Well another week passes. I'd've posted more but now time is a precious substance in my life. I was in London at Stu and Ben's on Tuesday night and the continuing tube strike meant I didn't get back until after nine on the Wednesday. A combination of the strike, and a poor nights sleep on the Tuesday with the boiler keeping me awake conspired to keep me too tired to post. Last night I just wanted to have a few beers and veg in front of the TV. The new League of Gentleman series started, and it's wierder than ever.
I didn't mind the strike that much as first- I had it all planned out, walk to Acton and then round to West Ham on the North London line. Lots of other people had the same idea, and there was lots of pushing but I expecting this. Funnily enough the worst culprits weren't the callow youths you get on that line but middle aged men. God I hope I never turn into one of those grumpy fuckers.

It was a bit like this
What got on my nerves though was that West Ham station was then closed so I had to get a £20 cab ride to Barking, with no guarantee the station was open. Anyway, the job seems to be going fine, and if anything its quite hard to get used to a job with nice people, no uptight regulations and no jobsworths. Long may it continue.
posted by Neil at 6:24:00 PM

The benefits of slowing down (musically)

 

My Soulseek use has been somewhat feverish recently. I've been downloading a lot of the stuff I missed out on last year, amongst which is Phonenecia's Brown Out album which I've been downloading track by track. It got a lot of flak last year for being slower and less dancey but I love it. It's so like the title which refers the phenomenon when electricity networks are overloaded and instead of blacking out, they brown out - lights are there but only just - like 40 watt bulbs. It's a good sound - slower, less dancey and more introspective. Perfect for gazing out the window on the train back from work as it gets dark outside.
Also slowing down was the late DJ Screw, who I've been reading about recently, who provides yet another example of hip hop's ability to surprise with the new directions it takes.Screw was a Houston DJ who came up with the idea of slowing down records, typically to minus 8 and then getting people to rap over them. Cough syrup laced with Codeine, a downer, was his drug of choice (it killed him aged 29) and it seems the music mirrored the effect of the drug. It's a strange sound, spacey and a little disorientating but it's been making waves and I'd like to hear some more. Not sure how it's going to be interpreted in the UK though as our cough medicine is codeine free and as I understand it, merely gets you drunk.
posted by Neil at 10:06:00 AM