David Peach

Category: Journal

  • 📂

    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’.

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    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.

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    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.

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  • 📂

    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.

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  • 📂

    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.

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  • 📂

    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.

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  • 📂

    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.

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  • 📂

    The act of writing itself is a great fuel for ideas. Started one post and came up with a completely different type of post halfway through.

  • 📂

    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.

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  • 📂

    Going through old books – memories of times long past

    Yesterday I finally got round to sorting through a load of old books of mine that I have collected over the years. To anyone watching from the outside these will just look like a mess of old books on varying subjects – Clive Barker novels; Derren Brown-recommended psychology books; Music Theory and scale books. To me, these represent certain pockets of my life so far; different interests that have grabbed me and become an obsession at one time or another.

    Sorting through these books is the first time in a long time that I have reminisced about times gone by, if only for the moment of time it took to carry them upstairs.

    I also couldn’t help but think “What if I’d stayed on that particular path?”, for a given collection of books. For example, as I started to get into Web Development seriously, learning guitar kind of took a back seat to that. Although I do still play, I don’t put in ten hour sessions anymore. Partially due to the fact that I can’t get away with three day work weeks anymore. Boo hoo for me, right? But I can’t help but imagine how much more I could have progressed with the guitar had I stayed on that path.

    Then there was my whole Derren Brown phase, where – after reading one of his autobiographies – I bought and read most of the books he recommended in it. I practised memorisation techniques; trying to read peoples true intentions through involuntary eye movements. I could even look through a deck of cards, with one card removed, and tell you instantly which one was missing.

    But don’t get me wrong, I’m not regretful of how things came to be – after all it brought me to my lovely lady. Plus it’s not as though those things are gone, they just need to be awoken once again.

    What things do you own that trigger memories of your past?

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