I’ve just finished watching “Keeping Faith” (the English version downloaded from iPlayer a couple of months ago before it was shown on BBC).

Very enjoyable drama and I can see the comparisons with Broadchurch. I know that its currently halfway through and so don’t want to discuss the plot too much for fear of spoilers…..

One thing that has really stood out though are the songs by Amy Wadge that run through the series – they really get under the skin. Best being the track “We Fall Down”, but I can’t find a Youtube of that so you’ll have to make do with the main theme…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzZEtiusO4

… for the irrepressible Afterword lyric / pun instinct to do its stuff.

Jarvis and Candida from Pulp go head to head with Bez and Rowetta from the Happy Mondays on Bargain Hunt. (Story picked up from the Accidental Partridge Twitter feed.)

https://www.nme.com/news/music/pulp-happy-mondays-jarvis-cocker-bez-join-bargain-hunt-2361634

I’ve only just found out that one of my favourite films, Unbreakable, had a sequel and I didn’t even know about it. Apparently a film called Split starring James McAvoy came out a couple of years ago (it passed me by completely) and in a surprise ending revealed itself to be a sequel to Unbreakable.

I’m not spoiling anything here. The cat is out of the bag now and there is a third film, Glass, being advertised now which reunites the entire cast of both previous films, including Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson.

I’m slightly concerned… Unbreakable was such a perfect standalone film that I’m wary of sequels. In hindsight it did something that NONE of the subsequent mainstream superhero films have done, which is to treat the superhero genre with the subtlety and maturity it deserves. It’s so low-key it can hardly be called a superhero film at all.

Unbreakable also crystallised Shyamalan’s unique approach. At his peak (Signs, The Village) he was a master at recontextualising hokey, pulpy plots into quite emotional and spiritual experiences. Like Tarantino, he was a master of merging high and low art approaches. I’m a staunch defender of his peak films.

Crucially, » Continue Reading.

The absolute joy of the internet

https://youtu.be/4t0jDUQ2aJ4

He has a hit a new high with this show.

Not suitable for under 40s!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bdcnwq/stewart-lee-content-provider

ECM have reported the death of the great Polish trumpeter.

Saw him twice, both times with a crack band of young tyros. Often reminded me of 70s dense funky Miles with his playing.

We celebrated the 75th Birthday of Sir Mick of Jagger last week, so now it’s the turn of the incomparable Kate Bush, who turns 60 today…..

Your favourite Kate Bush track please…….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDWQs2mYG_E

Thanks to a thread on this site I succumbed to a pair of Ruark MR1s. I accept that I might have got better value with another product but that’s water under the bridge now.

At times the sound quality is up to my expectations. But quite a lot of the time it is not – the sound breaks up.

My hunch is that my very-much-NOT-top-of-the range HP laptop (circa 2014) running Windows 10 is struggling with the FLAC to aptX conversion. (The laptop is approximately 60cm from the Bluetooth receiving speaker.)

Is this a plausible explanation? If not, what else might be causing it?

If I am on the right track, would a USB Bluetooth aptX transmitter help? In other words would it offload the “to-aptX” part of the conversion workload?

Or am I in for a new lap top?

Their first album together was very good. They just released their new one No Mercy in this Land and it is rather lovely. A lot of driving blues and some stupendous Harmonica playing from Musselwhite but I am rather taken by this ballad which is the closing track on the album:-

https://youtu.be/1BZxZT-9HwM

Coming back on the ferry from the Indonesian island of Batam this afternoon, I was listening to “Schoolyard Ghosts” by No-Man – the joint project of Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness.

It struck me that with his work in Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Blackfield, solo, etc etc, he must be one of the most prolific artists out there.

So, question…… which artist has released the most albums in history (excluding various artist compilations) ? Not sure if we should limit this to just the artists work either solo or in band / project or include “significant guest appearances” – I’ll leave that to consensus…….

My folks often used to say ‘it wasn’t like that in our day’ or such like. I can look back on my childhood with fond memories but the reality is that in my lifetime we have taken massive strides to achieve a better standard of living. Putting aside our propensity for war which unfortunately has never diminished I can think of these things that I certainly do not mourn the passing of:

Linoleum – dreadful stuff. Outside toilets Mangles – I remember putting my fingers in one, it was fucking painful. Electric bar fires instead of central heating Black and white TV’s with 3 channels that closed down every night around 10pm. ‘Snow’ on the tv just when you got to the critical part of a programme resulting in having to stand next to the tv tapping the side or moving the aerial around. Blancmange – what were we thinking? Evaporated milk – again what were we thinking? Black and White Minstrel show Cod Liver oil The stick at school Short trousers at school Bastard teachers who took pleasure in giving you the slipper and had apparent homo erotic inclinations. Belisha Beacons – did anyone take any notice of them? » Continue Reading.