tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18731679147620179052024-03-13T20:32:01.803+00:00brixton via anywheremuldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.comBlogger224125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-52688940125891975322016-11-27T18:15:00.002+00:002016-11-27T18:17:57.206+00:00the top 10 albums, songs, comedy shows, music gigs and london restaurants of 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
....there's also room for some awards for a few other things that were great this year. It's my annual best of the year lists everybody!<br />
<br />
<b>Top 10 albums of 2016</b> <br />
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1. David Bowie - Black Star<br />
2. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool<br />
3. The 1975 - I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it (fucking terrible title, though)<br />
4. Chance the Rapper - Colouring Book<br />
5. Anil Sebastian - Mesonoxian<br />
6. ANOHNI - Hopelessness<br />
7. Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future<br />
8. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition<br />
9. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - I Need You<br />
10. Anderson .Paak - Malibu<br />
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<br />
<b>Top 10 songs of 2016</b><br />
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1114719063/playlist/3nQDlfMxNNPsO6YHpAzWqj" target="_blank">Listen to this list on Spotify</a><br />
<br />
1. Francis and the Lights - Friends (ft. Bon Iver)<br />
2. Beyoncé - Freedom (ft. Kendrick Lamar) (this track isn't included in the Spotify playlist because <br />
Beyoncé things her album alone will influence the entire streaming market)<br />
3. Gallant - Bourbon<br />
4. Christine and the Queens - Tilted<br />
5. Klangstof - Hostage<br />
6. The Weeknd - Starboy<br />
7. James Blake - I Need A Forest Fire<br />
8. Tegan & Sara - Stop Desire<br />
9. Mystery Jets - Telomere<br />
10. HONNE & Izzy Bizu - Someone That Loves You<br />
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<br />
<b>Top 10 comedy gigs of 2016</b><br />
<br />
1.
Daniel Kitson - Daniel Kitson Presents An Insufficient Number of
Underdeveloped Ideas Over Ninety Testing Minutes Starting At Noon<br />
2.James Acaster, ARG Com Fest<br />
3. Ellie Taylor - Infidelliety<br />
4. Joel Dommett at Underbelly Southbank <br />
5. Russell Brand at The Pleasance, Islington <br />
6. Richard Gadd - Monkey See Monkey Do<br />
7. Stewart Lee at Soho Theatre<br />
8. Michael McIntyre at Soho Theatre <br />
9. Luisa Omielan at the BBC Radio Theatre<br />
10. Tom Ballard - The World Keeps Happening<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Top 10 gigs of 2016</b><br />
<br />
1. Radiohead, Primavera<br />
2. Coldplay, Glastonbury<br />
3. Elton John, Apple Music Festival<br />
4. Floating Points, 6 Music Festival<br />
5. Craig David's TS5, Glastonbury<br />
6. Kiasmos, Primavera <br />
7. BBC Proms at a multi-story car park in Peckham<br />
8. Anil Sebastian, The ICA<br />
9. Explosions In The Sky, Brixton Academy<br />
10. James Blake, Field Day<br />
<br /><br />
<b>Top 10 restaurants of 2016</b><br />
<br />
1. Kricket, Brixton<br />
2. Hoppers, Soho<br />
3. Chai Ki, Canary Wharf<br />
4. Le Bab, Soho <br />
5. El Xampanyet, Barcelona<br />
6. Cheeky Burger (street food, various)<br />
7. Berber & Q, Haggerston<br />
8. Nanban, Brixton<br />
9. Restaurante Ababuja, Alvor, Portugal <br />
10. Other Side fried chicken (street food, various)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Some other awards</b><br />
.<br />
TV show of the year - Taskmaster <br />
DJ set of the year - Roni Size & DJ Krust, 6 Music Festival<br />
Worst ad campaign -those god damn Book A Table ones. "Food doesn't
kill people, sofas do"? "You can't take away atmosphere"? You can
entirely fuck off, lads<br />
Exhibition of the year - World Press Photo exhibition, amazing as ever<br />
<br />
<br />
I've been doing these lists for 11 actual years now. You can take a look at the previous top 10 album lists from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-top-10-singles-albums-comedy-shows.html" target="_blank">2015</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-top-10-albums-singles-gigs-and.html">2014</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-top-10-albums-and-songs-of-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html">2010</a>,<a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html"> 2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html">2008</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2008.html">2007</a>, as well as the top 10 singles from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-top-10-singles-albums-comedy-shows.html" target="_blank">2015</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-top-10-albums-singles-gigs-and.html">2014</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-top-10-albums-and-songs-of-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-singles-of-2010.html">2010</a>,<a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html"> 2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html">2008</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html">2007</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-top-10-singles-of-2006.html">2006</a>, if you like.</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-64616642839226975172015-12-08T21:41:00.001+00:002015-12-08T22:13:20.108+00:00the top 10 singles, albums, comedy shows, music gigs and london restaurants of 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
....there's also room for some awards for other stuff that was great this year. It's my annual best of the year lists everybody!<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The top 10 singles of 2015</b><br />
<a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/1114719063/playlist/1cH2cyqOaAhv3gPkxwHd8x">Listen to this list on Spotify</a><br />
<br />
1. Kendrick Lamar - The Blacker The Berry<br />
2. The Chemical Brothers - Go <br />
3. Skepta - Shutdown<br />
4. Hot Chip - Huarache Lights <br />
5. !!! - Freedom '15 <br />
6. INHEAVEN - Regeneration<br />
7. Romare - Motherless Child <br />
8. Spector - All The Sad Young Men <br />
9. Chvrches - Leave A Trace <br />
10. Jack Garrett - The Love You're Given<br />
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<b>The top 10 albums of 2015</b> <br />
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1. Wolf Alice - Your Love is Cool<br />
2. Jamie XX - In Colour <br />
3. Tame Impala - Currents <br />
4. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness<br />
5. Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too <br />
6. Editors - IN DREAM <br />
7. Florence & The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful<br />
8. JME - Integrity><br />
9. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass<br />
10. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell <br />
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<b>The top 10 comedy shows of 2015 </b><br />
<br />
1. Joseph Morpurgo - Soothing Sounds For Baby <br />
2. Trygve Wakenshaw - Nautilous <br />
3. Daniel Kitson - Polyphony <br />
4. Romesh Ranganathan, Latitude festival <br />
5. Daniel Kitson - Tree <br />
6. The Story Beast <br />
7. Sofie Hagan - Bubblewrap <br />
8. Seymor Mace - Niche as F**k <br />
9. Sam Simmons - Spaghetti For Breakfast <br />
10. Daphne Do Edinburgh <br />
<br />
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<b>The top 10 London restaurants of 2015</b> <br />
<br />
1. Hubbard & Bell at The Hoxton Holborn Hotel <br />
2. Homeslice <br />
3. Chiltern Firehouse <br />
4. Gymkhana <br />
5 Smokestak <br />
6. Bao <br />
7. Dishoom <br />
8. Flat Iron <br />
9. Barrafina <br />
10. Chicken Shop (exclusively for their apple pie, though) <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The top 10 music gigs of 2015 </b><br />
<br />
1. Skepta, Collins Music Hall <br />
2. The Chemical Brothers, Apple Music Festival <br />
3. Foo Fighters, Radio 1's Big Weekend <br />
4. Ed Sheeran, Latitude Festival <br />
5. Mbongwana Star, Oval Space <br />
6. Nils Frahm, Camden Roundhouse <br />
7. Radio 1's Ibiza Prom, Royal Albert Hall <br />
8. The Knife, Brixton Academy<br />
9. Drenge, Glastonbury Festival <br />
10. The Weeknd, Apple Music Festival <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Here's some awards for other good stuff</b> <br />
<br />
Film of 2015 - A Syrian Love Story <br />
Play of 2015 - A View From The Bridge <br />
Article of 2015 - Frankie Boyle <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/20/britain-criminally-stupid-race-immigration">'Britain's criminally stupid attitudes to race and immigration are beyond parody'</a>. <br />
Moment of 2015 - Hot Chip finish their Glastonbury set with a big old seven minute cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” that morphed into LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends”. <br />
<br />
<br />
This year is the tenth anniversary of making these bloody lists. You can check out my previous top 10 albums from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-top-10-albums-singles-gigs-and.html">2014</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-top-10-albums-and-songs-of-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html">2010</a>,<a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html"> 2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html">2008</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2008.html">2007</a>, as well as my top 10 singles from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-top-10-albums-singles-gigs-and.html">2014</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-top-10-albums-and-songs-of-2013.html">2013</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html">2011</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-singles-of-2010.html">2010</a>,<a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html"> 2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html">2008</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html">2007</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-top-10-singles-of-2006.html">2006</a>. </div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-89892986813282635212015-05-15T01:06:00.000+01:002015-05-15T01:06:03.219+01:00eight photos that show the beauty and chaos of tyler, the creator's gig in london<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QNliZ74bd_0/VVUzsHKjtSI/AAAAAAAAJ6w/6gLNGDv3Y6s/s1600/IMG_0308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QNliZ74bd_0/VVUzsHKjtSI/AAAAAAAAJ6w/6gLNGDv3Y6s/s400/IMG_0308.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Gig started<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-spgOUib4KgA/VVUz6Rpp39I/AAAAAAAAJ7I/ysWVCt3q3bc/s1600/IMG_0423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-spgOUib4KgA/VVUz6Rpp39I/AAAAAAAAJ7I/ysWVCt3q3bc/s400/IMG_0423.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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People took pictures<br /></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9wsrkfvb_vg/VVUz63NLVvI/AAAAAAAAJ7M/tMT2ty3VEeM/s1600/IMG_0438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9wsrkfvb_vg/VVUz63NLVvI/AAAAAAAAJ7M/tMT2ty3VEeM/s400/IMG_0438.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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People got happy </div>
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<img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NMZ7Yr6IBiI/VVUzz6Q2YeI/AAAAAAAAJ7A/MTf3NRiXf8U/s400/IMG_0360.JPG" width="400" /><br />People needed to charge their phones<br /></div>
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Some people sang some songs<br /></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ddp_ndMqoYQ/VVUzvGCDiAI/AAAAAAAAJ64/oZCEk_HZx-E/s1600/IMG_0373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ddp_ndMqoYQ/VVUzvGCDiAI/AAAAAAAAJ64/oZCEk_HZx-E/s400/IMG_0373.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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People liked the people that were singing the songs</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cYaIpPMil6c/VVU0HwTGwmI/AAAAAAAAJ7k/ecDrpVoxNLM/s1600/IMG_0589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cYaIpPMil6c/VVU0HwTGwmI/AAAAAAAAJ7k/ecDrpVoxNLM/s400/IMG_0589.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Tyler, The Creator threw his t-shirt into the audience, a lot of people wanted it </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vj2ynM1q4A0/VVU0EkKgpLI/AAAAAAAAJ7g/JKXKEQvJyig/s1600/IMG_0658.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vj2ynM1q4A0/VVU0EkKgpLI/AAAAAAAAJ7g/JKXKEQvJyig/s400/IMG_0658.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Outside, a man did a gig in the street and caused a roadblock until the police came</div>
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muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-84591867833999586412015-05-06T18:36:00.003+01:002015-05-06T18:39:29.400+01:00daniel kitson: "my fears"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Reposted from Daniel's mailing list, which you can - and should - sign up to here: <a href="http://www.danielkitson.com/">http://www.danielkitson.com/</a></i><br />
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Im in Australia at the moment and i’m really quite scared about the election. You know the one? Our election. The UK one.</div>
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I’m sure you all know who you’re going to vote for and i wouldn't presume to change that - except to say that If any of you are considering, even momentarily, a vote for the Conservative Party. Then that is utterly unfathomable to me and you must be under labouring under some terrible delusion, hypnotised, disengaged to the point of being dangerous or simply an absolute unmitigated disgrace of a person.</div>
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Maybe that seems a bit much. </div>
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But - if you’re planning on voting Conservative, just have a good proper think why you’re doing that. It took me a very long time to stop ordering pork belly every time it was on the menu no matter the meal, the time of day or the hygiene rating of the establishment. - We all make bad decisions through habit. Thats all i’m saying. </div>
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Maybe you haven't thought about the election at all because you’ve had too much on with your “own stuff”. Maybe you’ve sworn off voting entirely - initially inspired by but more recently in defiance of, Russell Brand. Maybe you are basing your decision on who has the most “personality” Or maybe, “they” “all” seem equally odious and you wish a “curse” on all “their” “houses” You believe in short - they are all the same.</div>
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It’s easy to feel that way i think, but its dangerous - it serves only the incumbent and fundamentally - its not true, “They” are not “all” the “same”.</div>
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I have often felt underwhelmed and let down by <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.3250007629395px;">the Labour Party in opposition primarily because too often they have seemed unwilling or unable to articulate an ethical and/or idealogical argument against the policies and actions of the coalition which have, to my mind, been entirely driven by ideology (albeit duplicitously obfuscated with protestations of fiscal necessity in times of crisis). </span></div>
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I wanted to hear big, brave arguments being made about humanity and compassion and responsibility. Arguments based in ethical ideas and idealogical integrity. I wanted someone to point out that the Conservative reliance on ultra wealthy donors is not the same as the Labour reliance on the unions and that serving the self interest of the wealthy has never sent good things trickling down to the poor. I wanted the terms of the debate to shift and the premise of the entire argument to change from fiscal legitimacy to social justice and it never did. </div>
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It has felt, to me, for a long time like the Labour Party have been trying to win a game, the rules of which have been defined by the Conservative party and allowed to stand unchallenged by a compliant press. A game that if they seem for a second like winning will be ruled illegitimate by the very people who invented the rules. </div>
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As i mentioned - I am currently in Australia, showing off, but even here with an entire planet between us to muffle it, i am staggered by the extent of the Conservative scaremongering, the attacks on Ed Miliband, the intimidation of those who support him and the heartbreaking success all this seems to be having in distracting people from the whole scale decimation of public services and the litany of broken promises and the sickening self interest that characterises the last five years.</div>
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So whilst there are things i wish had been said and arguments i wish had been made, whilst i feel, the strength and nature of my objections are often insufficiently represented by the opposition currently available - I am not scared of the democratically mandated politicians of the SNP (I would be absolutely delighted for them to drag the Labour party to the left in one of the sweetest coalitions i can dream of) I am not scared of Europe (I like a lot of its food and want to drive my camper van there) I am not scared of Immigration and I am not scared of higher taxes (I am ultra wealthy and you can have loads of it). I am scared of two things. - Firstly, Witches (Obviously, I'm not stupid) and secondly the prospect of another Conservative led government actively disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of people. </div>
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I’m in Australia (have i mentioned that?) and i’m very tired now, its 2.42 in the morning, i’ve not quite managed to say my piece and i’m going to bed. </div>
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Obviously if you are planning on voting for Ukip then there has clearly been some mistake that has led you to my mailing list. - you don't belong here. You were probably added to my mailing list by some crafty, comedy savvy immigrant who having been wronged by your loathsome insularity is looking to exact some odd revenge by subjecting you to sporadic marketing emails from a dwindling comic force. You can just click on unsubscribe and go about your misguided and fearful day full of confused, angry and cowardly chores. </div>
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All the best. </div>
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GOODBYE FOREVER. </div>
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Daniel<br />
<br />
<br />
ps - I struggled a bit writing this - it was partially the tiredness (I am in Australia), partially not wanting to tell people things they already think (but probably think better than me) and it was partially resistance to jingoistic hyperbole (even when i agree with the thing being jingoistically hyperbolised). Whilst i was writing it - a friend send me a link to this article by robert webb and i think its very good - its basically what i'd have definitely written if i wasn't so tired and upside down and was, you know better at it and more informed.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/05/robert-webb-ed-miliband-might-not-be-kind-leader-you-put-t-shirt-he-still-needs-my" style="color: #4285f4; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.newstatesman.com/politics/<wbr></wbr>2015/05/robert-webb-ed-<wbr></wbr>miliband-might-not-be-kind-<wbr></wbr>leader-you-put-t-shirt-he-<wbr></wbr>still-needs-my</a></div>
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muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-68712630186452336132014-12-19T00:20:00.000+00:002014-12-19T00:20:56.279+00:00the top 10 albums, singles, gigs and comedians of 2014 + end of year awards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here are the Top 10 albums, singles, gigs and comedians of the year,
as well as awards for the film, exhibition and articles of the year.
Maybe I could call these awards 'The Muldoons'? Thoughts welcome. As with previous years, an act can only appear in the top 10 albums list, or the top 10 singles list, not both.<br />
<br />
A couple of weeks ago I also put up my annual review of the year mixtape, and it was such a great year, the shortest I could make it was double the length of the previous years! You can listen/subscribe to it on Spotify <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/1114719063/playlist/7tbCWilUF98xL7XhiXXCIA" target="_blank">here</a> or on Youtube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLghpMmaog-sIIxefSh78fowdyhEe3gfNZ" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Top 10 Albums of the Year<br />
<br />
1. The War on Drugs - Lost in The Dream<br /> 2. St. Vincent - St. Vincent<br /> 3. Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters - Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar<br /> 4. Damien Rice - My Favorite Faded Fantasy<br /> 5. The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave<br /> 6. FKA Twigs - LP1<br /> 7. Caribou - Our Love<br /> 8. Kiasmos - Kiasmos<br /> 9. Coldplay - Ghost Stories<br /> 10. SBTRKT - Wonder Where We Land<br />
<br />
Top 10 Songs of the Year<br />
<br />
1. Sia - Chandelier<br /> 2. Tourist ft. Lianne La Havas - Patterns<br /> 3. Jenny Lewis - Just One of the Guys<br /> 4. Lowell - The Bells<br /> 5. Ed Sheeran - Sing<br /> 6. Elbow - My Sad Captains<br /> 7. Duke Dumont - I Got U (ft. Jax Jones)<br /> 8. Bonobo - Flashlight<br /> 9. Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting on You)<br /> 10. Royal Blood - Little Monster<br />
<br />
Top 10 Gigs of the Year:<br />
<br />
1. Prince, Koko<br /> 2. Pharrell, Wireless<br /> 3. Mogwai, Glastonbury<br /> 4. Prince, the Roundhouse<br /> 5. Nine Inch Nails, The O2<br /> 6. Robert Plant, Roundhouse<br /> 7. Olafur Arnalds, Roundhouse<br /> 8. Nas: Illmatic in full, Lovebox<br /> 9. Prom 57: Mahler - Symphony No. 2, 'Resurrection', Royal Albert Hall<br /> 10. Dolly Parton, Glastonbury<br />
<br />
Top 10 Comedy shows of the Year<br />
<br />
1. Alex Horne: Monsieur Butterfly<br /> 2. James Acaster: Recognise<br /> 3. Daniel Kitson: Captain Bang Bang's Magic Castle, The Hob<br /> 4. Sara Pascoe: Sara Pascoe vs History<br /> 5. Mark Watson: Flaws<br /> 6. Pappy's<br /> 7. Bec Hill<br /> 8. Red Bastard<br /> 9. McNeil and Pamphilon Go 8-bit<br /> 10. Cupcakes with Colebook & Khoshsokhan<br />
<br />
Film of the Year: Pride<br /> Exhibition of the Year: Exhibit B (yes, that one that protestors prevented from opening in London)<br /> Article of the Year: <a href="https://decorrespondent.nl/541/why-we-should-give-free-money-to-everyone/20798745-cb9fbb39" target="_blank">Why We Should Give Free Money to Everyone</a>, by Rutger Bregman (there's also a short version available <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/free-money-might-be-the-best-way-to-end-poverty/2013/12/29/679c8344-5ec8-11e3-95c2-13623eb2b0e1_story.html" target="_blank">here</a>)<br />
The Onion Award for Best Onion Article About US Gun Policy: <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this,36131/" target="_blank">‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens'</a> - The
Onion<br />
<br />
Fans of ye olden day music can also reminisce about my top 10 albums from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-top-10-albums-and-songs-of-2013.html" target="_blank">2013</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">,<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2010</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">,</span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;"> 2009</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2008</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> and </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2008.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2007</a></span>, as well as my top 10 singles from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-top-10-albums-and-songs-of-2013.html" target="_blank">2013</a>,<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-singles-of-2010.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2010</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;"> 2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2008</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2007</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-top-10-singles-of-2006.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2006</a>. Maybe when I hit 10 years of singles countdowns I'll do a top 10 countdown of the last 10 years. Treat the blog on our anniversary.</span></span></div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-43282138088988762782014-12-01T17:22:00.000+00:002014-12-04T21:41:56.140+00:00zane lowe, coldplay and bbc 6 music: has the festive countdown been ruined forever?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ed9aKX8toiQ/VHymD-9jYzI/AAAAAAAAGzI/-He8E-qLWIs/s1600/p02c6xn1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ed9aKX8toiQ/VHymD-9jYzI/AAAAAAAAGzI/-He8E-qLWIs/s1600/p02c6xn1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There are some that suggest that the magic of awards
season has fallen away somewhat in our modern world. Are they right? Let's
examine the issue via Relentless energy drink's </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">(<a href="http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/brands/relentless.html" target="_blank">just the 50.6g of sugar and 160mgs of caffeine per can, folks</a>!) lead </span><a href="http://www.relentlessenergy.com/people/zane_lowe.html" target="_blank">brand ambassador Zane Lowe</a></span><span style="font-size: small;">,
who has - for the
third year running - mined his BBC Radio 1 show's longstanding 'Hottest
Record in the World Right Now' feature to create a 100 strong list that
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04smyvm" target="_blank">this week</a> will be placed in order, from the least greatest, to the most
greatestest.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Nobody of sound mind could contest that it needs to fall
to somebody around here to work out what the greatest song of 2014 is.
This is no superficial matter, dear reader. What could be more vital than
finding out whether Sam Smith or Bastille represent the greater pop high
of 2014? But more on that thorny issue later. Such countdowns are quite the en vogue thing at the BBC
lately. You'll surely instantly recall that last year, to celebrate their
first decade on air, BBC 6 Music compiled '<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/lTSTgHn1zW3lY0TXg3dr98/6-musics-100-greatest-hits-the-top-100" target="_blank">6 Music's Greatest Hits</a>', inviting
Joey Public to vote for the 100 best songs released over that same 10 year
span.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As one could perhaps expect, fans of the participating acts were
keen to see their favourite songs do well, and so piled in to cast their ballots. Soon after, seeing an opportunity to deftly spin publicity from
such good-hearted public service broadcasting, plucky acts realised they
could use their Twitter and Facebook accounts to ask their fans to vote,
possibly helping push them higher up the all important final league table.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Amongst said plucky upstart bands experimenting in these
bold new promotional frontiers were London four piece Coldplay, who scraped
together what votes they could from their 13 million Twitter followers
and 38 million Facebook fans, in the process narrowly managing to nudge
victory in the poll in their favour.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It might dismay you to learn that there were dissenting
fringe voices within music journalism that had the temerity to suggest
that Clocks by Coldplay isn't the greatest song of the last decade. Of course, such comical views will hold no weight here.
They may even have suggested that Clocks by Coldplay isn't even the best
Coldplay song of the last ten years, hotly contested race we all know that
to be. Well if you manage to find traces of any of these voices then post
their Twitter handles in the comments so we can all online bully the fuck
out of them. We, of course, will stand together in our respect for the
honourable decision of the ballot box.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So perhaps it can actually be true that Lowe's poll this
week will come down to whoever has the most <strike>fawning and gullible</strike> 'active'
fanbase? In search of evidence, there's actually a fun game to be played
in counting up the likes and retweets in order to get a good idea of what
the top five will be. So *drum roll* here comes Drowned in Sound's possibly
exclusive (!!) unveiling of the top five: 1. Coldplay (they'll obviously
win, with their ample 32,637 likes, 1,357 retweets and 3,137 favourites)
2. The 1975 (11,081 likes, 1,228 retweets, 2,826 favourites) 3. Sam Smith
(12,503 likes, 392 retweets, 1,280 favourites) 4. Ed Sheeran (a paltry
1,427 likes, but a solid 1,266 retweets and 3,680 favourites) and
5. Bastille (4.300 likes, 307 retweets, 870 likes). Memo to Sheeran's social
media team: raise your Facebook game.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Anybody choosing to suggest that this marshalling of fanbases
may be ever so slightly turning the process into something other than a
noble quest to determine the year's best song may at least be able to spare
a thought for the management of Kasabian, who've only had <a href="https://twitter.com/KasabianHQ/status/534420809746776064" target="_blank">60 retweets</a></span><span style="font-size: small;">
so far for their 'Eez-eh' campaign, somewhat raising the possibility that
even Kasabian's loyal fanbase have come to recognise it as 2014's worst
song. It's an even more dire set of circumstances meanwhile at The Horrors
battle HQ, who've managed to enlist just <a href="https://twitter.com/horrorsofficial/status/534669693446287360" target="_blank">13 retweets</a></span><a href="https://twitter.com/horrorsofficial/status/534669693446287360" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><u></u></span></a><span style="font-size: small;">.
Special mention must also be given to the social media interns representing
Team Disclosure</span><span style="font-size: small;">
(<a href="https://twitter.com/disclosure/status/534423008086327296" target="_blank">12 retweets</a>) and Team Metronomy</span><span style="font-size: small;">
(<a href="https://twitter.com/disclosure/status/534423008086327296" target="_blank">9 retweets</a>) for not being sufficiently versed with Twitter to yet know
that if you tweet your promotional message as a direct reply to @zanelowe,
rather than as a publicly viewable message, none of your fanbase are going
to see it. It's certainly not a mistake you'd catch Team Slipknot (<a href="https://twitter.com/slipknot/status/536975823866048512" target="_blank">246 retweets</a>) making</span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Congratulations then to Coldplay, whose prize is a valuable
little moment of #Q4 publicity. Chris Martin will say something simultaneously
lightly amusing and self deprecating, and will also be sure to mention
how Coldplay have the absolute best fans in the world. All of the online
voting commotion clearly points to the true purpose of our modern festive
countdown: no night time radio show could ever hope to engage this many
potential listeners by just sitting around and drawing up their own top
10 songs of the year list. There's a radio show to promote, and albums
to sell before Christmas. Campaigning awards are here to stay. As the final winner is revealed
on Thursday, we should celebrate the infallible
methods these countdowns have of determining once and for all the greatest song of the year.</span>
</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-35620693880299236342014-07-07T21:04:00.003+01:002014-07-07T21:04:48.827+01:00i saw kanye and pharrell at wireless festival, kanye went on a big rant and it was pretty awful<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Have to say, I
couldn't have been happier with our Friday evening plans in London
town: off to Finsbury Park in glittery North London we were to go, to
enjoy a spot of Kanye West and Pharrell Williams of an evening. Let's spare you the finer details and indulge in heartfelt emotional reaction for now.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Of Pharrell, let's
say this much: beforehand we were reeling off a list of five tracks
it would be jaw-on-floor deliriously excited to have included in the
setlist, and every one of them was - plus two neither of us dared
dream might be included.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We were also profoundly
moved by Pharrell's thoughtful and impassioned speech that called
upon the ladies of the audience to rise up and make 2014 the year of
female empowerment. Pharrell! You hero! Come on board! What a key cog
in the flourishing fourth wave of feminism you'll be! Like we said,
we were genuinely moved by Pharrell's sermon, and didn't feel it
remotely undermined 15 minutes later by the performance of one of his
big hit songs of 2013, where he and his pals famously sing their
wholehearted tribute to consent and the No More Page 3 campaign:
Blurred Lines.</div>
<div class="im">
<br />At least we can rely on Kanye West for a
consistent viewpoint on gender politics though, right gang? (Sample
<i>Yeezus</i> lyrics: "<i>hurry up with my damn massage/hurry up
with my damn ménage/get the Porsche out the damn garage</i>")</div>
<div class="im">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
Anybody that's
familiar with Kanye's live show will be aware that he's become
partial to an occasional rant or two. Tonight's is much longer than
I'd previously witnessed. A fair estimate, avoiding all temptation to
exaggerate, would put this at a 15 minute long tirade. A harsh critic
might suggest that this was something of a drop in pace from the rest
of his set, but it's okay Kanye! We understand! I get nervous and
ramble when I have to do public speaking too! During a strict
Catholic upbringing, I was in a school play re-enacting Jesus's
crucifixion, and formed part of a mob that had to repeatedly chant
“crucify him!”. I had gotten quite into the role, but had not
heard the previous instruction to only chant said phrase three times,
meaning my young self chanted “crucify him!” at the top of his
enthusiastic voice, on his own, to his entire hysterical school. I've
gotten nervous about public speaking ever since that day, but I've
learnt some tips I feel I can pass on to Kanye whenever he too gets
all 'angsty' in front of a crowd: if you want to hold their
attention, make your point in two minutes, not fifteen! You'll still
have people's attention then! They'll totally get on board with your
'vibe'!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
One doesn't doubt
that there's truth in Kanye's claims that he's felt discrimination
from the fashion industry, but by the end of the 15 minute rant,
nobody was listening anyway. Amongst the many, many heckles audible
from the crowd came calls such as "move it on, bitch!" and
"I seriously don't know how he's going to come back from this".
He partly does; he knows most of his fans would rather stick around
and hear tracks like Through The Wire, All of The Lights, and All
Falls Down than go home early, but tonight still represents perhaps
the worst a Kanye show can be without actually turning the whole
thing into a KLF-esque experiment in actively trying to ruin as many
people's nights as possible. <br /><br />Elsewhere, fond memories remain
of Kanye stopping 'the Good Life' halfway through to insist that
whoever controls the feeds to the giant videoscreens that flank the
stage not cut between different camera angles – God forbid they
might try and give the impression of a dynamic live experience –
because the camera angle which is head on with Kanye is Kanye's
favourite camera angle. For our money, we delighted in the revelation
that Kanye evidently insists on having monitors in his eye-line on
stage at all times so he can constantly watch how the audience is
seeing him perform on stage. The realisation was of great comfort to
us on our two hour commute to Old Street.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.5cm;">
I am therefore happy
to recommend Pharrell for all future festival headliner engagements.
Kanye has begun the final stage of transformation into the celebrity
he's going to be – his Axl Rose phase, if you will. And like Axl,
he'll perhaps be better off in the long run if we don't continue to
give him our attention and money year after year, tour after tour.
And with that, we're off to listen to <a href="http://youtu.be/mXC3h95PtDY" target="_blank">She Wants to Move</a> again.</div>
</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-18766835403789415002014-04-30T23:39:00.000+01:002014-12-01T17:28:06.784+00:00burning man 2013: The drowned in sound review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="editorial">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been feeling pretty ready for my big trip to Burning Man.
We're driving thorough the Nevada desert (perfect soundtrack discovered:
the Chromatics album), and I'm wowing my recently introduced campmates
with some piece of Burning Man knowledge I've previously picked up.
'I'll be honest with you guys, I've already been doing a lot of reading
up about this music festival', I say, allowing a smug smile to briefly
dart across my face.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">'Well, don't call it a music festival, for a start', snaps back the reply.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">As is often quoted, <a href="http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/">'Trying
to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the
event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like
to someone who is blind'</a>, but allow me to attempt the basics:
Burning Man is a truly vast arts and community festival, a seven day
experiment in radical self-reliance held on a swelteringly hot ancient
lake bed in the Nevada desert.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Burning Man, or 'home', as regulars warmly refer to it, sits far
apart from the rest of the US's festival scene, so amongst many
attendees there's a reluctance to even call the event a festival.
Europeans, however, are much more likely to find familiarity is the
diverse range of art, entertainment, talks and quirky side attractions
that make up Burning Man, so let's call the event what it is: a
festival.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is much to separate it from its major festival stablemates, however. Firstly, I'm not an attendee at this festival, I'm a <a href="http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html#.UiVccz-LWSo">participant</a>. Our 13-strong group has put together the theme camp <a href="http://playaevents.burningman.com/2013/themecamp/5622/">Barechested Baristas</a>, and every afternoon we are barechested - men and women, alas - serving our delicious iced coffees to the Burning Man masses.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Significantly, all this delightful caffeine is offered free of
charge. No money is permitted at Burning Man, the festival instead
employing what it calls a <a href="http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html#.UiVccz-LWSo">gifting</a>
economy. It takes me a while to not get this confused with an exchange
economy. In an exchange economy, I give you a delicious iced coffee (you
gain something), but you give me an item or money in exchange (you lose
something). It's a win-lose scenario. In a gift economy, I give you
iced coffee (you gain something), and I feel a really warm glow in my
heart for doing so (I gain something). It's a win-win scenario.
Replicating this across seven days, and 70,000 people means you've got
an awful lot of winning going on, and across the festival site people
tend to exist within a permanent bubble of happiness. Certainly, long
time 'Burners' I talk to throughout the week say they started enjoying
the festival exponentially more once they became participants. An
incomprehensible thing about Burning Man is the people who will spend
all year, and significant portions of their income, on, say, the art car
they're bringing to Burning Man. Or the people that design and build
one of the 250+ officially recognised artworks dotted across the site.
Or simply the people that will just drop a shit ton of money on running a
free bar all week.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not that a week in the desert is all love and hugs, mind. Setting up
our camp (kitchen, dome lounge, giant shade structure to house all our
tents) and ensuring it can withstand the harshest of desert sandstorms
takes a full day of hard graft, during which I massively endear myself
to my new campmates by crashing out asleep three hours before everything
is finished. Throughout the day, the amount of people screaming with
excitement because they've spotted friends from previous years is
astounding.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The following day, I cycle out (protip: bring a bike. <a href="http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/bikes.html#.UiVzzj-LWSo">Light it</a>
and lock it. Two of our seven bikes get stolen over the course of the
week) to the entrance gates for some further participation: I am
volunteering for a four hour greeter shift in the midday heat, welcoming
everybody 'home', initiating first time attendees in a way that I won't
detail here (but suffice to say that we were pleasingly encouraged to
make it up as we went along), and generally being the kind of cheerful
irritant that would wind people up so much in London.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ahh yes, that place. We socialise people hard in London. No talking
to strangers, looking at people on public transport, being friendly in
shops, or acting in any way cheerful or upbeat about the day ahead.
Stepping from this into Burning Man's focus on <a href="http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html#.UiVccz-LWSo">radical inclusion and immediacy</a>,
where you welcome all strangers with a hug and your immediate trust, is
a jarring gear change, and one that that I do not successfully make in
just one day. It's the image people that haven't been to Glastonbury
imagine for that event. Out here, it's real.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The bewildering number of side attractions across the site only adds
to the overwhelming feel of the event. Amongst all the art
installations, theme camps, talks, sound camps, workshops, and various
unannounced oddities ('Armpit Smelling Booth', anyone?) waiting to be
discovered, there's a lot of spiritual workshops, yoga classes, and
quirky installations to choose from. Plenty of sex, too. BDSM in
particular seems to be having a popular year, and we are camped next to
the 200-person 'Poly Paradise' camp. They run the 'Human Carcass Wash',
where you cup your soapy hand, and wash a load of naked bodies, before
in turn getting to be the person to have a load of cupped hands wash
your naked body.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I presume the 'Skyping With Grandma' event will be just as fun as any
of that. Run by a "human powered internet cafe", I get condescending
advice, bunion complaints, and technological incompetence from a real
life grandma (20-something male in a wig, holding a cardboard cut-out of
a screen). The folk running 'Write Your Future Self A Letter',
meanwhile, allow you to do just that, and they promise to mail it to you
1, 2, 5 or 10 years later</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Always fancying myself as the next Example, I also give Haiku Rap
Battles a go. As the only person going to the effort to write down their
haikus before taking to the stage, I'm confident the crowd with respond
with hearty cheers and lols. What I get instead is silence, with the
odd pocket of confused laughter.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">All the cycling and finely spread entertainment means you never get
the swirling, immovable crowds that your average Glastonbury goer
regularly does battle with. It's not the only difference. Glastonbury
for a few years now has tried, with little success, to impart a 'Leave
No Trace' message. Here, the message gets through, and to a startling
extent. Nothing - not so much as a flick of cigarette ash - is dropped
on the <a href="http://bit.ly/18qdibu">playa</a> floor.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Music wise, Burning Man shows signs of beginning an upward
trajectory, and things have apparently improved after a couple of years
of what is described to me as 'Skrillex every five minutes'. The
overwhelming music trend seems to be bass music, mind, and it
occasionally takes a fair effort to find a music camp that deviates from
this norm.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the course of the week, the one DJ I make an effort to find out the name of is <a href="http://www.stylustbeats.com/">Stylust Beats</a>,
who plays Camp Question Mark on Friday night. Rather than a teeth
grinding 60 minute set of pure trap music on offer across so much of <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Black_Rock_City">Black Rock City</a>,
he successfully weaves the more inventive material the genre has to
offer around the kind of party playlist that would set any clubnight
alight. It's one of the best atmospheres all week.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I spy an afternoon talk called 'Sex, Drugs and Electronic Music',
which sounds like a combination that could catch on doesn't it. Arriving late, the speaker
is asking the audience 'How many people here believe we are birthing a
new world?' Oh. Okay. Half the audience raise their hands. Right.
Faintly hope I'm at the wrong talk? There's plenty of discussion about
consent (which I am all for, incidentally. Just putting that out there),
a little about sensible use of drugs, and nothing whatsoever about
electronic music.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The speaker begins an exercise: we are to stand, wander around, and
when she says stop, we are to immediately connect with the person
nearest us. I 'connect' with another man, also as it happens, visiting
from South London. We are instructed to share with each other our hope
for the world. 'Creativity' he enthusiatically offers up. 'The basic
goodness of the human heart', I manage to come up with, whilst
successfully keeping a straight face. He seems satisfied and engaged by
this answer. We are then told to share our medicine for the world with
each other. 'Kindness' he quite reasonably suggests. 'Errr, the basic
goodness of the human heart...?' I return with. This is deemed a
satisfactory answer, although there's some acknowledgement that we're
both essentially saying the same thing. He hugs me, and we're allowed to
return to our places. There's some further talk about how 'we need to
reclaim the solidarity of our connections', and 'let our emotions flow
freely down through our bodies and into the earth', before we are
finally free to go.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not that it's all hippies at Burning Man. There's ravers,
California's high fashion set, your nerdy music fan, a few jock types,
loads of over 40s, and many of the greats of Silicon Valley are in
attendance. You still occasionally come across the type of person you'd
never want at a festival though. One member of our camp, Jessy, is
walking her bike along the road one afternoon when a guy cycles past her
and, with a confidence in his own hilarity sadly not matched by his
material, shouts at her 'you're supposed to ride it'. Jessy somewhat
understandably dislikes this. He cycles on in front of her, before
suddenly losing his balance, falling off his bike, and collapsing in a
heap. Jessy calmly walks her bike past him, turns around, and calls back
'you're supposed to ride it'.</span></div>
<div class="editorial">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also not fitting the Burning Man stereotype are the brilliant,
vicious rockers that put on the Mad Max inspired Thunderdome. Inside,
they suspend two contestants in harnesses, pull them back, then fire
them at each other armed with pugil sticks, whilst the baying crowd
erupts. The weaponry is virtually inconsequential - the rules seem to be
anything goes. On one occasion two young female festival-goers are
fighting and the bout ends with one manically rallying the crowd whilst
treating her opponent as a human surfboard. On several occasions battles
end with blood splatted on the sand below. Throughout, the audience
watch not just around the Thunderdome, but climb up the structure from
all sides, in order to gain the chance of seeing each battle commence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's one of the things that is most remarkable about Burning Man: a
pleasing disregard for health and safety legislation. Several times
throughout the week you may find your group dancing late at night atop
some shimmering art work, and you will think 'one wrong move here, and I
am a seriously injured festival-goer'. Your safety is your own
responsibility, a point somewhat hammered home by the fact that the back
of your festival ticket states that ticket holders voluntarily assume
all liability in the case of their own death whilst at the event.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Which, in such a harsh environment, means that every attendee must practice what the festival calls <a href="http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html#.UiVccz-LWSo">radical self-reliance</a>.
You take entire responsibility for your own well being. Everybody is
more than welcome to climb that 30 foot ladder, then carefully climb up
on top of the roof to be able to lie back and stare over Black Rock
City, but if you put a foot wrong and fall to the ground, you've only
got yourself to blame. Radical self-reliance also means that everybody
must bring every single thing they may need to survive for a week in the
desert environment along to the festival with them, including for
example, 1.5 gallons of water per person, per day.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Feeling all too settled by midweek, I drink far too much on Wednesday night,
and fail to take responsibility for my own safety. Whilst at a nearby
camp to our own, I am unable to work out where I am, unable to make it
home, and oddly unwilling to seek help for the matter. I wake up hours
later in a separate camp, without memory of how I got there, or my bag. I
have failed to practice radical self-reliance. The bag's contents
include my UK passport, and five days of notes for this article. I spend
90 minutes searching nearby camps without luck. Each day I queue at
Lost & Found to ask if it's been handed in. It never is.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I consider myself to be reasonably knowledgeable about dance music, but scanning the <a href="http://burners.me/2013/08/14/latest-2013-music-line-up/">lineup</a> before the festival, there appears to be just three DJs I have heard of: <b>Paul Oakenfold, Seth Troxler</b>, and <b>Elite Force</b>,
and I'm not really sure how I've heard of Elite Force. This is perhaps
unsurprising - it's down to the non-profit sound camps to try and book
big names, and a couple of the major camps don't show up this year. Any
veteran will tell you this is not the point of Burning Man, however. And
for the kind of music fan that usually spends the whole of, say,
Glastonbury darting all over the site like a headless chicken, the
opportunity to spend an aimless week in the desert is an appreciated
one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are unannounced sets, mind, and <b>Diplo</b> shows up as both a solo DJ ('superb', reportedly) and in his <b>Major Lazer</b>
guise ('awful', reportedly). Paul Oakenfold is the only appointment we
keep all week, though. 45 minutes into the set however, and it's all
seeming a little pedestrian. It's at this point that a rumour spreads
around our group that he cancelled at the last minute. We have no idea
if we're dancing to a perfectly serviceable unknown trance DJ, or a
somewhat unimaginative Oakenfold set. Either way, we leave. In the early
hours of the morning, friends who stayed announce Oakenfold later
showed up, and played a blinding set. I'm fairly gutted. They are in a
jubilant mood. Later on that afternoon, I'm told that no, Oakenfold
never did show up. Then I'm just confused. I still have no idea what
happened.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">'The only thing worse than attending a <i>Doctor Who</i> party at
Burning Man, is publicly admitting it', a friend tells me. So I opt to
only go for an hour. The tasty, strong sonic screwdriver cocktails are
freeflowing. Three girls come dressed as sexy TARDISes. A guy asks one
'are you bigger on the inside?' 'Yes, and available for public use!',
she cheerfully retorts. We also grab a drink at the Dead Celebrity's
Champagne Disco, where you are encouraged to dress as your favourite
dead celebrity, and enjoy all the drinks they can't any more. The
'Critical Tits' bikeride, meanwhile, sees a couple of thousand women
take a topless cycle on mass around the playa. I think I can say with
confidence that it's the most amount of topless women I've ever seen
within a five minute period.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I spot a session called 'Speed Counselling', which sounds like good
fun. In a speed dating format, you'll have five minutes to co-council
with someone before DING!, the bell rings and you're on to the next
person. What a nice afternoon activity that will be! What a fun format! I
arrive, and settle in. The event is certainly busy. We are encouraged
to really go for it and make the most of the opportunity, and to seek a
moment of immediate resolution. I council five people, and then are
counselled by five. And obviously, it is the exact fucking opposite of
fun. I have to talk about emotions! For a full 25 minutes! I'm male and
live in England, the most I've ever spoken about emotions is for three
seconds in hospital in 2006 when a doctor asked me if my arm was still
hurting. Even then three seconds seemed a little indulgent. Here though,
everybody is sharing very deeply felt problems and emotions. There's
one hell of a lot of people in tears (all except one guy, who spends his
five minutes telling me about the psychology book he's about to have
published, and is agonising over whether to put a photo of himself on
the front cover or not). It's traumatic, but it's also a brilliant hour.
I leave a nervous wreck.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">All through the week there's a sense of escalation. The festival
always feels like it's building to a climax. On Tuesday, paragliders can
be seen descending on the festival, before landing amongst passers by
on the wide open playa. I witness one land, and the nearest person to
him immediately runs up, puts a beer in his hand, and promptly walks off
again. On Wednesday and Thursday the same paragliders have grown long
colourful ribbon tails as they cascade down from the sky. By Friday
night their tails have become fireworks leaving a trail behind in the
sky.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">All this escalation is building to one thing. With no main stage to
speak of, Burning Man feels like it doesn't have a focal point to
concentrate your mind - or media attention - on. Instead, the festival
offers a thousand different stories happening simultaneously across the
site. A thousand moments of awe, pain, laughs being shared, or perhaps
lives being changed. The exception to this rule is the final night. The
whole festival gathers around the iconic <a href="http://bit.ly/1dMX9Uq">Man</a>
that sits at the centre of the site, to watch as he is finally,
spectacularly burnt. Much of what overwhelms about this experience is
perhaps because, after everybody here has had such an intense, yet
disparate week from each other, the whole festival is finally together
as one. It certainly provides a more exciting climax to a festival then,
say, Mumford & Sons headlining your final night.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Burning Man is one hell of an ordeal. There were certainly lows, but
there was also countless highs. Its beauty, its weirdness, its vibrancy,
and its constant, unfaltering welcome. It's truly a unique way to spend
a week. Name me a better festival.</span></div>
<div class="editorial">
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">This article originally appeared on drownedinsound.com <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4146834-burning-man-2013--the-dis-review" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></i></div>
</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-38939378676723958322014-04-13T21:21:00.002+01:002014-04-13T21:31:41.502+01:00the final of glastonbury's emerging talent competition is a thing that happened.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
SO last weekend we went to sunny Glastonbury. We were lost! Or horribly early! Either way
somebody made a fairly severe administrative error.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Whilst we were there
though we stumbled across the final of Glastonbury festival's
Emerging Talent Competition. We'll recap: thousands of excellent acts
entered (well I mean, not all of them are excellent obviously. The
odds of that happening are reasonably remote. Let's say the standard was 91% excellent) and the best eight were invited to play this final at
Pilton Working Man's Club.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
With so many entrants,
it stands to reason that after all that whittling down we would be
left with eight reasonably high quality acts by the end doesn't it. And having now seen them all
live, I can confirm this previously deduced fact to be true! Take the
winners M+A for example, a Friendly Fires-esque band that will hopefully
bring the carnival atmosphere to many more festival stages to come.
Watch one of their funky little numbers just below these words I
typed that you're just finishing reading now:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8vu58cQAjHY" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ALSO you should note
the two runners up, which must have made the
judge's final decision damn near impossible, the cruel scamps:</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/G7CUDqAKN34" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wYqwO6V1ur4" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
ALSO FINALLY there's these
other competitors. If you're thinking "oh I've watched three videos, the standard can't possibly remain so high for the rest of the finalists" then you'd totally be wrong.<br />
<br />
Maybe if you were following <a href="https://twitter.com/GlastoFest" target="_blank">@glastofest</a> on Twitter
you'd get to see each video as it's released. That would be a quite
nice thing to have happen wouldn't it.</div>
</div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dvODrrTe89g" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5Gz2pz_bn3U" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-16885679443874164872013-12-29T17:04:00.000+00:002013-12-29T17:04:34.181+00:00the top 10 albums and songs of 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2013 was probably my favourite year for music since I started doing these countdown things. There's been so much great stuff around. Hopefully what follows goes some way to demonstrating that.<br />
Note: As usual, an artist can only appear in the top 10 singles list or albums list, not both.<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<b>Top 10 Albums of 2013</b><br />
<br />
1. Kanye West - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2ev96f1SOc" target="_blank">Yeezus</a><br />
2. Vampire Weekend - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANznirklths&list=PLd7G4ohsgbaVEEqxZThFapTeBPTho0awL" target="_blank">Modern Vampires of The City</a><br />
3. James Blake - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlaRjP8pg0Q&list=PLPMYFQXVrJf7l0q20PRiWu-PDXlFK_l8K" target="_blank">Overgrown</a><br />
4. Arcade Fire - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPWrFHySSyo" target="_blank">Reflektor</a><br />
5. Arctic Monkeys - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_1N5xwuBYs" target="_blank">AM</a><br />
6. Fuck Buttons - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXXVPlrY974&list=PLZqsyBiYZFQ19OFGTRHdrEbm1A8Ig1Dqs" target="_blank">Slow Focus</a><br />
7. Janelle Monáe - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kiMZvR6KA" target="_blank">The Electric Lady</a><br />
8. Chance The Rapper - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRv2_zAPrhc" target="_blank">Acid Rap</a><br />
9. Four Tet - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njiv2ZR4TZk&list=PLZqsyBiYZFQ0eZoOIWx_JQDyfrhmo8oKi" target="_blank">Beautiful Rewind</a><br />
10. Matthew E. White - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n8YgcBw09c&list=PLE657ED0F1BBCC627" target="_blank">Big Inner </a><br />
<br />
You can also hear a sample track from each album as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT3swdCJrrg&list=PLghpMmaog-sKIVlckA4kYCNKr9gIFSDVu" target="_blank">Youtube playlist</a>. It's a fairly abrasive listen I suppose.<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Top 10 Songs of 2013</b><br />
<br />
1. Chase & Status - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdsfBTqKjmc" target="_blank">Lost & Not Found</a><br />
2. Stylo G - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lANLyt24c4" target="_blank">Soundbwoy</a><br />
3. Chris Malinchak - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrMl32cuC2A" target="_blank">So Good To Me</a><br />
4. Justin Timberlake - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2tp72T13o" target="_blank">Mirrors</a><br />
5. Daft Punk - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF-kLy44Hls" target="_blank">Lose Yourself To Dance</a><br />
6. Sia (ft. The Weeknd & Diplo) - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqbwD_1y1GM" target="_blank">Elastic Heart</a><br />
7. Duck Sauce - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhhnUTNror8" target="_blank">It's You</a><br />
8. MS MR - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41WtJps5XqQ" target="_blank">Hurricane (CHVRCHES remix)</a><br />
9. Eminem - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7cQ3b0iqLo" target="_blank">Rap God</a><br />
10. Nils Frahm - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_6603O3Bpw" target="_blank">Says</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You can also hear all ten songs as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdsfBTqKjmc&list=PLghpMmaog-sKFlLHf_twNgp77ykpHCkQt" target="_blank">Youtube playlist</a>. It's quite a poppy selection.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Anybody looking for a more general review can find the 52 best songs of the year in my 2013 mixtape on Spotify <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/1114719063/playlist/1TrdQZEsmDQWGcWIHExwkA" target="_blank">here</a>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Archive fans, meanwhile can also look up my top 10 albums from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2010</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">,</span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;"> 2009</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2008</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> and </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2008.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2007</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">, and the singles countdowns from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-top-10-songs-and-albums-of-2012.html" target="_blank">2012</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-singles-of-2010.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2010</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2008</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2007</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-top-10-singles-of-2006.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2006</a>. SEASONS GREETINGS xxx</span></span></div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-2760868419826560862013-07-21T10:47:00.000+01:002013-07-21T10:47:27.596+01:00who is still about in glastonbury's stone circle at 1:37pm monday afternoon? let's find out.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On Sunday the main stages at Glastonbury finish at the
reasonable time of 11:15pm. After that, those that are so inclined can find any
number of smaller clubs, stages and installations littered throughout the festival,
at which they can party through the night.<br />
<br />
It’s tradition, though, to gather at the <span class="il">Stone</span> <span class="il">Circle</span> at roughly
5am to watch the sunrise over the entire site. It’s a particularly nice tradition
on a Sunday, as a delightful way to round off a weekend.<br />
<br />
Of course, any sensible person would send themselves off to
bed shortly after, with a happy hippie spring in their step, ready to return to
the regular world when they wake up. What, though, of the people who stay at
the <span class="il">stone</span> <span class="il">circle</span>? Of the folk that are still there when most people have
already packed up and left the site?<br />
<br />
I trek back to said <span class="il">Stone</span> <span class="il">Circle</span> at 1:37pm Monday afternoon to
find out. I meet Michelle and Noah at 1:42pm at the top of the hill overlooking
the field. She introduces herself, saying “I’ve just been swinging from the
ancient tree by the ancient dragon. It was pretty mystical.” They ask me where
I’ve been, and I say asleep for the last three hours. They’re naturally warm,
and curious: “What’s sleep like? How does it make your brain feel?” Noah asks. They
tell me they last slept two days ago. “I kind of feel like the less sleep, the
more you can get on the wavelength of these people who are feeling pretty
groggy themselves.”<br />
<br />
What have they been doing up until now? “All love, and joy,
and prancing and dancing and romancing” Michelle says. “This place is like a medieval
village, and the sky is so beautiful”, offers Noah. “The skyyyyyyyy” Michelle agrees.
What time would you like to stay awake until? “Until we bleed. Although he’s
already bled.” What’s been their favourite moment of the festival? Everything. EVERYTHING!”,
Michelle screams. “Probably a hogroast”, offers Noah.<br />
<br />
Sensing I’ve brought him down slightly, I leave Michelle and
Noah to further contemplate his hog roast.<br />
<br />
I find Abby and her friends, who have been sitting inside
the <span class="il">Stone</span> <span class="il">Circle</span> since 3am. What’s been going on up here for the last ten
hours? “Little mobile music machines. 30 transvestites from New York. There
were some drums, and then a women got involved with her flute, and that was
ridiculously good.”<br />
<br />
How long would you like to stay in the <span class="il">Stone</span> <span class="il">Circle</span> for? “Forever,
probably, would be really good.” She pauses. “If they had a shower, toilet and
tea making facilities.”<br />
<br />
Fearing I may be about to bring Abby down slightly, I exit
and find a friendly, close-knit couple called Cirus and Louise. Louise
immediately asks me “Would you like a drop of red spring water from the mouth
of the lion?” I decline, but by way of explanation, she offers, in full poetic
flow...<br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>“There are seven sacred springs of Avalon,<br /><span></span></i>
<i>that rise from the land that we stand
upon<br /><span></span></i>
<i>Each a different medicine with its own
special magic,<br />
we can bring miracle healing from remissions of the tragic<br />
For underneath the ground on which we stand,<br />
are the meridians of the planet, the dragon lines,<br />
the ley lines, linking the world up. To Stoke.”</i><br />
<br />
This gets a deservedly big round of applause, even though I’m
a bit confused about the Stoke bit.
<br />
<br />
What happened in the <span class="il">Stone</span> <span class="il">Circle</span> tonight? “Lots.
Mainly good vibrations.” offers Cirus. They then show me their purple Good Vibe
Ray Gun, which makes a spaceship sound. “There’s been a lot of love, and
happiness and enjoyment” Cirus adds, perhaps unhappy with his first answer.
They then use their Good Vibe Ray Gun to shoot some good vibes into my heart. “I
am so, so, so in love with my partner”, Cirus adds, by now looking Louise in
the eyes. Did you guys meet at Glastonbury? “No, no we’ve known each other forever”,
Cirus says, a little ambiguously. “We’ve been <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bimbling" target="_blank">bimbling</a>
around the site in the most amazing way. Not using a fucking festival guide,
and not having an idea of what’s coming next. Just enjoying the fucking moment
for what it is” “It’s not about getting what you want, it’s about wanting what
you get”, they add in well-rehearsed unison.<br />
<br />
So what’s their favourite thing about Glastonbury? “The
connection between everyone.” Cirus says. “Good vibes, good vibes” Louise adds,
before shooting me with the Good Vibe Ray Gun again. “For everybody to be in
the same place and to hug each other, and be on the same level, which is love
and peace. Everyone can just be in love with each other. We can all just live
on the land, like this, for our whole lives, and not have to live in cities.”
So how long have you guys been together? “It’s only been since sunrise”, says
Noah. “But it’s definitely forever.” “It’s definitely been forever”, Louise
adds.<span> </span>I wish them well, knowing that I
couldn’t possibly bring their mood down. Perhaps because my heart has been successfully
filled with good vibes.</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-79229148052982245002013-05-22T20:18:00.001+01:002013-05-22T20:18:36.815+01:00campaign to get a street in king's cross named 'muldoon avenue'.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There's <a href="http://www.kingscross.co.uk/street-naming-competition" target="_blank">a competition</a> afoot to name one of ten new streets in King's Cross. I would like one of these streets to be named 'Muldoon Avenue'. So I have entered the competition.<br />
<br />
The competition website states: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We would welcome suggestions that have a strong link to King’s Cross,
but other names will be considered. Put simply, we want people to
suggest appropriate, interesting and engaging names for the new streets.<br />
All names will have to be consistent with Camden Council’s guidelines on the naming of streets.</blockquote>
Armed with these instructions, I entered the following reasons why I think a road should be named 'Muldoon Avenue'.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Muldoon is an Irish surname. 'Muldoon Avenue' would be a
nod to the Irish history in King's Cross, as The Pogues formed in the area.
Everybody likes The Pogues.</li>
<li>It's my Dad's surname, and I think having a street named
after him would make him really proud. Especially as I don't think I can be
bothered to give him a grandson, which I think he'd prefer. So you'd really be
helping me get out of that one.</li>
<li>According to my research, there's only one street in the
UK to namecheck the surname; Muldoon Park in Omagh, Northern Ireland. And it's
a really really tiny street. This doesn't seem reasonable, as it's quite a good
surname isn't it. Plus there are LOADS of streets with Muldoon in their name in
the USA. And do you know where's better than the USA? King's Cross.</li>
<li>
It's my surname as well. I would like a street named after
me. It would be mad japes.<br /><br />Many thanks in advance,<br />Mark Muldoon.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
The competition is open until the end of May. If you agree that this is a valid, nay, <i>important</i> campaign, why not give the reasons why <b>you</b> think a street in King's Cross should be named 'Muldoon Avenue' over on the <a href="http://www.kingscross.co.uk/street-naming-competition" target="_blank">competition website</a>. Thank you for your time.</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-21111147917397142832013-04-22T12:17:00.001+01:002013-12-24T12:56:26.910+00:00nottingham’s new tourism campaign in london is the finest advertising i have ever seen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear fellow Londoners,<br /><br />I imagine, like me, you’ve already spent much of 2013 gazing
at the bare summer months in your calendar app, painfully aware of how most
years this season passes unfilled, each of us lonely and imprisoned in our
respective dwelling-houses. Perhaps also
like me then, you sensed a great weight lift from your shoulders recently, as
posters went up across our city’s transport network (two spotted so far!)
showcasing events forthcoming not here, but up the country a little bit, in my
home county of Nottinghamshire.<br /><br />Please, at this juncture, take a moment to admire the above
poster. The more astute observers amongst you will by now have realised that it
appears to be advertising some manner of medium sized outdoor concert. And so
let us linger in order to further admire the impeccable timing of this poster
campaign. For as only the canniest of Nottingham’s marketing brains will have
noticed, London has been cruelly starved of medium sized music events in recent
years. Quality entertainers simply don’t gravitate to this city. The situation
has become quite dire, with people being spotted wandering around various
London parks, listening to Smooth Radio, and trying to imagine a way of seeing
such hits performed by the people that wrote them.<br /><br />But puzzle no longer, wandering citizens of England’s capital!
A plucky city in the North has rushed to our aid. The less cool-headed Londoner
might slap their head in embarrassment, that none of their own had hit upon
such a winning event formula. Although I know it will take a degree of
swallowing our pride to depart our city for Nottinghamshire, I hope my fellow
Londoners will be as commendably mature as I am, and join me on that journey.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br />If that seems impossible, and you tire of gazing North
with your thinly veiled jealousy, let us instead examine our advertisement in
question with the appropriately mature admiration that it deserves. Alongside
the totemic headliners the London music industry have been kicking and
screaming in its attempts to book for years – Blondie and Paloma Faith – we see
a number of other borderline arrogant claims. Aside from the brash assertion to
hold 12 of some fantastical creation called ‘music venues’ (</span><a href="http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/the-chameleon-2007---2013/id/5784"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">presumably
11 now</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">), one also notes that apparently, (and please fellow
Londoner, steady yourself before reading on) Nottingham has given birth to “one
top album artist”.<br /><br />Well, I can only assume you are also in stunned silence. The
only course of action remaining appears to be damage limitation, and so I issue
a critical warning to my fellow capital dwellers, not yet versed in the beauty
of England’s green and pleasant county: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">book
those train tickets early</i>. Once summer finally rolls around St. Pancras
will verge on riotous scenes for the hordes of culture starved capital-dwellers
fighting for a place on a train to get to a city where a person has produced a
successful album. Let alone </span><a href="http://instagram.com/p/V62aYuRKPr/"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">a person</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> as </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Popjustice/status/299611888940118016"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">admirably
refined</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> as Jake Bugg.<br /><br />In closing, I can only enter a plea to the Gatekeepers of
Nottingham: act with greater delicacy in future! Be sensitive to our already blindly
jealous eyes! Did NBC advertise their US presidential election coverage across
Syria? London life is a daily struggle as it is. I just ask for our plight not
to be rubbed in our faces. Many, many thanks, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">obviously</i>, see you in June.</span></span></div>
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muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-15131419830578982422013-04-11T23:42:00.000+01:002014-01-27T23:43:07.315+00:00india goes indie at the nh7 weekender - guardian article<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>This article was originally published on guardian.co.uk <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/nov/23/nh7-weekender-india" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<img alt="The Raghu Dixit Project" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2011/11/23/1322070702800/The-Raghu-Dixit-Project-006.jpg" height="276" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" width="460" /> <br />
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The big Weekender … The Raghu Dixit Project perform onstage at NH7 in India. Photograph: Stephen Budd<br />
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It can be difficult when travelling by train in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/india" title="More from guardian.co.uk on India">India</a>
to ensure you disembark at the correct city. Especially when it's 5am,
and everybody around you is busy giggling at your pronunciation. We're
in Pune (pronounced Poo-nay, apparently) for the second year of the <a href="http://nh7.in/weekender/" title="">NH7 Weekender.</a> India has a smattering of music <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/festivals" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Festivals">festivals</a>, but these are mostly traditional <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2009/nov/12/rajasthan-international-folk-festival-india" title="">events</a> or <a href="http://sunburn.in/" title="">trance affairs</a> aimed at tourists unable to wait for their Ibiza kicks. NH7 is an attempt to create a Glastonbury, or perhaps more precisely, <a href="http://www.lovebox.net/" title="">Lovebox-style</a> event in India.<br />
<br />
India's
middle class is now estimated at more than 300 million people – that's a
lot of folk with disposable income, internet access, and perhaps an
interest in exploring non-traditional culture.<br />
<br />
"There
aren't any Indian festivals that concentrate on non-Bollywood music,"
NH7 co-organiser Stephen Budd explains. "The view was Indian audiences
would never want to go." A few years ago Budd's business partner, Vijay
Nair, was struggling to fill a five-band bill in Mumbai, now they're
both filling festival schedules. Understandably perhaps, Budd says they
faced skepticism. "The industry view was there's not enough interest in
things that aren't Bollywood led. [Myself and Vijay] lamented that the
only British acts visiting India then were the Stings and Simply Reds of
the world, when kids wanted to see Mumford and Sons and Basement Jaxx,
but no one was bringing them over."<br />
<br />
Fans desperate to see
the few western acts playing India have lately encountered a second
problem: this year has been disastrous for gig cancellations, including <a href="http://entertainment.oneindia.in/music/international/2011/bryan-adams-apologised-sorry-fans-160211-aid0064.html" title="">Bryan Adams</a>, <a href="http://liveindia.tv/entertainment/angry-over-cancellation-of-akons-concert-fans-protest/" title="">Akon</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/31/metallica-india-concert-cancelled-riot" title="">Metallica</a>.<br />
<br />
This
organisational chaos is something NH7 wants to put right. Arriving on
site, the event feels clean and well mapped out, in a country with a
reputation for the opposite. We never wait more than 60 seconds for one
of the (regularly cleaned) Portaloos. There's a buzz in the air – none
of the acts are received poorly. "Has anybody heard of grime music?"
London's Riz MC asks the crowd. Three people cheer. But no one is
standing still once introductions have been made.<br />
<br />
The
festival programme advises "getting from one stage to another will
require a fair amount of walking". But it took us less than four minutes
to get from one end of the site to the other. Not exactly Glastonbury,
then.<br />
<br />
There's corporate branding. For most of ex-Radio 1 DJ
Bobby Friction's set, a vodka logo is dragged around the screen like a
four-year-old playing Etch A Sketch. India is a fan of brash marketing,
and here it is overwhelming. As are the lineup changes, which seem to
occur throughout the day. Thankfully, everybody on site is tweeting so
it's easy to keep them updated. And aside from the music, there's plenty
going on. There's a convention of 30 tattoo artists on site. Fans can
pay for food, drinks and merchandise via an impressive system of RFID
cards and micropayments. With the same cards they can also choose to log
performances they watch and have the story of their weekend
automatically updated on Facebook. Well, that was the idea – the system
collapses minutes after the gates open and stays down all weekend.<br />
<br />
Indian
acts get the biggest reception. The audience for the secret set by
Mumbai rockers Zero is easily the most frenzied of the weekend. The mass
singalongs when <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpkiK0J_IZU" title="">the Raghu Dixit Project play Mysore Se Aayi</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYWdCNchbk" title="">Indian Ocean play Bandeh</a> rival the most euphoric <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zy5JTiEj_Io#t=353s" title="">Glastonbury moments.</a><br />
<br />
An almighty party closes the festival on Sunday night, as artists from across the bill collaborate on covering western hits (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqBD5652C8s" title="">Blur</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg92QpjRcJk" title="">Metallica </a>)
and Indian folk classics. Finishing with a rave, Indian Ocean singer
Rahul Ram freestyles in Hindi over Underworld's Born Slippy. It's a
brilliant set to close the festival.<br />
<br />
Afterwards, nobody is
disappointed. The festival sells all 7,000 tickets for the Saturday and
Sunday, and says it has made a profit in its second year, something
"unheard of in the UK festival market", claims Budd. "Next year I expect
we'll get some really high-end younger artists willing to take the
leap. I'd love to see Chase and Status, Dry the River, even the Vaccines
come and play with their Indian counterparts." NH7 has certainly proved
there is an appetite for it.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-92092641547319827372012-12-31T18:36:00.000+00:002013-04-21T16:17:01.392+01:00the top 10 songs and albums of 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quite a good year for music, all things considered. As usual with these countdowns, any act can only appear in either the albums or songs list, not both.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Top 10 Songs of 2012</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Usher - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNTyfVh3nmU" target="_blank">Climax</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Muse - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek0SgwWmF9w" target="_blank">Madness</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. M.I.A. - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYs0gJD-LE" target="_blank">Bad Girls</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Bloc Party - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-J1zT7TfQ" target="_blank">Kettling</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. High Contrast - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw_uNjqjngA" target="_blank">The Road Goes On Forever (One Minute To Midnight Extended Mix)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Kindness - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjWFD_ZBtA" target="_blank">House</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. Odd Future - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJGQ4MxyPoI" target="_blank">Forest Green</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. Plan B - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GvLKTsTuI" target="_blank">ill Manors</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. Porter Robinson - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LILChvqUo4" target="_blank">Language</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10. Palma Violets - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFXWUTEs1k" target="_blank">Best of Friends</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Listen to the Top 10 Songs as a <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/1114719063/playlist/3miB3k58UJtKNZpktGtIgz" target="_blank">Spotify playlist</a>. It's 30% unbearably sexy, 70% party anthems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Top 10 Albums of 2012</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Chromatics - Kill for Love</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Richard Hawley - Standing On The Sky's Edge</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Kendrick Lemar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Alt-J - An Awesome Wave</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. John Talabot - fin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. The Very Best - MTMTMK</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. Angel Haze - Reservations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. The 2 Bears - Be Strong</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">9. Yppah - Eighty One</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10. School of Seven Bells - Ghostory</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Listen to the Top 10 Albums as a 10 track <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/1114719063/playlist/6C70bRgB1atzSeMGJGB3XZ" target="_blank">Spotify playlist</a>. It's an equally sexy, but mostly more relaxed listen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">You may also look back over the album countdowns from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2010</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">,</span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;"> 2009</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2008</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"> and </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2008.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2007</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">, and the single countdowns from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, </span><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-singles-of-2010.html" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px; text-decoration: initial;">2010</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2008</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2007</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-top-10-singles-of-2006.html" style="text-decoration: initial;">2006</a>, if you're having a peerlessly sedate evening. x</span></span></div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-83751632419255355312012-06-08T16:12:00.000+01:002012-06-10T22:17:56.005+01:00a modern midnight conversation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We leave Shepherd's Bush Empire quite late on a weeknight. Simon
suggests having a pint at the pub. I want to get home soon, so suggest
we buy two bottles and drink on the tube. In the shop, Simon wants to
buy lager. I want to buy Bulmers Raspberry and Lime flavour. It's new
and looks interesting. I get my way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
On the platform in Shepherd's Bush station, we open our bottles. Five minutes later an announcement comes over the tannoy system.<br />
<br /></div>
"Passengers are advised that the consumption of alcohol is prohibited across the entire London Underground Network"<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
I look at Simon, laugh to myself, and rest my bottle in my bag.<br />
<br /></div>
"Passengers are advised that the consumption of alcohol, or carrying of
an open container of alcohol, is prohibited across the entire London
Underground Network"<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
I down what's left of my drink and put
the bottle back in my bag. Simon hides behind the corner and attempts to
neck half a bottle. At this point the help point next to us crackles
into life.</div>
<br />
"We can still see you."<br />
<br />
"What on earth? Where? Oh. We're finishing them as fast as we can"<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
Simon panics. Tries to drink faster.</div>
<br />
"What are you drinking anyway? Looks disgusting."<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">
We hear several people in the control room laughing.<br />
<br /></div>
"It was Simon's choice, not mine."<br />
<br />
"Well just remember, big brother is always watching."<br />
<br />
We all laugh. Thanks TfL, love you.</div>muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0Shepherds Bush, White City, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London W12, UK51.5052399 -0.217698851.5027689 -0.2226343 51.5077109 -0.2127633tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-74724918112366446602011-12-15T07:00:00.005+00:002012-12-07T11:52:57.584+00:00top 10 albums and singles of 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Time again for my annual countdown of half decent music. A grand internet tradition since 2006!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html">This time last year</a>, I suggested that I'd probably be bored of Kanye West's album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by February. How wrong could I be? Very. That and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_ArchAndroid_%28Suites_II_and_III%29">Janelle Monae</a> have been my two most listened to albums of 2011, despite both being released in 2010, and neither featuring in the upper ranks of last year's countdown.<br />
<br />
So it's in that spirit of success, and the fact that I've been traveling for the last nine months - and so more detached from music than usual - that I present this year's 10 best albums and individual tracks. Now more valid than ever!<br />
<br />
As usual, an artist will only feature in one list or the other, not both.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Albums</span><br />
<br />
1. The Antlers - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burst_Apart">Burst Apart</a><br />
2. Bon Iver - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Iver,_Bon_Iver">Bon Iver, Bon Iver</a><br />
3. The Horrors - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skying">Skying</a><br />
4. Jay-Z and Kanye West - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_the_Throne">Watch the Throne</a><br />
5. Kasabian - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velociraptor%21">Velociraptor!</a><br />
6. PJ Harvey - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_England_Shake">Let England Shake</a><br />
7. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBTRKT">SBTRKT</a> - SBTRKT<br />
8. Patrick Wolf - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia_%28album%29">Lupercalia</a><br />
9. Fleet Foxes - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helplessness_Blues">Helplessness Blues</a><br />10. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Mine_%28album%29">Diamond Mine</a><br />
<br />
Listen to one track of each of these albums as a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL51118B5D9BCAEA1E">Youtube playlist</a>. It's mostly a calm, enjoyable listen.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Tracks</span><br />
<br />
1. Elbow - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NItwaz0nLJA">Lippy Kids</a><br />
2. Coldplay - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZWlDks0nQ">Paradise</a><br />
3. Lupe Fiasco - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pT66VLxggM">Words I Never Said</a><br />
4. Alex Metric & Steve Angello - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuaHN-JPe0">Open Your Eyes</a><br />
5. Noah & The Whale - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8XuMDi-wIk">L.I.F.E.GO.E.S.O.N</a><br />
6. The Vaccines - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBI5PHU1wYU">Post Break-Up Sex</a><br />
7. Arthur Russell - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqj06YX89pg">Walk On The Moon (Labyrinth Ear edit)</a><br />
8. Nicola Roberts - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_BG3n1q5KU">Beat of My Drum</a><br />
9. Kount Masloff - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L4HI3imHqQ">You Came to Win</a><br />
10. The Go! Team - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L4HI3imHqQ">Secretary Song</a><br />
<br />
Listen to the top 10 as a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLECCE295174FE95B4">Youtube playlist</a>. It's quite a brash, upbeat listen.<br />
<br />
You may also look back over the album countdowns from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-albums-of-2010.html">2010</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html">2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html">2008</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-top-10-albums-and-singles-of-2008.html">2007</a>, and the single countdowns from <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2010/12/top-10-singles-of-2010.html">2010</a>, <span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html">2009</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html">2008</a>, <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html">2007</a> and <a href="http://markmuldoon.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-top-10-singles-of-2006.html">2006</a>.</span></div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-29449302096636331562011-12-07T14:56:00.001+00:002012-04-26T12:26:10.819+01:00the struggle for aloofness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's 6:13pm. The sun has been considering whether to set or not for a couple of hours, and it seems now to have settled on an answer.<br />
<br />
We're in a beach restaurant in Karnataka, India, but it could be any backpacker orientated hangout worldwide. All the hallmarks are present and correct: patio furniture, hammocks and facial hair. There's banana pancakes on the menu, and the same five Bob Marley tracks repeating on the stereo. Everything is familiar here. Comforting. Today will not be remembered for its life altering developments.<br />
<br />
There's six of us enjoying an early dinner. People have been competing to try and out-liberal each other. Sid took an early head start when he pointed out he's a vegan and that he doesn't own a TV. Samantha however, announces she has her own vegetable patch. Her opponents are sent reeling.<br />
<br />
It's in the midst of this that KC asks me what the time is. 6:13 I reply. "Oh, that's precise of you", he retorts. Everybody giggles. KC has dreadlocks. An unkempt beard. KC has no interest in the exact time. KC has no interest in the exact anything.<br />
<br />
I feel bruised by this encounter. I have tried to help out my friend KC. Why should I be mocked for merely trying to provide people with a helpful level of accuracy? You've asked me something, I'm now trying to assist you to the greatest possible extent. Yet, I get laughed at if I don't give you a worse answer.<br />
<br />
For me to round the time to 6:15 actually requires extra effort on my part. I'd have to think about that. Do a quick calculation in my head. It is you that has asked the favour of me. If you're going to ask me the time, but want a pleasingly inaccurate answer, round things off yourself. You go through the effort. Seen as I'm doing you the favour.<br />
<br />
Failing that, just don't ask at all. Seemingly you don't really care what the actual time is anyway. You see the sun is about to set. You've been hanging out in this place for five fucking weeks. I would've thought you'd have a supernatural gift for time estimation by now. Roping me into proceedings seems unnecessary. You do the rounding. You do the aloofness. It's best off I leave it to the professionals.</div>muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-26761108647797569852011-09-07T13:04:00.003+01:002011-09-07T13:09:34.424+01:00weddings, deaths and public urination<em>Due to the graphic nature of this blogpost, reader discresion is advised</em><br /><br />This weekend, six things happened to me that had never happened before. For instance: I'd never accidentally bought women's clothing before. Now I have. I'm not yet very good at telling the difference with Indian clothes. Here's some further examples:<br /><br />I'd never been a guest at an Indian wedding before. I manage to get off at completely the wrong Metro stop, and arrive late to find the party in full swing. After five minutes they play one of the very few Indian-influenced songs I know (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C3umDN3voo">Panjabi MC - Mundian To Bach Ke</a>), so thinking this might be my only chance I'm immediately on the dancefloor, trying my best not to look an idiot. The food meanwhile, is a bewildering array of dishes to pick and choose from. Taking my cue from everybody else, I pile my plate with 15 or so different flavours - roughly 70% of which I'm unfamiliar with - and tuck in, before heading back for seconds. Otherwise the wedding is a backseat affair, and I observe a procession of rituals being performed, most of which I don't understand even once they've been explained to me.<br /><br />Another first: leaving the wedding in a taxi, traffic suddenly envelopes us. It is a short wait before we pass by the cause. A man is lying in the street, having been knocked off his bicycle by a bus. His head is against the ground, except for roughly a third of it, which is scattered a few feet away. I've never seen a dead body before, and this is a horrific, perspective altering first time.<br /><br />I've also never seen a film in a Bollywood cinema before, and so watching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyguard_(2011_film)">Bodyguard</a> is an interesting experience. Nobody bothers to switch off their mobiles. Kids scream and run around in front of the screen. The film has complete disregard for whether what is happening is physically possible or not. At one point in the second half, the lead female character is lying in bed, watching on TV a scene from the first half of the film.<br /><br />I've never seen a woman urinating whilst standing up in the street before. That was weird.<br /><br />And I've never been in Nepal before. Until yesterday. Despite me being a (comparatively) tall westerner, I was forced to sit in my allocated seat for the 12 hour journey, which just so happened to be the one with the least leg room on the entire bus. Over the course of the journey I take increasingly desperate and absurd measures to highlight my discomfort. At first simply trying to sit elsewhere, then leaning on the guy next to me, then just giving up and sitting on the floor. Eventually I'm lying on the floor, deliriously trying to catch any sleep I can. As I understand, Buddhists believe that the head is the highest, holiest part of the body, and the feet are the lowest, dirtiest part. So the sight of this westerner deliberately lying with his head on the dirty metal floor must have been pretty bewildering to them.<br /><br />So what do I think of Nepal? Seems to be full of unflinching, westerner baiting order-Nazis. I'm sure I'll find that to be wholly representative.muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-24832442131152599482011-08-30T17:38:00.000+01:002011-08-30T17:41:26.928+01:00i'm an idiot.I'm an idiot. I recently spent a full 60 seconds trying to remember what side of the road people drive on in Britain. Having just written that sentence, I've now been struggling to remember which side of the road is used in India, where I've been travelling for six weeks now.
<br />
<br />There is a more impressive example of my advanced idiocy though. In the northern city Amritsar, I leave my bank card in the ATM (British readers! That's the crazy name they have for cash machines in this country!) and walk off. Several hours later I'm confused when I can't find it. I head back, and there's no card, but a sign says that any swallowed bank cards will be returned to the nearest branch.
<br />
<br />It's Saturday night, so I resign myself to the fact that I will have to stay in town until Monday to see if the card is safe. I tell pathetic lies in emails and Facebook messages to friends, saying I'm stuck here because an ATM has cruelly swallowed my debit card.
<br />
<br />Monday comes, I walk to the branch and... It's closed. Public holiday, I eventually work out. Tuesday comes, and I get told to return the following morning with my passport, and they'll have my card. Wednesday comes, and it's a relaxed, conversational atmosphere as I'm sitting at a desk, signing paperwork to get my card back. I pop my passport back in my bag, wish everybody well and leave relieved. Five minutes later I turn around and start walking back again. I walk into the bank once more and five employees are in fits of laughter. I pick my bank card up off the desk and walk out again.
<br />
<br />I'm surprised I haven't absentmindedly stabbed myself in the eye with a biro yet.muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-67806789029612174172011-07-12T17:48:00.001+01:002012-04-26T12:25:58.644+01:00postcard from washington dc<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-style: italic;">"The mind boggles at how much terrorism has been avoided since 2001, when companies started introducing a $4 tax on it."</span><br />
<br />
Checking out of a youth hostel in Washington DC, I ask to put my backpack in their storage room until my coach leaves later that day. A fairly standard request. They explain that it's $4 per day for a locker, or for each time you enter the locker.<br />
<br />
Mild extortion, but I agree to it.<br />
<br />
In the storage room there's a sign warning people not to leave bags unattended, as "this is Washington DC, and people tend to be pretty paranoid about these things".<br />
<br />
Now then. I know I'm nearly ten years late with this observation, but the terrorism America has seen over the last decade hasn't really been based on unattended packages, has it?<br />
<br />
That's what we're constantly being told, "Please be aware of unattended packages". Any unattended package, be it outside the White House or outside Gateshead Plumbing School, may be the next step in Al-Quieda's deadly campaign of terror.<br />
<br />
If I was a one of today's young aspiring terrorists, I'd be quite insulted by this misunderstanding of my craft.<br />
<br />
And let's hope they don't come up with the idea of just putting their explosive inside one of lockers. I reckon 2011's sharp-minded terrorist might deem their 'destruction of western civilisation' cause worthy of a $4 outlay. <br />
<br />
And what a time to insult them! "Hello young terrorist, I know you were thinking of blowing this youth hostel sky-high, but we're assuming you're too tight-fisted to pay for the privilege." If there's one time you don't want to be throwing around insults, surely just as they're making final preparations to blow up a building is that exact time?<br />
<br />
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM. DAY<br />
<br />
TERRORIST: Well I was having momentary doubts about my cause, about everything I've been taught, and about whether my beliefs are worth turning a six storey building to rubble for. But then I read that I had to pay $4 first? As some sort of barrier to entry for terrorism? Well from that moment I was convinced. And I didn't bother phoning in a warning either.<br />
<br />
The mind boggles at how much terrorism has been avoided since 2001, when companies started introducing a $4 tax on it. Given the immeasurable success, it's perhaps time to extend the policy to other problem areas. Waging an unwinnable war on drugs? A £3 tax on drug trafficking should fix things. Depressed about iIllegal immigration? A £5 tax on war refugees will do the trick. And I seem to spend more money checking my Vodafone voicemail than I do on lunch, which is exactly why I've never entertained thoughts of hacking the voicemails of murder victims.</div>muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-15374026315309559822011-06-18T17:55:00.001+01:002011-06-18T17:58:54.082+01:00glastonbury plansHere's who I'm planning to see at Glastonbury this year. Let me know what your matches are. The last few years my spiritual home seemed to centre around the Other Stage, this year I'm gravitating more towards the Pyramid. Here's how we're looking:<br /><br />Thursday:<br />campfire or aimless exploring<br /><br />Friday:<br />Wu-Tang Clan<br />Biffy Clyro<br />Morrissey or park special guests (Arctic Monkeys?)<br />U2<br />Stanton Warriors or Zero 7 DJ set<br /><br />Saturday:<br />The Gaslight Anthem<br />Pulled Apart By Horses or Mark Thomas<br />Patrick Wolf<br />Tinie Tempah<br />The Horrors<br />Noah and The Whale or park special guests (Pulp?)<br />Janelle Monae<br />Coldplay (tight timing. Chemical Brothers if too busy)<br />Orbital DJ set<br /><br />Sunday:<br />Laura Marling<br />Dan le Sac vs Sroobius Pip<br />TV on the Radio<br />The Go! Team<br />Pendulum<br />Beyonce<br />no evening plans<br /><br />Media-wise, I'm back tweeting for the Guardian, and I'm co-writing Drowned in Sound's review. So if you're not going, I can still irritate you about it.muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-39590766038089752512011-06-15T23:48:00.000+01:002014-01-27T23:50:15.686+00:00coachella 2011 review for drowned in sound<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
DiS's Mark Muldoon was in the area whilst the 12th
Coachella festival was kicking off. So he swung by. This is what
happened to him.<br />
<h2>
<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Friday</span></span></h2>
<blockquote>
All the hipsters are headed off to Coachella. Here in L.A. we call it "Spring Cleaning." - <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/bobbyhundreds/status/58552503679193088">@bobbyhundreds</a></blockquote>
There's only one way to deal with playing an outdoor stage in 36°c/97°f heat, and Nic Offer - frontman of <b>!!!</b>
- is the person that's figured it out: groin-thrusting in swimming
shorts. He's also in amongst the crowd within the first 60 seconds of
the set, trying to persuade people to let him on their shoulders. His
play-the-fool antics are an ideal party starter.<br />
<br />
Arriving at the main stage nice and early for <b>Cee Lo Green</b>, I find <b>Ozamati</b>
are still parading through the audience playing acoustically, 10
minutes after they were meant to be coming off stage. It turns out to be
an appreciated distraction, as Cee Lo shows up 30 minutes late for his
set. After the first song, nobody applauds. It's an uncomfortable,
remarkable moment. He explains that he only just landed, and blames
festival organisers for giving him a late afternoon stage time. Fair?
Debatable, Cee Lo. If not, it's a cowardly attempt to shift blame and
stop the audience turning on him. To add insult, synths appear absent in
the sound mix. He plays 'Smiling Faces' and 'Crazy' from the Gnarls
Barkley discography, before rounding off a 20 minute set with 'Fuck
You'. Without stopping, his band launch into a cover of Journey's 'Don't
Stop Believing', and stage management promptly cut the sound. Clever
move on Cee Lo's part, as pockets of the audience keep singing
regardless. Still, it's a car-crash of a set.<br />
<br />
Kicking off an evening of bleeps and beats, <b>A-Trak</b> is crowd pleasing to a perfect extent, in the (spectacular) Sahara tent. His DJ set mixes in a classic <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1SuQUImVoQ">N2Deep</a> sample, his own jittery remix of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEDtccZHRFE">Yeah Yeah Yeahs</a>,
and he teases the intro to Daft Punk's 'Robot Rock' for three minutes,
before releasing it to a baying crowd. Only by finishing on Duck
Sauce's 'Barbra Streisand' does he threaten to overstep the mark.<br />
<br />
As the weekend continues, you can understand why. Coachella is
seemingly gripped by two obsessions: the group Daft Punk, and the song
'Barbra Streisand' by Duck Sauce. It's not unusual to hear groups
singing it at the main stage in-between acts, or back in the camping
grounds late at night. If there's anybody in the vicinity that had maybe
come to California to try and escape said track's ubiquity in their
home country, then tough.<br />
<br />
Anyway, barely a quarter of the crowd are still there once <b>Erick Morillo</b> takes to the stage. His less adventurous set lacks the charisma, but it's decent enough. Nobody leaves displeased.<br />
<br />
Situated only two hours from Los Angeles, Coachella is a good place
for Heat magazine/National Enquirer readers to spot celebrities. Paul
McCartney appears on stage with Morillo, and at Afrojack on the big
screen dancing with Usher. Jeff Goldblum entertains people entering the
site with a solo jazz set. Rhianna looks moody watching Arcade Fire. Is
that Elle Macpherson watching Elbow? And people claim to have seen Danny
DeVito knocking about every year.<br />
<br />
Despite the efforts of their talented MC Sgt Pokes, somebody has forgotten to turn the bass up at the <b>Magnetic Man</b>
show. Somewhat crucial for such an act, no? Eventually - when pockets
of the crowd start to sit down - somebody somewhere take the hint, rolls
out the bass cannon (I hear that's the terminology people are currently
using), and fires off a few rounds. The place erupts.<br />
<br />
Bass levels are fine at <b>Sasha</b>'s set. The only danger
is not being outclassed by the CAN'T. STOP. STARING. visuals. After a
while, he's up to the task, and it's a typically professional
performance.<br />
<br />
Kings of Leon may be headliners, but it's <b>Chemical Brothers</b> that have been entrusted with closing tonight's main stage. One wonders if the <a href="http://www.groovearmada.com/#blogs--article--Andy-Europe-England-and-the-Kings-Calvacade">notoriously stroppy</a>
Team Followill are upset by this (or Strokes playing before Kanye on
Sunday), given that there's no such suspicion of Arcade Fire's
stage-closing abilities tomorrow night.<br />
<br />
Anyway, technical difficulties mean the Chems are 30 minutes late on
stage (the band reportedly annoyed with Kings of Leon as it meant they
didn't get a soundcheck that morning), and we only get an hour long
show. It's a brilliant hour though. 'Saturate' and 'Swoon' are the
highlights. The <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4140105-the-chemical-brothers-camden-roundhouse-20th-may-2010">previous criticisms</a>
levelled at their live show have been addressed: extra stage lighting
adds variety, new, improved visuals have been made to replace some of
their more stale predecessors, and they're no longer self-indulgently
playing current album Further in it's entirety.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Saturday</span></h2>
<br />
Saturday, and the
security guard at the entrance won't let me in unless I promise 'to get
laid today'. Which seems a little strict.<br />
<i> </i> <br />
This day has more of a guitar theme. There's an enormous amount of goodwill for <b>The Joy Formidable</b>
(above), and they're lapping up the attention. Rarely seen not smiling,
the band make a glorious noise in the afternoon heat, and are all too
happy to (literally) throw a few instruments around the stage in the
process.<br />
<br />
<b>Twelves</b> have either tailored their DJ set perfectly
to the beach party vibe, or somebody made a very logical decision in
booking them. Only when they clumsily finish with Daft Punk's
'Aerodynamic' do they misfire. They're playful though: on two occasions
they start the slow build to a breakdown, reach a peak, then let the
track drop at some other point than the much tried and tested 4/4 beat
dance music lives by. For those of us that like to play the game
'Incorporating The Drop In To Your Dancing', this means making a big
dance move at COMPLETELY the wrong time, realising, then OH NO
attempting to style it out, in the hope of TOTALLY looking like you
meant to do it all along. And failing.<br />
<br />
The tent for <b>Foals</b> is the busiest of the weekend,
and the crowd are willing the band to success. Not always a good thing,
such as when clapping along at inappropriate points of 'Spanish Sahara'.
Pin-drop silence would've been much more appropriate. The band feed off
it though, as Yannis Philippakis recklessly stagedives off the speaker
stack. Nobody catches him, but he makes it back to stage in one piece,
to the audience's delight.<br />
<br />
In a weekend of such attention-grabbing stunts, it's notable what little <b>Broken Social Scene</b>
need to do to keep their audience's attention. 'Cause = Time' sounds
wonderful as the sun sets, and Lisa Lobsinger's turn on vocals, on
'Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl' in particular, is enthralling.<br />
<br />
BSS have the good grace to finish nice and early too, allowing plenty of time to get down the front for <b>Elbow</b>.
It's not a busy tent, but there's some deeply fanatical people here.
The setlist weighs heavily on new material, but is no worse for it. In a
world of fudged, compromised festival sound, eight minute opener 'The
Birds' is the most beautifully mixed moment of the weekend. And could
'Lippy Kids' have overtaken the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U4VgvTCKU4">previous competition</a> to be Elbow's finest track?<br />
<br />
An evening stroll reveals that <b>Mumford & Sons</b>
are playing to their usual massive, screaming festival crowd. Except now
it's in the US as well, and it's confirmation that they've reached the
big league in this country too. I nip off to grab my first ever shower
at a music festival. Apparently it's 'socially unacceptable' not to
here.<br />
<br />
<b>Animal Collective</b>. Coachella has serious affection
for Animal Collective. This is a high-profile slot. For the first five
minutes, a grid closes over the front of the stage, and we're treated to
a Daft Punk (that name again) influenced light show that is as
impressive as it is unexpected. The set design here is bat-shit crazy,
more elaborate than virtually all festival headline sets I've seen, and
this isn't even a headliner.<br />
<br />
This is Animal Collective though, so they're not going to make nice
with their setlist and play the hits. 70 minutes of music contains only
two old songs. Meanwhile the accompanying visuals alienate anybody not
on drugs - alongside committed fans, they love the set. But down the
front areas of the crowd people are lying down, many even asleep. After
the final song, the level of applause is lower than an audience would
give out of basic politeness.<br />
<br />
<b>Arcade Fire</b> are roughly 478% better than the (great)
headline set they gave Reading festival eight months ago. This is a
band that really wants to play hard in the big league festival headline
market. They start with 'Month of May', which segues into 'Rebellion
(Lies)', which is followed by 'No Cars Go'. Previously shy of
stage-theatrics, during 'Wake Up' 700-ish blow-up beach balls tumble
over the roof of the stage onto the audience. During the following
encore, it transpires that these balls are all changing colour in sync
with each other, shooting waves of light across the audience. It's a
startling trick.<br />
<br />
It transpires that these balls, embedded with LEDs and IR
transmitters, as well as Animal Collective's light-grid opener and set
design, are the fruit of Coachella's partnership with <a href="http://thecreatorsproject.com/">The Creators Project</a>,
and are exclusive to the festival. As unique selling points go, it's a
compelling one: at Coachella you won't just see your favourite bands,
you'll see them play enhanced performances, likely the best shows of
their career.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sunday </span></h2>
<br />
Festival fatigue is setting in by Sunday afternoon. It's less
appealing to stand in a predesignated area away from the stages, so you
can pay $7 for a beer. To show you are of legal drinking age (21) you
have to permanently wear a wristband with a huge ugly Heineken logo
emblazoned across it. As with the previous days, a plane spends the
afternoon circling the site, tailing a banner advertising the new series
of Doctor Who. Presumably BBC America thought Kanye West fans and
Doctor Who's potential audience were a Venn diagram match made in
heaven.<br />
<br />
<b>Plan B</b> is on early to a small crowd. His touring
beatboxer Faith SFX starts the show, and overshadows the next 20
minutes. Later, a cheesy string of soul covers is turned to festival
gold by his return. Lacking the crowd size or enthusiasm to get a mosh
pit going, the band decide to have their one on stage amongst themselves
for closer 'Stay Too Long'. It's fun.<br />
<i> </i> <br />
It's the second show of the big <b>Death From Above 1979</b> reunion, and things go more smoothly than their <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2011/03/20/death-from-above-1979-riot-sxsw/">SXSW comeback</a>. It's noisy, and Jesse and Sebastian seem to be having a lot of fun in the process. It's all very good natured fun.<br />
<br />
Also, two hours earlier CSS played the Mojave tent. They have a song
about making love and listening to Death From Above. This is presumably
the first time the two bands have shared a bill. I'd like to know if
they all hung out backstage please. If anybody knows post a comment.
THANKS.<br />
<br />
<b>The National</b> play an intense hour long set. Twice - most triumphantly on 'Squalor Victoria' - they morph regular tracks into
intense six minute frenzies. 'England' is the dark highlight. In a show
of confidence, 'Terrible Love' is the set closer of choice, and Justin
Vernon (Bon Iver) joins them on guitar for good measure.<br />
<br />
<b>Chase and Status</b> have a little more credibility with
the US crowd than in their home land. This isn't the event set it
should be though. Plan B and Tinie Tempah are both elsewhere on the bill
today, yet Tinie is barely audible during album highlight 'Hitz', and
when 'Pieces' starts, is that Plan B that's nipped on stage, had a word
in Will "Status" Kennard's ear, then walked back off again? Still, with
the brutal effectiveness of their music, it's difficult for one of their
gigs to go too wrong. Certainly nobody in the moshpit is complaining.<br />
<br />
There's time to catch the last six songs of <b>The Strokes</b>.
Can't say I understand the appeal of their indifferent stage manner,
but everybody here appreciates it. They dash through each song. People
dance. Everybody <i>seems</i> to get what they want out of the arrangement.<br />
<br />
<b>Kanye West's</b> set is the subject of the most
speculation all weekend. Chatter centres on who - of the Twisted Dark
Fantasy collaborators and beyond - will join him on stage. Pitchfork
predicts Rhianna, Katy Perry, Kid Cudi and Bon Iver. I speak to several
people who are thinking of catching the set purely because they couldn't
bare to miss a rumoured Daft Punk appearance.<br />
<br />
In the face of such speculation, perhaps the wise thing to do is go
the other way, instead proving that you can do this without celebrity
help. Bon Iver is the only star-collaborator. What we get instead is
more a piece of performance-art, taking in classical and opera
influences. It's not afraid of theatrics: an entrance on a crane moving
over the audience, an ancient-Greek stage backdrop, some 15 ballerina
dancers, regular pyrotechnics, costume changes and classical interludes.<br />
<br />
Most importantly, and no doubt aware of his public image, the Kanye
on show here is modest, fragile, and heartbroken. He wins everybody
over. Meticulously planned, structured and choreographed, it's a class
act, and a thrilling show.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This review was originally posted on <span style="font-size: x-small;">Drow<span style="font-size: x-small;">ned in Sound <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4142501-dis-in-the-desert--coachella-festival-2011-reviewed" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></span> </div>
muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-91936186299534636922011-05-30T19:00:00.001+01:002011-05-30T19:02:35.419+01:00postcard from louisianaAm I just lucky, or do remarkable things happen every day to everybody in New Orleans?<br /><br />The threat of flooding from the Mississippi had continued as I carried on down towards its mouth. On the coach into town we're driving along bridges over marshland. Except today the locks have been opened and the area is being flooded to divert water from the city. It seems we're passing at exactly the right moment: we witness the sight of colossal amounts of water gushing into the area, overwhelming trees as it goes. The guy next to me said he's been traveling this route for 40 years, and never seen anything like it.<br /><br />The best description of New Orleans I'm told is that I shouldn't think of it as the south of the USA, but as the north of the Caribbean. This seems accurate. And I say so with all the authority of somebody who has never been to the Caribbean.<br /><br />My first night out in the city I am taken to a bar that feels more like an off-license, with patio furniture set up in the back garden, fairy lights decorating the fences, and musicians playing classical music in the corner. After that it's off to a private members bar/pool club where we relax drinking whiskey sours in the pool until 1am.<br /><br />Hours before leaving the city I'm heading back to my hostel, along a street I'd already walked on several occasions. This time however, one of the parks is filled with a stage, the stage is filled with a reggae band, and 3000 people are partying along for free. I change plans, and join in. I ask the guy next to me why this is all happening, and his response describes New Orleans better in three words than I could in 300: "It's Wednesday, brother!"muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873167914762017905.post-7943217659682079562011-05-27T17:13:00.001+01:002012-04-26T12:26:45.009+01:00postcard from arizona.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/koEClz7s90c" width="425"></iframe><br />
<br />
Silliness, really.</div>muldoonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06620470491369915683noreply@blogger.com1