Category: Blog

Posted on

“Visits” are real people too.

When trying to write every day, I find myself looking at my WordPress dashboard to see how many visits I’ve had up to that point. When the bar chart goes way higher than the average I get excited; when it is lower or completely empty I get down.

Sitting down to wait for my dinner today I thought to myself that these numbers on the bar charts are real people. Flesh and blood people who have landed on my website by chance. I have the opportunity to share something real with them.

I had recently tried maintaining a music-focussed blog, which I managed to keep up for a few months before leaving it to go stale. Those old reviews and interviews have now been brought under my personal website domain and I’m no longer writing to just “get views”.

Of course, the more people I have visiting me the better, but I’m not going to go out of my way to write things I don’t want to just because I think more people will want to read it. From now on I will try and just tell the truth; my truth.

Along with writeups/reviews of various things I see and do, as well as keeping a journal of sorts, I aim to make this an honest account of my experiences. Anyone who comes along for the ride is a bonus.

Thanks,

Dave.

P.s. if any of you reading this have your own website, let me know in the comments below. Cheers.

Posted on

Building systems for yourself to achieve your goals

Setting goals is the accepted way of aiming for those achievements you want to make. Write a book; buy a house; run a marathon. While having goals is important, more time should be focused on building systems for yourself. These should be designed to help you get there rather than just focusing on the end result.

When you simply have a goal, you are essentially failing until the point at which you achieve it. Even then your success is short lived as you will probably move on to, or already have, other goals to aim for. Creating a system to achieve those goals can be hugely important and beneficial to you. Each action you take can even be treated as a mini success towards your goal.

Running a marathon

For example, I am planning to run a marathon in October. If I just had the goal, I wouldn’t actually reach it until the point at which I cross the finish line. However, with a system in place, in my example it is running every other day, I am consciously making steps towards that goal. Each run I finish is another success towards my end goal.

Writing a book

The same can be said for writing. If your goal is to write a book, then again your goal remains unmet until it is complete. But if you put in place a system to write everyday for a given amount of time, you are always moving towards that final product.

I am trying to take this approach with my blog now. I always picture my blog, like a lot of people, as having many visitors each day who I am actively interacting with. So instead of focusing of that goal alone, I am instead doing my best to publish every day. This way I know I am working towards making those thoughts  a possible reality.

Get started with your system today

Whatever it is that you want to do or achieve, work out what you can do each day to make it happen. What positive habits do you need to beat into yourself in order to get what you want? It doesn’t matter how small the action you take is – if you stick at it and make it a habit, you will soon see the benefits begin to show themselves.

Get started today.

Good luck.

Posted on

Opportunist racism of my morning commute

Yesterday morning I was witness to a bit of casual racism which really got me annoyed and ready to rage at the dickhead who uttered it. There were no bad words used but, nonetheless, his confused intent got to me.

The Setup

The train was pulling into the station as I was waiting to board it with my fellow commuters. I have come to recognise a few of the people who are regulars on my train. One of which is a young lady I tend to notice, as she also gets off at the same station as me at the other end.

As we were boarding, another lady squeezed herself and her travel bag between the first lady and the train in order to get on quicker. The affected lady didn’t seem bothered as she wasn’t barged or anything.

However, a man stood just behind me decided to pipe up and make his thoughts heard.

The utterings of the opportunist racist

Man to lady : “I think she wants to get on there.”

The lady smiled politely.

Man to lady : “She must be important as she’s got her bags.”

Again, the lady acknowledged him but didn’t reply.

Man to lady : “You can tell she’s not British”.

You can tell she’s not British. Like… What the fuck? The lady who squeezed ahead didn’t say a word and to be honest, didn’t seem phased at all by his comments. And while I don’t condone squeezing past people in order to get their seat on a train, I condone even less any excuse for racism.

Firstly there was nothing about the woman to indicate she wasn’t British (whether she actually was or not is completely irrelevant). Secondly, I don’t even know if this idiot knew what he meant by the term “British”. I can guess what he thinks it means though.

In Closing

It really annoys me when people who could otherwise be smart, have this unfounded ideas of “us and them”. The seeds of which are usually planted by the mainstream media or in people’s filter bubbles in Facebook, twitter et al.

We as a people can solve so many complex ideas and theories, we can put people on the moon, but we can’t all get along in an open and friendly manner.

Posted on

Melodrama by Lorde

Melodrama by Lorde is an album I have been waiting for with baited breath, being one of my favourite artists over the past ten years.

I was a little worried by the sound of the album’s first single ‘Green Light’.  I liked the song well enough, however, it didn’t seem to me to have that idiosyncratic sound of Lorde’s. When compared, for example, with Tennis Court from her first album.

That was my initial thought. However, now I have come to listen to the entirety of Melodrama, every song on it is growing on me.

I loved how on this new album she seems to be bringing in a wider array of sounds and styles into her music. It feels somewhat lighter this time around, with the songs feeling much more unified across the album – feeling like a complete arrangement start to finish.

Even on first listening, some songs jumped straight up at me. ‘Writer in the Dark’ is as bare and as beautiful as they come. Her voice climbs higher than I had previously been used to hearing from her and it is glorious. She seemed to me to be channeling the essence of Kate Bush at times in this song.

I think with the huge popularity of ‘Pure Heroine’, her first album, it was always going to be a tough one to follow. There was a worry for me that she would end up pigeonholing herself into the niche that she created. She could have either given us more of the same – playing it safe and giving her fans what they loved, or tried out new things and expanded the boundaries of her sound even further. Her choosing the latter made me very happy and very relieved.

Melodrama has the hallmarks of an instant classic for me. She has taken her signature sound and style, and moved up a level; pushing her sound and our perception of what she is capable of.

You can buy Lorde’s new album on Amazon today.

Posted on

Truth is a beautiful thing by London Grammar

London Grammar’s latest album, ‘Truth is a beautiful thing’ is an absolutely stunning journey of emotion and sweeping scores. I enjoyed their debut too, but this album has just completely got its hooks in me.

Hannah Reid’s voice is simply stunning as she powers through the songs, at times with an air of Florence Welch to her. That, along with the atmospheric music behind her, cause me to almost lose track of time when I’m listening. Sometimes it seems like so much time has passed when in fact only two or three songs have.

The song that hooked me definitely has to be ‘Hell to the liars’. Words can’t describe it’s beauty and the affect it continues to have on me as I keep replaying it. I’ll link a video below as well as a link to buy the album.

London Grammar have quickly become one of my favourite bands in recent days and have been added to my current list of obsessions.

Buy ‘Truth is a beautiful thing’.

Posted on

3 E.P. by Scarlett Taylor

One of my favourite meloncholic artists, Scarlett Taylor, is back with her latest E.P. ‘3’.

All of her previous releases have been great. So my biggest fear with writing about this one was that I would end up repeating myself.

You see, if Scarlett had released similar songs to her previous album, ‘Churches’, although I’d have been perfectly content, I’d have nothing new to say. Luckily for me, she has tried new things with this E.P. which not only expands the variety in her music, but also gives me new ways of discussing it.

In ‘3’ she has gone down a darker path – even occasionally dipping into some more electronic styles. These new ideas of hers don’t create a completely new sound for her, instead they allow her to take her signature style and enrich it even further.

Anybody familiar with her music will know it’s not the most light-hearted of sounds, and with her experimentation on this E.P. she has given herself fresh ways of exploring the darkness.

Her experimentation has allowed her to bring fresh dimensions to her music, further imprinting herself into the very soundwaves she creates.

Posted on

Between hope and danger by Hante

Hante’s music is always a dark, dreamy escape that I am addicted to getting lost into. As soon as I learned of her new release, ‘Between Hope and Danger’, I immediately had to listen to it. From the get go it contained everything I love about her music – mystery-entrenched soundscapes of unapologetic synth. That and her haunting, echo chamber style vocals.

The opening, “Le Point de Non-Retour”, was a dark choice with a Gothic choir accompaniment and a buzzsaw-style style. Characteristic of a relatively new style of music I’ve discovered called “Witch House”.

“Lies // Light” sounds like she’s experimenting with a typical Synthwave / Outrun style, but still in keeping with her own aesthetic. At times this song has sounds that remind me of old-skool Sega MegaDrive games. This is only going to be a good thing.

To my ears, she is at her darkest during the song “Eternite”. A sweeping, eerie synth is met by a devil’s organ and married by her wistful voice.

In the titular song, “Between hope and danger”, I might be mad, but I can hear references to both John Carpenter – who is par for the course in modern electronic music – and Angelo Badalamenti. For those who aren’t familiar with Angelo, he is the man responsible for many of David Lynch’s film scores. “Between hope and Danger” had echoes for me back to his main theme for Mulholland Drive.

All in all this album is a terrific addition to an already impressive body of work.

P.S. If you’d like to get to know the lady behind this great music, you can read my interview with Hante.

Posted on

Welcome Back To Milk by Du Blonde

Welcome back to milk by Du Blonde is fierce, bold and packs a huge punch in its 36 minutes. Du Blonde, real name Beth Jeans Houghton takes us to many different places in this album. I’m excited to introduce you to it.

From the very opening crunching guitar riff of ‘Black Flag’, this album will wake you from any slumber. There’s no half-assed listening to her music with one earbud in. This album demands your full attention and I think you’ll be giving it.

‘Chips to go’ keeps the energy high with her occasional screaming and the super catchy guitar riff. As does the frantic assault on the senses from the later song ‘Mr Hyde’.

As well as her high-energy post-punk style music, Du Blonde also slows things down beautifully in one of my favourite songs, ‘Four in the morning’. With just her voice and piano, she sings with a softness, sitting in contrast to the album’s more aggressive songs. It also leads perfectly into what is perhaps the most experimental song on the album, “Mind is on my mind”

‘Mind is on my mind’ is a song of distinct parts, all unique yet working in the most perfect harmony together. It also makes an excellent example of Beth’s musical sensibilities. The best way I can describe this one is by quoting Beth herself:

I was interested at the time in writing songs with no repeating sections, but rather a succession of acts. A couple of months later, Sam and I took a trip out to the desert and came back to LA to make some music. I played him the track and he got in the booth and ad-libbed his lyrics over the instrumentation. He was done in like one or two takes. When I was back in London I’d become obsessed with these Middle Eastern and Greek guitar scales and I added the lead guitar in the outro as a contrast to Sam’s vocals.

‘Isn’t it wild’ is the perfect closing song for this album, after having being dropped into the blistering ‘Black Flag’ opening. Gorgeous strings, piano and voice being given a vintage echo. Listening to this gave me thoughts of floating gently back out of the album from whence I dropped.

Welcome back to milk has absolutely zero skippable songs, with each one holding an air of experimentation to it. Every one of these songs has been lovingly hand-crafted and come together to make an album that is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Posted on

Faith in humanity restored

I write this post on just another commute into work. The journey in is almost always uneventful, albeit for the occasional train delays and cancellations. However, today was different and my faith in humanity, and what we can accomplish, has been restored – and all from one simple interaction with a stranger.

I pretty much always get a seat on my train due to where I get the train from – one of the only benefits to my journey. Today the train was particularly busy and some people needed to start standing. One of these people was a lady who I noticed had two heavy bags with her.

Out of an automatic response to this I offered her my seat. She replied, “Only if you’re sure?”. I stood up for her and she accepted with thanks. Now, I’m not telling you this to show how much of a gracious person I am. No. I tell you this because of what came next and how it made me feel.

So I stood up for her and she sat, put her bags down, and the train continued on its journey. A few more stops down the track some seats were freed up – I took the opportunity to sit down, where I then proceeded to zone out to Hante’s latest album – it’s great and you should take a listen. Anyway, I digress.

When the train later pulled up at a further stop many people got off. As the train emptied I felt a hand on my shoulder – the same lady was stood over me smiling and said to me, “Have a lovely day”.

I smiled, replied in kind, and she went off on her way.

This small interaction between two perfect strangers highlighted to me the difference that can be made at the smallest level of society – embracing these tiny interactions in a positive way and always being willing to help, or offer help, to those around us. By acting in this way, creating change at the smallest level, we may help to affect positive change at higher levels.

Posted on

For the many not the few…

I’ve not long got back from voting in my first ever General Election. Then after about ten minutes of trying to decide whether or not to put some money on Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister, I closed the browser window – I just don’t have faith in this country to put the right person in power. I really do hope I’m kicking myself tomorrow for not having put that bet on.

I’ve never been a politically-minded person and as such had never voted in any capacity until the Leave / Remain vote last year. This is something I have made a conscious decision to change as of this week. It really is important to get off your ass and vote for the people that you want to represent you over the following four years. Just sitting back and saying “My one vote isn’t going to make a difference” or “They’re all the bloody same” just isn’t good enough. It’s lazy and it’s dangerous.

For my recent political awakening I have Russell Brand to thank with his Under the Skin podcast and Trews video series. Him and and his guests have opened my eyes up to see past all of the sensationalist bullshit that floods the news stands every day. I also have a new appreciation for more ideas around me as well questioning things that I hear; not always taking what I hear at face value.

Here is the video of Russell Brand urging people to register to vote. In the past I had the impression that Russell was a complete idiot. He’s now one of my biggest influences online as well as being one of the sanest political voices out there. Thanks Russell!

If the Conservatives gain power for the next four years, I believe that this country will enter a spiral into an abyss of fear, eroded human rights and regret.

Posted on

Let’s talk about the term ‘Terrorist’

Over the past three months the United Kingdom has witnessed some horrific acts of terrorism. The ones I am specifically referring to here are the Westminster attack on 22nd March 2017, the Manchester arena bombing on 22nd May 2017, and the London Bridge attacks of 3rd June 2017. These are disgusting, unforgivable acts of terror. One of the issues surrounding these, as well as other similar events, that I find frustrating – other than the events themselves, of course – is how the word ‘Terrorist’ or ‘Terror Incident’ gets used.

Seven people have been killed and dozens injured during attacks in two closely connected areas of London on Saturday night. The police are treating the attacks as terrorist incidents.

From the Guardian website report on June 2017 London Bridge attacks.

Officers – including firearms officers – remain on the scene and we are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise.

From the Guardian website report on March 2017 Westminster attack.

Terrorist

The below definitions taken from Dictionary.com

noun

  1. a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism.
  2. a person who terrorizes or frightens others.
  3. (formerly) a member of a political group in Russia aiming at the demoralization of the government by terror.
  4. an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of terrorism or terrorists:
    terrorist tactics.

Let’s not mistake what is happening in these events: people are commiting horrific acts of violence and desctruction; killing, harming and scaring many innocent people – they are, by definition, terrorists. However, within the media you will find quotes like the ones above, discussing how incidents are only being treated as terrorist incidents. One even goes as far as to say “[…] until we know otherwise”. I mean, with all the facts currently available at the time, nothing could change the fact that it is a terror incident.

What do they really mean?

I think what they are really talking about is the origin, nationality and agenda of the attackers. While this is important to find out in the context of the investigations, it makes no difference to the fact that that person, or persons, are terrorists. Plain and simple. If a Christian fundamentalist goes into a crowded place and kills a bunch of people, they are just as much of a terrorist as if a Muslim person did the same – any religeon for that matter (or none). The origin, nationality and agenda of the attacker(s) makes no baring on the outcome they are aiming to achieve.

So why is there such a reluctance to classify an incident, like those mentioned above, as terror incidents until further information is gathered? When the events in question so blatently are.

I was first woken up to this way of phrasing such news by Akala on Frankie Boyle’s Election Autopsy 2015. I have timestamped the link but I strongly urge you to watch the whole discussion.

Continue the discussion

I am not a politically savvy person; these are only my initial thoughts when reading the news of these tragic events. I encourage you to reply if you feel I am completely missing the point in what the news is trying to say. This post isn’t written to just try and get people angry. If anything, I’d like it to get people to think.

Thank you for reading.

Posted on

Ear, ear – Changes in acceptable cinema violence

Back in 1992 Quentin Tarantino released his directorial debut : Reservoir Dogs. Although this is considered a modern classic of cinema, and rightly so, many people lost their shit when this film came out.

The most notable reason for the hostility towards the film was the infamous ear-cutting scene performed by Michael Madsen’s Mr Blonde on Kirk Baltz’s Marvin Nash – even though the act itself is performed off-screen.

Last night I went to see a recent film release: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (don’t judge me), which itself had a scene with somebody getting their ear cut off. The cutter even talks into the severed ear just as Mr Blonde does. King Arthur, however, is rated as 12A and I bet it wont be denied a video release for three years.

What does this say about modern cinema, or about us as people?

Now I’m not somebody who has any complaint about cinema violence – I bloody love it. It’s fun to watch and unless you have trouble differentiated fantasy from reality, or have an already-existing mental condition, is not going to make you want to replicate violence in the film. If you do find yourself wanting to act out certain scenes, please seek medical advice (I mean this sincerely; I’m not trying to be funny).

I’m not a student of Psychology or Film, but I did find it interesting – when watching that film last night – just how the levels of acceptable graphic content have changed in twenty five years. I think we have generally become a lot more decensortized to graphic content in films – I would make the assumption that it’s due to the inherently graphic nature of the world around us. Also the abundance of visceral imagery shared on social media as shocking events and atrocities occur across the globe.

Let’s face it – the modern world is a great deal more horrifying than any film that could be released (All the ones I have seen at least).

It’ll be interesting, perhaps even scary, to see where those levels are in another twenty five years.