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Edited by user 05 May 2017 17:13:58(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

About those synths. Have a listen to this from about 0.44.


Despite this, I am pleased that both tracks are at least reasonable, even if they don't blow me away (Call The Police sounds a bit like U2 trying to re-write All My Friends). There's always the expectation that these 'returns' will be amazing, but often they aren't. 7.5 out of 10 for me.


EDIT: The tracks first appeared on Spotify & download sites but I've just noticed they are on Youtube as well. For anyone who hasn't heard them:

Edited by user 08 May 2017 09:58:42(UTC)  | Reason: adding LCD videos.

Been listening to the remaster/re-release of Leftism by Leftfield ahead of their shows at Brixton Academy this weekend - mostly been listening to the new remixes rather than the original album: like most remix albums, its a bit hit and miss, but I'm really liking Skream's remix of Open Up.

Reminds of good times May bank holiday 1991 just after Electronic's first album was released and driving up to Blackpool for the weekend with my brother and a mate and looking forward to getting pissed (Guardian readers would hate that) Think it was actually the songs off 'Electronic' i had taped off Radio 1 a few nights before and the actual album was released a few days later....Anyway, a great piss up weekend n lots of working class fun in Blackpool (sorry,chin stroking Guardian readers)

New video to The XX's I Dare You (they did the song great, live at Glastonbury last weekend) I still have my doubts overall about their latest album I See You, to me over half of it isn't very good.Certainly not as strong as their first two albums.But 2 or 3 songs on I See You are first class.The director of this video,Alasdair McLellan, certainly achieves something great with this video, a certain look and mood and vibe.I couldn't put my finger exactly on what it is or explain it but it makes an impact.How can a house seem creepy and haunted in the scorching afternoon heat and sunshine? Well the house is in Los Angeles, there's a lot of history in some of those Los Angeles houses.

Edited by user 01 July 2017 15:16:47(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

While the Beatles continue to inspire, Paul McCartney's position as solo artiste remains insecure. After repeated, objective listenings to his post-1970 output, I would - sadly - challenge it on the following grounds:
1. It does tend to overt sentimentality, an aspect Lennon surely held in check. John's barbed wit was the perfect foil to McCartney's mawkishness, but more importantly, simply through existing, John stimulated his partner to ever greater achievements. Paul himself commented, 'John threw down 'Strawberry Fields' as a kind of gauntlet, so I responded with 'Penny Lane'. Later collaborations with Elvis Costello and Jaz Coleman suggest McCartney's talent may be more suited to work in tandem.
2. It suffers from a lack of discipline. In a private letter, Ernest Hemingway wrote he needed 91 pages of mediocrity to hit that one page of masterpiece: fine, as long as said page hits the public and the rest hit the bin. Paul has a habit of - and I do so hate to use clichés, certainly in a Beatle context, but - prize quantity over quality.
3. It is total and utter fucking shit. Fuck you, Paul.

Been listening to a lot of Radiohead lately.Kind of since i watched their Glastonbury 2017 set on tv last month.I loved The Bends album back in 1995, that blazing hot summer i played it to death.Fake Plastic Trees, Bones, Black Star, ... .Then OK Computer in 1997- incredible songs on that; Subterranean Homesick Alien, Exit Music For A Film, Karma Police, Let Down,No Surprises, The Tourist....Brilliant songs and an incredible album and up there with Future Sound Of London's Dead Cities album from the year before as a great 90s album. Then Kid A... hmmm never heard that album in full til recently, i just went right off em when they released that.Some good stuff on their as there is on Amnesiac but that album also i didn't listen to in full til recently but The Pyramid Song and You And Whose Army are standouts and the others i'm getting into gradually.Not a big fan overall of 2003's Hail To The Thief but like every Radiohead album there are 2 or 3 real gems (There There being one of them).I did get into In Rainbows on its release in 2007; Nude, House Of Cards, All I Need and Videotape are really really good.I didn't bother with King Of Limbs in 2011 as i was put off by Lotus Flower but i'm getting to like some of it now, Codex is a massive tune, how did they get that piano sound on that ?And finally last year's Moon Shaped Pool album- possibley my favourite Radiohead album since OK Computer in 1997.Daydreaming,Ful Stop, Identikit, The Numbers, Tinker Tailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief and Love Waits are beyond good.Radiohead transcending.Some, in fact a lot of Thom Yorke's lyrics really hit .So much of their stuff i still haven't heard , b-sides etc.Moon Shaped Pool really is magnificent once, like a lot of their stuff, you give it time. Oh but i hated and still hate Creep and never bothered with the album it was on,Pablo Honey.For me Radiohead starts with The Bends.

Never seen em live but would have loved to have got to their show in Tel Aviv the other week.I love Tel Aviv as i spent some time there in the 90s and i'm big on Radiohead at the moment.Apparently, i never knew this, Israelis kind of kick started Radiohead's career by buying Creep in their droves and making it a number 1 hit there back in 92-93.Apparently Radiohead are forever grateful to Israelis for kick starting their success and as a way of gratitude played one of their longest ever gigs at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv last month.Radiohead took a lot of shit for playing Israel and that's a whole other argument but i liked Thom Yorke's comments on the matter.


Daydreaming from Moon Shaped Pool

Edited by user 28 July 2017 16:35:06(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Been listening to Everything Now by Arcade Fire, liking it a lot more than Reflektor, this album is far more like the sort of thing I thought an album produced by James Murphy would (and should) have sounded like.