Trop

Well I was worried about keeping up my steps for August after the op on Thursday and the recuperation over the weekend. I didn't mow the lawn but ended up walking 20K steps yesterday and 15K today putting me 5K ahead of schedule which is good. I wasn't expecting to be this far ahead at this point although I know it's a possibily.

I don't know if I've overdone it, or it's just the hot weather, but I have not been feeling good at all today. Just under a very black cloud, although I know I will come out from under it.

I have listened to some good music and saw an excellent film "Jackpot" tonight and am reading Matt Haig's "How To Stop Time" which is not the most cheerful book, although it's extremely readable.

I have made a decision to turf out all my CDs that are in boxes, music should be at your fingertips, so I will reduce my collection to my box sets and stuff that I like to play, and of course I have it all backedup digitally (although I didn't realise I hadn't ripped my Dire Straits albums until last week). The other thing is that a lot of music is available on demand but I still won't subscribe to any streaming services and they do more for the service that the musicians.

I was just thinking about Ed Sheeran's "Divide" , which I have never knowingly heard, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are people who have never heard anything but that album.

So I am still recovering, still not in the best of spirits and it's work tomorrow. I could stay off but that would give me more to catch up on, and being at work will focus my mind.

I know I've maybe overdone things so Tom Petty's "Too Much Ain't Enough" seems appropriate.

Noise Is Good

Well sometimes. Sometimes you want quiet but someimesnoise lets you know that there is someone or something else there, be it a radio, tv, someone else in the house or whatever.

I was just in the shower and could hear something that sounded like the "Theme From The X-Files" and realisedit seemed to be coming through either the shower drain or the shower head. Totally weird but I wonder if that is where Mark Snow got the idea from. Who knows?

Quiet is also good at times, sometimes it's just good to lie on the bed with an eye mask in a dark room and complete quiet and empty your mind. A great form of relaxation, and after it I then want NOISE.

I love playing stuff on vinyl because there's no remote, so no skipping and you can actually sit and enjoy the music.

When I walk  I have a decent set of headphones so the phone / headphone combination allows me to listen to whatever I want (as long as it's on the phone). I don't use music streaming services because I think they're unworkable business model for artists (unless you're Ed Sheeran) but I still have a huge selection on there. Although in this creeping inherent tech induced laziness, transferring music to my phone is a bit of a chore. The thing is when we used to make mix tapes for friends we had to choose albums and tracks and do it in real time, so a ninety minute tape would take you well over two hours make, whereas these days people just want to share a spotifyplaylist.

I find the same with DVDs, I find getting up getting the DVD out, opeing the player drawer and then pressing play a chore. And I always forget about the theft warnings before the video starts. Like is many walks of the life it's the people who keep to the rules who are targetted, not the ones who break the rules. 

Looping About Ed Sheeran

The Graph of Ed Sheeran

Last night I caught a chunk of The Mercury Music Prize won by Sampha which seemed to me functional but bland. There was a recorded performance of Ed Sheeran performing "The Shape of You" on Jools Hollands' Later, and what struck me was that here is a guy who is clever at what he does, putting songs together from basic recorded loops, but unfortunaelely what came out for me was just like any other radio filler and will probably be an X-Factor staple in years to come.

Ed Sheeran is a really nice guy, though , gave a great message from Miami. Basically I like Ed Sheeran a lot but find his music bland and boring hence the graph on the right.

He was followed by Kate Tempest performing the apocalyptic "Don't Fall In" who, in my opinion, musically blew him away.





The first time I saw a loop being used in a live situation was John Martyn performing "Big Muff" on Rock Goes To College in the seventies. He just had this acoustic guitar and a few effects and a tape loop box which allowed him to build up his rhythm to amazing effect, that stayed with me, well today, you can see that below.

The a couple of years ago I walked into Think Tank? saw a girl wearing horns on stage who started with some wordless vocals to provide her backing for "The Shadow Line". That girl was Jordan Reyne. I was truly blown away and she is still the moriginal artist I have heard over the last couple of years. Maybe it was the combination of walking in to wait for the main band, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing (who were excellent by the way, thanks for the recommendation Gillian F) , therefore not expecting anything to be blown away by her solo set. I bought three of her CDs so at the top is "The Shadow Line". The official video for it is here, but I wanted to show what she can do live

Have a brilliant Friday everybody.