Somewhere in between the klaxons remixes (5 of Gravity’s Rainbow alone), fawning over Justice (D.A.N.C.E remix count is now at 6, I have listened to over 25 of those bad boys, most are rubbish) and generally being a busier person I have neglected this blog. The other blog may go by the wayside since it was meant to post pictures but facebook is a superior alternative. That still doesn’t mean that I haven’t had the urge to post things on here for others to read. It just meant that I said them out loud and for that I have to thank Tom, Jill, Rob and anyone else I barraged with nonsense. Things have evolved slightly since then; I still am the fun loving guy that you fell in love with. Maybe I now have a harsher tongue and a greater need to protect my friends and beliefs more than ever. That and I can try to charm you off your feet. You tend to learn to avoid arguments when you grow older just for the sake of peace but sometimes you need a good discussion going that way you can strengthen or weaken your arguments. For example, Britain will struggle to have male winner of Wimbledon because after having played three times, I have improved to the level where may be able to beat Tim Henman, well one set out of 17. Apart from that here are a few other things that have changed.
1) R Kelly, despite his alleged crimes, is a genius. The new episodes of trapped in the closet are amazing, his attempt at an Italian mafia don is hilarious. His portrayal of Italian Americans is almost as bad as the portrayal of white people in that “party like a rock star” song. (Who plays golf with the osbournes?) His remixes demonstrate a new level of chauvinism that hasn’t been seen since caveman times. The Same Girl concept is genius, the genius is mostly seen in the execution of the video. I have had many arguments about what exactly R Kelly and Usher are doing on the weekends. Rob believes that they are aspiring to be old English gentlemen doing these new found American pursuits. Instead of hunting, they are playing basketball. Fishing has gone by the wayside, a scenic drive through the motorways of Chicago. They still do enjoy a drink by the fireplace. I think that they just imagine revenge plots on all the women of the world. They are a reverse of all those man-hating women that you see in romantic comedies. One more thing, I could make a blog with just R Kelly youtube videos. R Belly being my favourite.
2) Kanye West for all his arrogance might be the most important commercial artist in the world today. His battle with 50 Cent was amusing especially since it was dressed up as art vs commercialism. The key factor in this is that Kanye’s work and whole execution is to make it commercial viable. His artwork taken from artists he admires, this may be revolutionary in the states but it is huge elsewhere. The everyman rapping means that it is more accessible than lets say rapping about a black card. Whilst 50 Cent never had to worry about appeasing to foreign crowds (although he hated the fact that he was called a fake thug by a transvestite on French tv), the formula worked then. No one cared that his first two albums where formulaic. His sing songy hooks worked for us. It worked across the world. His cadence was fresh and provided something that was distinctive at the time. Now we are bored, have you tried to dance to ayo technology? I semi like the beat, in a club it sounds horrible, that being said I am pretty angry about Stronger. Stronger should have been a better song. Drums and rapping on that song are poor. People over here seem to love it. The best song on the Kanye album is Flashing Lights. The synths on the track are pretty damn good, that rapping style switches up very well. The key to the song is the strings; a lot of Mr West’s early production contained the work of Miri Ben Alim. A violinist that added a lush element to his soul samples, I think that she is all over the first album most notably on the “workout plan” and also on Twista’s Overnight Celebrity. Dwele might be the best chorus singer in hip hop right now. That’s better than Lily Allen, Chris Martin (who is a hip hop curse apart from Kanye’s album where it is funny hearing him sing Michigan), Adam Levine (horrible on the Ying Yang Twins album, grating on Kanye’s second disc) and Kelis (who was a integral part of early neptune’s production). The instrumental of the song will be finding its way into my mixes for a while.
3) My mixes are still being made, I have been selfless recently and was making themed ones. Now since I am on break I am making a huge (maybe 2 hours) self contained mix. I am aiming to make it like the great mixes that you can buy like the back to mine series or the late night tales. Either way a mix that can truly represent what I have been listening to recently. So that means putting Hall and Oates with the Gallows with a blend of The Rapture.
4) Cooking for other, although painful at the time is ultimately redeeming. Case in point Sunday roasts baby. Great when you are suffering from a hangover. Just bang it in the oven and then you have some food in about 2 hours time. Try it, your friends will love it and in turn you even more.
5) The death of clubbing, as far as I see, now this may change by next week (flash visit to paris). It is done in the casual sense. To many people who wanted things to do on a Saturday night will not go out anymore because it is too cold. Now I don’t smoke but many of my friends do. They seem to be complaining that the problem is that when you drink the urge to smoke is too great, so great that it ruins that evening. People will just revert to staying at home and saving money. Less discernable income spent means that less money for taxes and more smokers being a drain on the NHS.
6) This year has been quite kind in turns of music. Kings of Leon, Interpol, Kanye West, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Justice, Jamie T, Dizzee Rascal, The Rakes, Chromeo, Dj Medhi, Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys, Lcd Soundsystem, Mark Ronson, Midnight Juggernauts, Mr Hudson and Shy Child. Don’t recognise some of these bands, I suggest you youtube them and decided which ones you like.
7) I have completed the casio watch collection, I need something new that is relatively cheap to collect. I could have had the collection a lot earlier but I drank a lot of it already. I already own a game gear.
8) My mother says I own a lot of vacuous tee shirts with no real meaning. She is right but she doesn’t look cool when she is wearing a Beastie Boys License to Ill tour tee shirt. Whilst wearing it someone asked if I went and saw them in concert. Bearing in mind that it was in 1987 I would have been two years old.
9) I still need to write the remixes piece because it explains why I love them so much. Not just the new music but the idea that something that is recognisable can be changed to suit it in a different form. Take Hard-Fi’s Surburban Knights remix. A fairly average indie rock song with a huge chant in the background of a chorus can, in remix form, be made it a middle of the morning Ibiza battle cry. That is with a song that a barely like, imagine what I will say about my favourite remix (as of the 18th of September 2007) Klaxons Gtavity’s Rainbow remix by Van She.
10) Say hello to me once in a while. I have been bad but you guys have been poor as well.