We’re just past the halfway point. We’ve already done the albums. What are your tracks of the year so far?

Here are mine to start us off. In no particular order….

1. My Baby Don’t Understand Me – Natalie Prass 2. Should Have Known Better – Sufjan Stevens 3. Vertical – Vessels 4. Prisoner 1 & 2 – Lupe Fiasco 5. Divine – Laura Marling 6. Obvs – Jamie xx 7. Holding On – Julio Bashmore 8. i – Kendrick Lamar (down, tigger, down) 9. White Out – No Spill Blood 10. Think – Kaleida 11. Mount The Air – The Unthanks 12. Ruckus – Stand High Patrol 13. Chateau Lobby #4 – Father John Misty 14. What’s Normal Anyway – Miguel

While I’m here, the new Miguel album (Wildheart) has some really superb stuff on it. “What’s Normal Anyway” is the centre-piece, but I’m also really digging “waves”. Definitely worth checking out for anyone who enjoyed the Frank Ocean album a couple of years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6y29iozHZ0

Ah hope ya kno she packz a chain-sew, a chain-seeeeew.

Enjoy.

We had a good blog post on here the other day about the games people are playing at the moment. However, I increasingly find that, when I think about the gaming industry, what excites me isn’t the game I’m playing right now, but rather the revolution that’s right around the corner.

The development in games over the last decade or so has seen some really interesting innovations: motion control, the adoption of widespread online gaming via console, the boom in MMOs, the rise of Minecraft as an educational tool, the development of the mobile games market, live-streaming, etc. Often I find myself looking at the industry as it currently stands and quietly lamenting the hundreds of hours I sank into Treasure Island Dizzy on the ZX Spectrum – oh, to be ten years old right now.

So, what are the innovations which are going to make the games of 2015 look old hat?

First and foremost: virtual reality. Once the preserve of Neil Stephenson novels and over-excited editorial pieces in Zero magazine, we are now – finally – on the cusp of a proper VR revolution. A range of consumer devices from giant players like Sony, Microsoft, Facebook and » Continue Reading.

Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/JRgYagFIsWU

The greatest footballer who ever lived.

Do not discuss.

Very simple premise: who are the worst bands ever to grace the stage?

Let’s leave aside one hit wonders and novelty acts. I’m talking groups who at one time had a reasonable following, but who nonetheless comprehensively suck donkey balls. Bands who are so poor that not even amongst the Massive, those perpetual champions of the musical underdog, can they find a defender or champion.

They may be bands who get mentioned on here all the time (ahem). They may be bands on whom you feel the spotlight of scorn is too infrequently shone. They may be U2. It’s entirely up to you.

I’ll start us off: Dashboard fucking Confessional.

The year is 2003: Dashboard Confessional, an indie vehicle for emo singer-songrwriter Chris Carrabba sit at number 2 on the Billboard charts with their appallingly named third album: “A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar”. They are in the process of recording “Vindicated”, the song which will play over the closing credits of Spider Man 2. They are, by most measures, a “very big deal”.

“Dashboard”, as they are known to their legion of fans, peddle strummy acoustic chant-a-alongs with self-consciously poetic lyrics, usually about break ups. To this » Continue Reading.

So, I went to see John Wick on Saturday night. It’s really, really good – think Taken meets Grosse Point Blank meets how the hell is Keanu Reeves 50 years old? Excellent action sequences, excellent cast and at just 96 minutes a refreshingly short run-time, so it never outstays its welcome.

I would heartily commend the film to anyone who recognises that a henchman should never really be considered dead until they’ve been shot in the face.

However, perhaps more importantly, it also made excellent and unexpected use of a recent earworm: “Think” by Kaleida.

Having given this track heavy rotation over the last few weeks, it would never have crossed my mind that it might be successfully deployed as the backing music for a spectacularly violent nightclub slaughter, perpetrated by a vengeful Ted Theodore Logan. Nonetheless, there it was, and it fairly made the scene in my book.

If I can finally work out how to post links properly, I’ll include a youtube clip of said nightclub sequence. Obviously, it contains spoilers, although query whether anyone is going to go see this film without knowing that Reeves is playing a mad bastard killing machine who gets a bit » Continue Reading.

Post the greatest album-openers of all time. I’ll start with the undisputed heavyweight champ:

That drum roll, thirty seconds of build and then we’re off – straight into high gear and that brilliant, churning riff. Better still, it’s the blueprint for everything that follows. Hell of a way to make an entrance.

The Youtube comments say it better than I ever could: “This is by far their best song. I rocked this out on acid in the 90s.” Indeed, you did sir!

Over to you…

But figured that you lot would probably get a kick out of it if so….

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

Shamelessly piggy-backing off Tigger’s movie thread, name the five people (be they actors, writers, musicians, or otherwise) who make you laugh the most.

If you’re so inclined, post a taster that suggests why you find each of them so amusing.

I’ll start:

1. Groucho Marx

The little dance at 1.55 alone is comedy genius. He could do absolutely everything.

2. Julia-Louis Dreyfus

A genius of physical comedy. Here she is realising that her unwanted weekend guest has overslept and missed his flight home. 90 seconds of absolute gold.

3. Eddie Murphy

Karate man bleed on the inside.

4. P.G Wodehouse

“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove”.

5. Steve Martin