Commuting draft poem 2

These two poems were mainly written to pass the time and practice writing poems to specificish metres, rather than making any "big" points. Probably influenced a wee bit by Brian Bilston.

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EGO TO PLEASE

Walking out beside the sea

My own voice in my ears

I close my eyes and take in those

Imaginary cheers

Our latest record is complete

New songs to celebrate

Potent lyrics with every word

Sung with delicious weight

It sounds like something new and special

Intelligent and brave

Something vital and important

Something worth a save

Something that this rigid poem

Cannot hope to match

Something fluid and exciting

And far more up to scratch

I wonder though if all of this

Is biased to my taste

And only seems so beautiful

Because it bears my face

And if another person’s voice

I’d heard beside the sea

Those songs would not seem so anthemic

As they weren’t sung by me.

Commuting draft poem 1

Wrote a couple of things on the train home over the last fortnight. Soon to become things of the past as my office looks like it's moving to Brighton (hoorah!)

* * * *

FOR MY FELLOW COMMUTERS

Morning has broken my head into tiny little pieces

Each piece has fallen underneath the wheel that never ceases

Spinning, eroding, grinding again day after day

No matter how hard I try, I can’t get out of the way

So I’m sitting here, waiting for time to mend my head

A process that begins with getting myself out the bed

A process that continues with getting on this train

A process that finally ends when work numbs all the pain

But with the process underway, peace is now required

The process has the most effect when undergone in quiet

So do your best to understand me and maintain the silence

For otherwise I am required to resort to some violence

And break your inconsiderate head into little pieces too

And the police will understand there's none to blame but you

And if there is something in this that still does not compute

I’d appreciate it if you could put the ‘mute’ in this ‘commute’

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

It is far too early for this

The sun falls with my spirit as the day runs out its course

I’m filled with nothing but empty carbohydrates and remorse

The planet rotates me like a prize hog upon a spit

Each day I feel a bit more tender, I’m aching where I sit

I look forward to sitting somewhere more comfy than there

Upon a throne that takes me home from 9-5 despair

The day was full of busying and hurrying and noise

All sorts of ruckus and alarm no-one ever enjoys

I’m tired of all this chaos and I’m seeking some more peace

A slow and silent slumber where the office chatters cease

So please respect my lethargy and forgive my malaise

For if you don’t I’ll rouse myself to bad barbaric ways

All I want is to go gently into this good night

Don’t stop me or I’ll rage at more than the dying of the light

And if there is something in this that still does not compute

I’d appreciate it if you could put the ‘mute’ in this ‘commute’

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

Pleasekeepyourmouthshut

It is far too late for this

Out Of The Tar Pit

A cautionary tale of what happens when a violent dinosaur is given a second chance to get behind the wheel of a car. I reserve the right to cut down any of this if it is too difficult to sing/shout.

Me and my friends, wrongdoing is our fancy

And we were fed up of kicking our heels around town

Thought that we’d turn to some necromancy

And attempt to raise a dinosaur from the ground

We got a pentagram and some candles to burn

We couldn’t get a goat so we sacrificed the intern

Out of the pit it came, lurching and wretched

It didn’t take long for us to start to regret it

He was a monster (out of the tar pit!)

He was a brutal beast (out of the tar pit!)

It all went too far (out of the tar pit!)

It hotwired a car (out of the tar pit!)

It seems like we’re finished and we’ve only just started

An ill-advised full return for the departed

And we’re never gonna get those stains out of the carpet

The ones made when that fucker came out of the tar pit!

The dinosaur was driving without a care in the world

It was a car against humanity, a war flag unfurled

The spectacle was terrible, we didn’t think it through

Horror’s only entertaining when it’s not happening to you

We thought it would be funny and no one would get hurt

But when we asked for merchandise we didn’t want to wear the shirt

Everybody loves to hear the sound of car crashes

Except for when they’re woken by the lights and the flashes

He was inhumane (out of the tar pit!)

An atrocity exhibition (out of the tar pit!)

Spoilt like old milk (out of the tar pit!)

Gaston’s ilk (out of the tar pit!)

It seems like we’re finished and we’ve only just started

An ill-advised full return for the departed

And we’re never gonna get those stains out of the carpet

The ones made when that fucker came out of the tar pit!

Violent scum

Not fit to lick my crumbs

A banner beast for the out of date

Unworthy of opposable thumbs

We’re gonna break hearts and records tonight

We’re gonna break hearts and records tonight

We’re gonna break hearts and records tonight

We’re gonna break hearts and records tonight

Why is this permitted? (out of the tar pit!)

Why is this licensed? (out of the tar pit!)

Ignorant and unsighted (out of the tar pit!)

Passé and violent (out of the tar pit!)

It seems like we’re finished and we’ve only just started

An ill-advised full return for the departed

And we’re never gonna get those stains out of the carpet

The ones made when that fucker came out of the tar pit!

My favourite music of 2015

I engaged with music in 2015 in a way that I hadn’t in years. As well as attending a wonderful number of gigs, I feel as though I managed to keep an ear to the ground in terms of new releases. This meant that my interests were able to develop independently of the stuff I was exposed via radio for the first time in a long time.

2015 also saw me write about music in a more full-on manner than I had previously. In addition to a couple of album reviews I posted on this blog, I also began to contribute articles to a music blog, And Antarctica.

Consequently, I feel as though I am in a strong position to write about my favourite music of 2015 and will thus go into more detail than I am accustomed in my personal round-ups of the year. What follows will be my tracks of the year, albums of the year, gigs of the year and briefly what albums I listened to most in general.

TOP 20 TRACKS OF THE YEAR

20. Belle & Sebastian - Nobody’s Empire

19. White - Future Pleasures

18. Blur - Ong Ong

17. Wolf Alice - Giant Peach

16. Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire

15. Jason DeRulo - Want You To Want Me

14. Dick Valentine - Saddam Hussein (link is for another song on his album)

13. Electric Six - Big Red Arthur (link is for another song on their album)

12. Susanne Sundfør - Fade Away

11. John Grant - Disappointing

- - - - -

10. Slug - Eggs and Eyes

A joyfully disjointed song that manages to be tuneful and disturbing in equal parts.

9. Børns - Electric Love

I have no idea who this artist is, but hearing this pop song come on the radio was always a softly affirmational occasion.

8. Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian at Best

Strong wordplay backed with grungy chords made for a fun and catchy package.

7. Young Fathers - Shame

A song that showcases the band at their urgent best, a scuzzy little dancer that ticks multiple boxes

6. Will Butler - What I Want

On his debut, Butler’s music often came across as what the Arcade Fire would produce if Win Butler loosened up, chilled out and decided to play around a bit. This was the strongest example.

5. Muse - Dead Inside

Every new Muse release sees me build up hope that my former favourite band have some managed to turn their ship around and return to being the band that wrote baroque RATM-inspired masterpieces. Every release invariably results in disappointment. The same happened this past year with their album Drones, but this track was their first in seven years or so that I actually found exciting to listen to. Here, they manage to harness the angst of their past to tense and taut rock that build a narrative and just about manages to keep everything on deck.

4. Public Service Broadcasting: Go!

This track managed to capture the energy and anticipation of a mission control room and release in the form of dancefloor banger. What impressed me the most was PSB’s use of dialogue samples; where in the past these had merely been embellishments or a narrative device, on this track they managed to craft a catchy chorus. So far the first and only singalong moment in their set.

3. Ezra Furman - Lousy Conection

A real change of pace from Furman’s usual songs, and one that gives plenty of space for his lyrics - his greatest strength - to do their thing. Engrossing imagery, delicious couplets, original at every step. All this and spearheaded with a war cry of a chorus, a statement of intent more self-reflective and introverted than his previous album’s ‘Tell ‘em All To Go To Hell’ but just as strident.

2. FFS - Johnny Delusional

Of all the songs I heard in 2015, this is one that I would love to be more popular. Quirky art-pop perfection from Franz Ferdinand and Sparks that should be soundtracking fist-pumping singalongs on dance floors and sweaty karaoke booths alike. Awkwardly jerky but confidently passionate, a perfect encapsulation of this fun and inventive collaboration.

1. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

A potently literate power play that not only showcased Lamar’s verbal prowess but managed to mould the groundbreaking sounds of To Pimp A Butterfly into a track that also worked as a smooth party jam without losing any of its artful potency. As it progresses, the music builds up to an almost dizzying high, dropping in and out and jerking the listener about until they cannot help but be in thrall to artistry of King K-Dot.

FAVOURITE ALBUMS:

1. Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space
2. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People
3. Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs

4. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
5. Slug - Ripe

FAVOURITE GIGS:

1. Ezra Furman at the Lexington (support from Du Blonde)

2. Slug at the Hope and Ruin

3. Public Service Broadcasting at the Brighton Dome (support from Smoke Fairies)

4. Jeffrey Lewis at the Hope and Ruin (support from Pog)

5. White at Brighthelm (The Great Escape 2015)

In addition to new music coming out of 2015, I also seemed to listen to two older albums more than any others. These were Boys And Girls In America by The Hold Steady and Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos; two incredible albums that are now among my very favourites and that I would recommend to anyone.

I go into a bit more detail about my favourite albums and gigs in a feature for And Antarctica about 2015 in general. Check it out! I also write a wee bit about what I'm looking forward to in the next few months. Overall, 2015 felt like a good year for music. 2016 has got a lot to live up to.

Photo credit: Mike Chouinard

Supermarket - Panic Buys

Tasked with writing a Xmas song for Supermarket; these are the lyrics that came up on the train.

*   *   *   *

Panic buys

Subtle, erogenous

Panic buys

Viscous, poisonous

Light the candle and hold it ’til the wax melts

Trickles down your arm leaving tracks like whip welts

It’s Christmas time and now it’s time to panic

Time to run around feeling numb and manic

Make a pact, sign up with the Santanic

Make those panic buys

Panic buys

Cutting, insidious

Panic buys

Chilling, oblivious

Grab the plastic bag, blocking off your blood supply

Seek the path through the crowds with your muddied eyes

It’s Christmas time and now it’s time to panic

Time to run around feeling numb and manic

Make a pact, sign up with the Santanic

Make those panic buys

Panic buys

Purchase or failure

Panic buys

Purpose or failure

Offer tribute or your life is meaningless

Giver of a gift or exiled in the wilderness

It’s Christmas time and now it’s time to panic

Time to run around feeling numb and manic

Make a pact, sign up with the Santanic

Make those panic buys

The Birth of the Potassium Brothers

My friend Charlie makes industrial darkwave music under the name Area XG. I've gone to see him perform some of his tracks at an electronic night in Brighton, and the some of the tracks he performed at his most recent gig seemed to me that they would lend themselves to hip-hop and rap quite well. I mentioned this to him and my friend Steve at the gig, and the from this the idea of the Potassium Brothers came about.

A month or two later, my housemate was looking for some people to perform at a Hallowe'en party. Impetuously, I signed up the Potassium Brothers, forcing me to come up with some raps to deliver a few weeks later. To fit the theme of the evening, I tried to steer these raps down a scary route, taking inspiration from The Wicker Man and Nick Cave's Murder Ballads album.

Steve's role in the performance was largely unplanned, and resulted in him improvising some interpretative dance to the horror-themed raps. This seemed to go down well, as it was at this party that he met his girlfriend for the first time. Hooray!

Here are the words to the three raps performed on that fateful evening...

*   *   *

Today is Dead

Today is dead are the words that they say to me
I flip 'em off rising up from the cemetery
Decayed skin gonna stretch my delivery
Selling up so now we distribute for free
Stevie K in his undead livery
Y'all be silent like we in a mortuary
Sit yourselves down in my menagerie
Here it comes, time to face your mortality

What's this shit that you've served up in front of me?
Potassium's gonna serve necromancy
Serving up an exhibition of atrocities
With our Franco-darkwave philosophy
We got your blood pumped like we cut an artery
Heed vampiric calls for phlebotomy
Banana bros top the throne with authority
Potassium king the name that they calling me

We from the mausoleum
We want our potassium
You in the mausoleum
You got your potassium

*   *   *

How Fast They Burned?

They take me out to a field with a structure
A wicker man stands tall, man's corruptor
Numb ears won't hear quoted scripture
Here the pagan hand is the instructor
Social rupture has left this land frail
Past the pale only wild morality prevails
And now they sacrifice another virgin male
They sing and pray that the crops will not fail

Now parade is over, here the people come
They gather round my wicker cage, one by one
I can feel the fear like a loaded gun
They cry out for light, replace the dying sun
And then it comes, the sentence is passed
Both my hopes and the daylight are fading fast
Struggling with the rope but it was tied to last
Their torches lower, they ignite the grass

I can hear the tongues of flames crackling
I can feel the fire on my naked skin
My body's bubbling and blistering
My limbs are charring and blackening
My body's bubbling and blistering
My limbs are charring and blackening
And the smoke is rising from my burning flesh
Choking on the ashes of my dying breath
And the smoke is rising from my burning flesh
Choking on the ashes of my dying breath

And the fire eats up the wicker men
And the farmers harvest their crops again

*   *   *

Terrorist Social Network

When winter takes its hold on you and the nights are closing in
There's something in the darkness, there's something on the wind
There's rustling in the bushes, there's creeping on your skin
Don't want to be left cold outside, thank god you let me in

I'll have such a lovely time with you
Couldn't have planned it better if I'd wanted to
I'll have such a lovely time with you
Couldn't have planned it better if I'd wanted to

Thank god you let me in here, there's a madman on the loose
A ripper out upon the heath, a hangman with a noose
You've saved a stranger from his fate, saved me from abuse
You ushered me into your home, oh how could I refuse?

Aren't I lucky I discovered you?
All alone with no one to answer to
I'll have such a lovely time with you
Couldn't have planned it better if I'd wanted to
I'll have such a lovely time with you
Couldn't have planned it better if I'd wanted to

What is this? Don't worry dear, it's just a little rope
Just think of it as a scarf to warm your little throat
Let me repay you this kindness and let me hang you up
Let me feast upon your meat, drink your blood from a cup
I'll tidy up when finished dear, I'll even clean the cup
Then vanish back into the woods before the sun comes up

I've had such a lovely time with you
Couldn't have done it better if we wanted to
I've had such a lovely time with you
Couldn't have done it better if we wanted to

Beware the hangman
Beware the bleating of the flock
Beware the first frost
Beware the visitor, beware the knock

Eurovision and politics

This past weekend saw one of my favourite annual cultural highlights rear its head once more. Saturday night was the night of the Eurovision Song Contest. Thankfully, for the first time in three years, it was not taking place on the same weekend of the Great Escape music festival, and so I was free to watch it live!

As I enjoyed the spectacle of show (as always), however, this year I found my heart conflicted. It wasn't because the UK's entry was so mediocre, I was very well prepared for that. No, my personal conflict came with one of the songs that I enjoyed the most.

Nadav Guedj's 'Golden Boy' was the first song of the night that really got me going. The lyrics were hilarious. And before I leave, let me show you Tel Aviv... Ah. There. There was the problem. Nadav Guedj was representing Israel.

Israel is a terror state, inflicting a new brand of apartheid against the Palestinian people. Even though 'Golden Boy' was a superb song, I couldn't really get behind it if it was being sung under the flag of Israel, could I?

Elsewhere, others were having similar political problems. The Russian entrant, Polina Gagarina, whose song 'A Million Voices' was a superb powerpop song, was receiving choruses of boos from the fans in attendance (and from me in my sitting room) whenever she was awarded points from the judges. These were most likely due to Russia's occupation of part of Ukraine and its treatment of the LGBT community, rather than the quality of Gagarina's singing.

As the boos rang out, the hosts of the show pleaded with the crowd, advising them to put political differences behind them and judge the contestants purely on the music. Heeding these words at the time, I shrugged and proceeded to give my vote to 'Golden Boy' (along with Belgium, Lithuania and Romania at the same time).

Thinking back on this, I regret my decision. The argument that performers - be they singers or sportspeople - should not be subject to boos on the basis that they come from a country with morally questionable politics is one that becomes flawed to me when the performer in question becomes a representative of that country.

During Eurovision, the contest is framed very much upon national lines. You are not voting for Polina Gagarina or Nadav Guedj, you are voting for Russia or Israel. Throughout the night, the commentators, hosts and judges repeatedly refer to the countries. The leaderboard shows which countries have which amounts of points. Every headline announcing the winner of this year's result will have contained the word Sweden. I will eat my hat if more than a small minority contained the name of the performer Måns Zelmerlöw.

The performers themselves are opting to represent these countries within competition, to walk out onto the stage behind the flag. I doubt this is something that any of them are forced into (indeed, the original winner of the German competition to represent the country pulled out). All are aware of what they are doing.

The other argument is that the actions of a government such as the Israeli or Russian ones are not representative of the people of that country, or of the country itself. The problem with this line of thinking is that, again, these actions occur under the flag of that country, under the concept/sign/myth of that country. It is this concept/sign/myth that equally is being represented in competitions such as the Eurovision Song Contest.

One final note I think is worth making is that it is the country that goes on to exact the reward (or pay the price) of hosting the competition the following year. I have no idea what the average cost or profit is for hosting, but I would imagine many businesses in the hosting country will derive some benefit from an influx of tourists and fans when the Eurovision circus rolls into town.

I regret my decision to vote for Israel. I should have just stuck with Belgium. Next time I will be more discerning.