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sigur ros's tónlist er fallegur!

Oasis

I don't really have anything to say, I just felt like making a post - got hold of Amanda Palmer's solo album Who Killed Amanda Palmer?, really enjoyed it - she did two songs during Ben Folds' Glasto set (he produced the album and it was recorded in his studio) and they both sounded great. The record is very good, some songs are better than others, but as a whole it's an enjoyable listen. Plus she's kind of weirdly pretty, in an unconventional way I think.

Carolina Drama

Got my hands on Consolers of the Lonely by the Raconteurs recently and I'm really glad I did. You might recognise either of the gentlemen in the middle; one being Jack White of the White Stripes fame, the other being a man by the name of Brendan Benson who's apparently pretty well known Stateside though I'll admit I had no previous knowledge of.

I got the band's debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers, and enjoyed it a fair bit, it wasn't amazing stuff but it was solid enough and a decent listen. So what makes the new record so much better?

Basically, it feels like the band have relaxed and feel less pressure than they perhaps did on the first record - the shadow of the 'Stripes looming heavy over them. It comes across as the sound of a band just having fun making music together, just letting go and seeing what comes out. I had the fortune to see them at Glastonbury this year and they were easily one of the best acts I saw all weekend. If you're into some nice classic riffy rock with a great Southern touch to it, check this album out.

Found a few videos of them at Glasto - makes me smile watching these back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ95o1iQDsY&feature=related

(in case you're wondering about the odd screaming at the end of that first one - it ties into the next song -Hold Up - link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA3q6_VhCds&feature=related

the bar is a beautiful place

swallows them bit by bit, remembering every scar..

It's far too quiet around here during reading week - feels like everyone in the world is anywhere but here.

I'm lacking motivation at the moment, I have university work I ought to be doing but I'm not doing it enough - my room is becoming a mess and I don't have the energy to do anything about it.

Hair needs cutting, it has a tendency to grow out and big rather than long so I end up with an afro like Jonah Hall in Superbad

I might go to bed, bugger all else to do at the moment. If you get a chance, watch The Royal Tenenbaums - fantastic film that makes me think Luke Wilson is probably a better actor than his brother.

Really tempted to get a tattoo lately, got a couple of ideas I'm thinking about.

Don't wanna end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard

There's something to be said for actually getting up and getting on with the day - being at university I've very often not even woken up till the early afternoon (the result of not going to bed until the early morning) and as a result lost half a day and felt rubbish to go with it.

I'm thinking even on days I'm not in uni I'm going to try and get up at more reasonable times.

Oh yeah, and why is it pop music from the 80s often sounds so much better than the rubbish clogging up the charts these days? Get Al Simon back in the chart I say!

Damn You Atlanta Falcons!

Atlanta 24-23 Seattle.

Massive run for a TD with 8 seconds left. Screw you Madden 09, Screw you.

For Emma, Forever Ago

I have yet to hear a better album this year than For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver. It's just incredible. Bon Iver is basically a pseudonym for a songwriter called Justin Vernon - after the break up of the band he was in and the painful breakdown of a long term relationship, Vernon retreated to a remote log cabin and recorded the whole record there by himself (in between killing and eating deer!).

The album is just perfect for sitting and listening to by yourself in the small hours of the morning. I've lost count of the number of times this year I've been sat at 3AM just taking in the amazing songs on the record. I can't speak highly enough of it and hope that if by some weird mistake someone reads this that it'll intrigue them enough to want to hear it.

So yeah, go find it and thank me later =)

This is a fantastic live performance on good ol' Later...With Jools Holland of the song Skinny Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHyo33XLP24

Near a Plate Glass Window by Charles Bukowski

In reference to my earlier post about Bukowski, one of my favourite poems from The People Look Like Flowers At Last.

Near a Plate Glass Window

dogs and angels are not
very far apart.
I often go to this little place
to eat
about 2:30 in the afternoon
because all the people who eat
there are completely sane,
glad to be simply alive and
eating their food
near a plate glass window
which welcomes the sun
but doesn't let the cars and
the sidewalks come inside

across the street is a Chinese
nudie bar
already open at 2:30 in the
afternoon.
it is painted an
inane and helpless
blue.

we are allowed as many free
coffees as we can drink
and we all sit and quietly drink
the strong black coffee.

it is good to be sitting some place
in public at 2:30 in the afternoon
without getting the flesh ripped from
your bones.

nobody bothers us.
we bother nobody.

angels and dogs are not
very far apart
at 2:30 in the afternoon.

i have my favorite table
by the window
and after i have finished
I stack the plates, saucers,
the cup, the silverware, etc.
neatly
in one easy pile-
my offering to the
elderly waitress-
food and time
untorn,
and that bastard sun
out there
working good
all up and
down.

Bukowski and Bookshops

Lately I've been reading a lot more books than I ever used to, certainly no bad thing. I think it was partially born out of the calming effect bookshops tend to have on me - wherever I go, in any city, I always find bookshops to be a sort of mini refuge, a (usually) quiet escape from the madness of the high street. Naturally, from spending time in bookshops my interest in reading was re-invigorated and I haven't looked back since.

The first book I bought as part of this reading renaissance was Charles Bukowski's The People Look Like Flowers At Last. The book is essentially a post-humous collection of some of his poetry and I highly reccommend it. Bukowski was always very much in touch with the grimier, dirtier side of life and his poetry is no different - don't go in expecting flowery prose, the poems here are practically short stories, often very direct and uncompromising. Despite the difference between myself and the age at which Bukowski wrote the bulk of this collection I found a lot of relevance in the writing.

Very interesting and thought provoking.