and non-fun way to watch a punk gig ever. My bad.

Basically this is the link to the video that turned me around. It is a freaking awesome video too, right down to the natty Topman suits. Also, fuck it, here is their latest album because it is really good.

Gallows - Grey Britain

I've also had to reappraise Hunx and his Punx, which for some reason I had down as a sub Hercules and the Love Affair disco outfit. I have literally no fucking idea where I got this idea from as it is completely incorrect and freakin' stupid. They're an amazing, trashy lo-fi gay rock band. I am totally sold on that. Here is a collection of all the singles so far, it's so good!

Hunx and his Punx - Gay Singles

The last band I've recently come around to is Creedence, but I'm not even going to explain that one, because if you don't like them already you're living in the same horrible cave of denial that I was until this morning. Embrace it.

I've got a few more things to say. I bought a beautiful new bicycle, but due to the APPAULING service I've received from First Great Western trains it is still in Bath, so I don't really have any decent photographs, or a good appraisal of it. This makes me very upset, and FGR will receive a strongly worded letter in the post any day now, Mail strike allowing.

I am pretty cold up in Manchester right now so I'm just listening to lots of quiet music, I guess I'll post some of the stuff I'm listening to.

Ok so when I said quiet I may have lied. But these guys are totally worth it. They're called the Fall of Efrafa, and are a concept post/hardcore/atmospheric band from Brighton. Get this, when I said concept band I really meant it. Their music is all about the mythology of the world created by Richard Adams for Watership Down to take place in. They even sing in Lapine, the language of the animals. Shit guys that is WAY intense. They've got a pretty amazing Neurosis/Agalloch style sound, but not as hazy as that sounds. Really grim but excellent.

Here is their almost full discography because I am a really great guy.

Fall of Efrafa -

Inlé (2009) link

Elil (2007) link

Owlsa (2006) link

This band are all over the internet at the moment, so I guess all you guys will have got it already. It's really really lovely stuff though if you haven't yet. Very simple, ambient and hazey. Nice for Autumn mornings, if they're clear.

Lymbyc Systym - Shutter Release (sorry, it's on lame old rapidshare)

Another two ambient artists I really like at the moment are Ben Frost and Imaginary Softwoods. Ben Frost seems to be some kind of metal dude who has turned his hand to atmosphere, but in a pretty grinding, cold way. I like it, but it isn't very nice. He lives in Reykjavík, and it sounds like wolves ripping open a kill on the ice.

Ben Frost - By The Throat

Imaginary Softwoods are a lot more calmer, by comparison. Much more abstract and psychadelic. It doesn't really fall under the 'tropical drone' marker that people seem to be getting on to these days, despite being one of the members of Emeralds, John Elliot. Much more astral than tropical. It's all quite clean and distant at times, rocks under a clear stream. It is really very nice.

Imaginary Softwoods - S/T

I've been listening to loads of heavy and slow stuff like Isis, Dukatalon (Israeli sludge) and Ramesses recently. Kind of keeps in with my mood.

Also, I've gone back to American Football in a big way. Man, if you don't have both their album and EP already there is little hope for you. So perfect.

I'm annoyed about the gig I missed on Monday night. I was feeling really bad, but I missed Foot Village, Silk Flowers and Klaus Kinski at the Corner, which is about a 60 person venue. I was even more annoyed after finding out that Silk Flowers are Soiled Mattress and the Springs + 1 new member! Lame! I only got to see SMatS once, and didn't think they'd be breaking up so soon. You should hear all of those bands they are great.

Ok so I am done here today. I promise I will post more frequently, including some more photography soon. I also have whispers of a) a clubnight with Horse and Jack from Mazes and b) a photo shoot with me in it. Hopefully this work will be done so I can be out more soon.

Thank you for reading all this shit.

Swans of Blood.

I only seem to write when I'm hungover or in a really poor mood, so here is breaking that cycle a little bit. I've been up to loads of stuff since last I wrote, so I'll kind of quickly skim through it. Moved back up to Manchester, kitted out room into a lovely little studio (pictures soon!), got a job with VICE magazine as a promotional ambassador, got a modeling gig coming up with Umbro (ye gods) and Amy and I broke up. Yeah that last one is a pretty big deal and I'm really not feeling too great about the whole thing, so don't fucking go off on one, as much my fault as it is.

I would also like to talk a moment to insult people who I would expect to have my back but definitely don't. Hey man, fuck you.

Apart from that, all is pretty good. Manchester is currently sunny but has been really hammering it down pretty frequently. I quite enjoy that though. There is something really enjoyable about being so wet that you couldn't get much worse, it's kind of liberating. Speaking of wetness, I've been meaning to go swimming more frequently again, so if anyone from Manchester wants to bring that, I'm all up on it.

Also, there is about 30 gigs this month and next that deserve some attention, I'm probably most excited about Times New Viking, Lovvers, Mazes and Young British Artists at the Corner, a venue small enough for only about 50 people with a stage area in. Going to be heavyyyy.

If I was going to pick somewhere to be for good music this weekend though, it'd have to be funfunfunfest in Austin, my friend Ash is going and it looks amazing. Just check out the line-up! Fuck yeah!

Talking about the title of this post, I just finished reading all the prose and poetic Edda, which forms most of our literary understanding of Norse mythology. Man, it's pretty dark stuff. They have some really interesting poetic traditions too, one of which is called kennings, which is where the poet takes a noun and pairs it with a possessive noun to actually describe the item in question. They're almost cryptic little riddles, as they need an understanding of the linguistic archetypes and common symbolism of the Norse culture to translate them. Therefore the kenning Swans of Blood refers to Ravens, 'Swans' being a bird, putting you in vaguely the right area, and the 'of blood' possessive needing you to understand that because ravens and other members of the family Corvidae feed on carrion, most plentiful after a battle, they're seen as bloody and warlike creatures. Thor of Hanged Men is a more complex one, Thor being a single individual God you wouldn't think it obvious to use him, but if you know that Thor isn't the God of Hanged Men, but Odin is, you can see that they're using Thor as a stand in for any God. The thing I most enjoy about these kennings is that they're used to suggest such subtle moods about the things being described. In the last example, they used Thor in the kenning to suggest that Odin is sharing his usual attributes at the time, maybe being angry, forthright ect.
Very nice.

As for music, I've been going back and listening to one of my all time favourite albums, from a band I've never heard anyone mention or talk about. The Samuel Jackson Five (apart from having a brilliant name) are into about their third album, but their first, Easily Misunderstood is a fucking masterpiece of beautifully orchestrated mathy-post-noodly-awesome-rock. No vocals in the entire album, just brilliant swells and stabs and riffs all over. I'm not a music critic, and it's hard to explain a sound so varied when honestly, I'm just gushing about how good they are, but still, seriously download this if you like music with guitars in it and are open to something pretty new, the directions each song takes is unexpected and will affect you more than most lyrics ever will.
Samuel Jackson Five- Easily Misunderstood

Ok, here is a fucking big deal of a band. Volcano Choir. This LP is only 35 mins long (does it qualify for LP status?) but god damn is it worth it. It's Collections of Colonies of Bees and Jason from Bon Iver! It's exactly as good as you'd think it should be. If you have heard Bon Iver even once you'll download this album because everyone freaks out about each new release he sings on. It stuns me some times that relatively few people have heard of his Blood Bank EP, I've had to burn it down loads of times. Anyway...
Volcano Choir - Unmap
They're on Jagjaguwar too, which is a lovely label!

Oh, and here is the single song I've been listening too on repeat for the past 3 days. Over and over, again and again. Why? Because it is basically perfect.

Yeah!

Veil of Shadows

I think my mood is entirely weather dependent; to an honestly silly degree. As soon as the pathetic semi-summer heat we have only mildly enjoyed has been quashed under the heavy grey rain, I instantly turn back to winter mode. Which means not sleeping until 5 in the morning, not getting up until midday and generally feeling sorry for myself. There are a multitude of things I really want to do, and because of the weather I will do none of them. I have new forks to fit to my Charge, I've just stuck some riser-bars on for the first time, and I want to improve my sick fixxie stunts, whatever they might be. I also want to hang out with some friends and generally skate and shoot the breeze, but without at least a short intermission in the rain. It makes me so sad.

I want to congratulate everyone who took part in the EHCBP championships in London this weekend gone, I didn't manage to make it down, but from all the photos, videos and write-ups I've looked at, it was an amazing event and some decent fucking polo was played. Good work to L'Equipe for winning, and valient work for the Malice boys for coming in second. The flickr tag is EHCBP, if you want to check out the pictures. LondonFGSS' polo section is bound to have plenty of information. Also, LFGSS' t-shirt competition has come to fruition, and they're all available at SJS Cycles webshop. Which is pretty awesome. I think I'm going to buy quite a few of Tynan's designs, and a few choice others.

So yeah, some stuff and things I've been enjoying. Basically, I've found a sponsor to my every action, little do they know it. Baconnaise is probably going to revolutionise my waking life. I still haven't managed to track a jar down, but I think when I go back up to Manchester I'm going to have to drop into Selfridges and get some. Considering my overriding love for Mayonnaise in also it's forms (Garlic Mayo, Dijonnaise being the best), and my intense, ever present desire for bacon, I can't really see this product doing any wrong.

But, because of the kind of comic balance and karma that seems to operate on both sides of the Pacific, just when some Americans have a beautiful and simple idea such and Baconnaise, the Japanese yet again bring something truly fucking insane out of the kitchen. I present, Japanese Bug Fights, a name so perfectly descriptive that most peoples cringing 'Oh what the hell, Japan', stems pretty instantly from the first syllable. Seriously guys, why? Due to the entirely unscientific nature of the fights, no-one is going to learn anything other than that bugs are fucking terrifying. I watched basically all of them a few nights ago with Tomas, until we were scared to death of anything that wasn't bipedal. I'm sure as hell not going to embed anything here for you to watch, I'm not entirely sure if I want to encourage it. It's pretty good, however, if you want to stop yourself sleeping. I kind of understand how arachnophobics operate now...

Nice things now, nice things. I've been enjoying Kris Atomics work for ages and ages, and hadn't really thought to post her up until Amy and I were having a chat about her last night. Not only is she a really sweet artist with a well developed, solid style, she's beautiful and interesting. God damn wife material right there. Her flickr shows of some real photographic skill and her own website is similarly full with amazing illustration and other nice things. Looking at her work give me the same feeling of well being and general nice vibes that hot chocolate does. I'm a big fan.


Stuart McMillen is a good cartoonist. Not really through style, which is average and uninteresting, but his writing is really interesting and informative. I've only just found his work and am reading through at the moment, but some of it is excellent. I really enjoyed (perhaps not the word. Appreciated) his introduction to Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman, which has been on my buy and read list for a little while now. The introduction gives a good idea of the content of the book, obviously in basically zero detail, but still...



I also want to give a slight holler out to my grrl Marlowe for getting featured on Seeing is Stealing, which is pretty freakin' sweet. She's a great photographer and a serious creative cyclone, throwing out 'zines and stuff in droves. She's pretty, too! Seeing is Stealing is worth checking out on its own, it's got some amazing photographers of the new wave up there, some really interesting work. Click through to see more of Marlowe's stuff.

Here is some music I have been listening too! Firstly is the new No Age EP, pretty excellent on the first few listens through, big fan anyway. It's got a little more psych and a little more melodic recently, they are almost starting to remind me of Asobi Seksu. It's not been released yet so basically download it before the link gets eaten up by the music industry. Which will be soon.

Keeping in the lo-fi/Smell club scene vein, here is the first LP from Hole Class, which is a collaboration between Beth from Times New Viking and one of the guys from Eat Skull, both sweet bands in their own right. Unlike their parent bands, this is pretty chilled out. Really low budget, sounds like a riot grrl band smoked a little too much weed and stopped being angry at patriarchal society, which is pretty alright.

Whilst I'm in the mood to give you free stuff, here is the latest release by Why?, Eskimo Snow. Their first album was one of the most underrated of '08, and deserves a listen by everyone. I haven't given this a proper listen to yet, but I they've certainly got a little more folky, and a little less like angsty white-boys covering Busdriver tunes at half speed (which wasn't a bad scene AT ALL). Still totally worth a listen and stuff.

The last thing I want to show you is the portraits from this years NACCC in Boston. It looked like a fucking awesome event with loads of decent riders and beautiful bikes. If only I had the time, money, bikes, physical fitness, ability to enter as a fakenger or any other kind of leeway. I guess it was an event always out of my league.

Tea and teeth trouble.

After a pretty horrid couple of days I think I might just be back to normal. I worked 6 until 2 both Friday and Saturday at the Porter, which is fine usually be Friday night turned into quite a heavy night out, and I didn't get to sleep until midday on Saturday, and had to get up again at 3 to nurse Amy a little bit. That was nice though, just lying on the sofa watching the final bits of the TdF on the television.

With all the viciousness and hungover fury behind me, though, it's back onto more serious subjects. I've just picked up the latest Bardo Pond release and on first listen it's pretty good. Bardo have really hit a solid formula with their sound, and whilst I've not enjoyed their classic albums as much as I have the Volumes series of limited edition jam sessions they did, their stuff is pretty solid. This album is a compilation of some of their early stuff ('97-'01, I think) and it's classic Bardo, hazy heavy space jamz.

Get that shit up in yo' earz.

I'd like right here to set in internet-stone my congratulations to Matt and Vic at getting engaged (on their 5th anniversary, no less) a few weeks back. Super lovely and excellent for them! Matt did the Fixed/Fucked t-shirt I was nattering on about many moons ago, he's a fantastic graphic designer. After having a proper afternoon tea recently I've got a real urge to bake some cupcakes. I'm going to pick up the associated accessories and ingredients (cupcake tray! woo!) tomorrow and see if I can throw together some vanilla and lemon filled cakes! I'll take photos of me failing to do this completely and throw them up for the world to scorn. Here is a snap of my afternoon tea. It was very nice. I had to drink the tea luke warm, because my jaw is still kind of wonky. The stitches are annoying me, they're poking my tongue whenever I move it.

Looking around at artists similar to Dash Snow recently I picked up on Viktor Vauteir. He's brilliant, and really active. He's updated his blog with brilliant photographs in the couple of days I've been watching it. I love how trashy and every-so-slightly underexposed everything is. Everything is brilliantly framed and captured, he has an incredible eye for framing images, and his fashion choices arn't half bad either. Wicked stuff.

Hot.
I've got to buy a record player. I must. It's been praying on my mind for years and I've finally got the disposable income to buy something half decent. I guess I've raped the music industry something awful for years and I should definitely give something back, and short of forming a band this is the best I could think of doing. If anyone's got any recommendations, I don't want to mix or anything, just something that looks nice and gives decent sound quality, for about £200-300?

I'll leave you with this Burial & Four Tet EP Moth. Everyone has heard it, everyone loves it and with good reason, but if you haven't got it already here it is. Awesome minimal tech/ambient. The title track made me rethink my venomous hatred of dubstep by reconsidering Burial. Didn't work though, dubstep is still music for ket heads and 'urban' pricks.

milkt33f

Wow so I kind of forgot this place existed for a little while, but I'm going to write some more things for you, dear reader, in the next couple of weeks or so. Sorry I've been so lax, but I don't really have very much to say.

I've just come back from the Hospital, and I still can't feel much of my face below my nose. It was an operation that I've been waiting for since about '02, to put implants in my jaw. It sounds more exciting than it is, two adult teeth never formed on my lower set, and so the wee babby teeth were sinking into my gums and would eventually fuse to my jaw, which wasn't great. 18 months ago they tore out my baby teeth and today they layed the groundwork for my titanium implants, so to speak. So I have 2 new screws in my lower jaw and it feels like someone has hit me in my face very hard. Not great, but not awful. I'm on antibiotics and painkills for the next few days, which should make everything wonderful and hazy. You can't really tell from this picture, but my lip and entire jawbone up to my ears is swollen and tender, but at least you can see blood. Hard, I am.

I have saved up lots of different things to show you, but I don't like the way Blogger lays things out. I might purchase a book on internet languages and formatting to lay stuff out better. If I could just stick a few photos side by side I'd be happy enough, but I've forgotten the tags for it. I might try and find a graphic layout to html converter, if such a thing exists outside my head.

Here is the way stuff should look, it's such a beautiful and intuitive website, it's sad that it's not updated very often, or at all. It's a photo aggregator called This Also, and I'm a big fan, despite being (maybe?) dead in the inter-water.

I've also picked up on a few good artists, which is rare for be because I am a cultural vacuum. The first one I'll introduce you to is no surprise really, because he takes photographs of people on those damn fixed gear bikes. His name is Matt Lingo and apart from his fixed gear stuff is a pretty decent photographer. His bike photography is supposedly there to show a "unique style of riding through traffic", which I don't think he does very well, but the vivid, almost super-natural exposures make for some good photos. Still, too many riser bars.

Another photographer whose work I've been digging at the moment in Noah Kalina, who does crisp, and flat images that I really like, they have a kind of twee sensibility that I really enjoy. He's also managed to get lots of great bands in front of the lens, and whilst some are really brilliant at conveying the sound of the band (Russian Circles, Boris) other shots feel like he's just been given the opportunity to shoot and hasn't had any time to plan or think about them, most notably Sigur Ros, whose entry is more of a passport photo affair for bands rather than a good display of band photography. Then again, given the opportunity, I'm sure I'd just fire off a few frames of Sigur Ros just to say I had done, if time was pressed and I was presented the chance. Comes with living in Williamsburg I guess.

The next two artists are dark gothic. Really dark, really fantastical and pretty fucked up, if I'm honest. The appeal to the fantasy nerd inside of me, whom I keep mainly locked away in books and video games so I don't stop going out and start wearing cloaks around the house. The first is a concept artist called Keith Thompson, and whilst I call him a concept artist I'm not entirely sure they're concepts for anything except themselves. More like self-contained character studies in a world as yet unrealised. Some of his vehicles were drawn for a game(?) called Iron Fist, but a precursory google yielded nothing. I'm probably just developing a cult of mystery around his work where none needs to arise, but considering the nightmare creations offered on his website, I'm wouldn't be surprised if he lived in a cave, or some high tower somewhere rather gothic indeed. This is his 'Patron Saint of Parasites', to give you an idea of his style.

The next artist, in a similar vein, is a sculptor called Kris Kuksi. He's not only a sculptor, but it's his sculpture that interests me. It's similarly dark, with a kind of nauseatingly surreal edge that Thompson's work lacks. This is probably because Thompson is in the buissness of creating full characters in consistent worlds, where as Kuksi makes sculptures. Whilst his work is awesome on it's own I also really like how the websites fullscreen interface works when you want to view his artwork, it's really smooth and intuitive. Completely unlike his art.

I guess I've been gone for quite a while, so all the interesting stuff I've collected will take me some time type up and explain, and by this point my anesthetic has warn off and my fucking jaw feels like it's going to snap, so I'm going to stop writing. A few things though.

a) I am really really sad that Dash Snow died. He was fucking awesome. I loved his photography, and his art. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of Ryan McGinley's work, Snow took his style and applied an energy too it that really made it stand out for me. Also he sounds like a good guy to have got a beer with. I would say rest in peace if I thought that was what he wanted.

Some words about it - His fucking legacy

b) I'm reading loads of stuff about Salvic deities, the integration of pagan beliefs into Christianity as a compromise of conversion and Norse mythology, so I might be talking about that soon. It's all 'On Golden Bough', 'Prose Edda' and others, good times.

c) This is awesome. Pentagram taking a look at what could happen to cigarette packaging if post-new-legislation tobacco companies managed to embrace their darker side. That would be awesome, if I wasn't already a smoker, I'd take it up with packaging like this...

Penitence

This has not been a very good week. I spent the weekend with Amy, which was nice, and had a good time with her. However, I bumped into acquaintances of mine who reminded me of trouble I caused in the past; and whilst apologising, it seems to have been worse than I remember it. I am not a very good person.

Consequently, I don't have any art, photographs or graphic design to show at the moment. I haven't had the time, or been in the right mind-set to scour the internet as I usually do. I haven't even ridden my bike in about 4 days, which saddens me. The weather here is appalling, and I've been cold for as long as my memory lasts. Music and routine have been keeping me vaguely sane, but I'm not happy at the moment.

What I thought I might do is find you some albums that I'm listening to at the moment though.
The first is the limitlessly talented SIlver Mount Zion. This is there latest album, from 2008. I don't need to go into the musical pedigree that these people have produced under the various pseudonyms of the band, but if you don't have most of their work you need to go to a record store. The layout of the album is pretty odd, but the last two songs are some of the most powerful pieces of music I own.
A Silver Mount Zion - Thirteen Blues for Thirteen Moons.

The second is simply the greatest hardcore album of ever. I brook no discussion on this point. No band again will have the perfect mix of mathy guitar work, utterly incredible lyrics and mix of singing style or be so relentlessly good. They've broken up now, and the world has lost a fantastic band. If I would be forced into picking, this is my favourite album. It is not to everyones taste, and those that know me might even be suprised that I like this kind of hardcore. But there we go, it's the best.
Hot Cross - Cryonics