The Horror of Modern Life

I am beginning to appreciate walls more and more now; and even more than that I am beginning to understand the true complexity of paint and the subtlety with which it dries. To say that I have never seen the tonality in many aspects of third party life would probably be so much more accurate.

So life gets worse from here on in , eh..? Oh bugger... I suppose I should have guessed. That constant feeling of exhaustion turned out to be my capacity for irrational thought slowly being stripped away bit by bit only to be replaced by blanket numbness. For the first time ever, I can now stare solemnly at a wall and find instant and ever lasting entertainment - this only serves to make me want to throw my TV out of the window.
At this point I am seriously considering taking the top off of the television, ripping out the screen (scream) and replacing it with age retarded red bricks and hope in vain that no one will notice the difference. The entertainment may be mildly better, but one fears the damage has already been done.

This life lived while dead from the neck up reminds me of the sheer horror that was school and the nightmarish thought of being prepared like food for the modern world, but how many could have possibly thought the modern world could possibly be so culturally backward and filled with gawking morons. Watching real life has become like staring at a car crash in the rain on a motorway.

So what does that make of my wall? Well, my wall is dulled, dirty and has not seen paint in many years. It neither shines nor reflects, but absorbs light no matter the source - a dark laugh in spite of will coaxing ultra violence.
Maybe we should all just kill our TV's?

Current listening:
Heartsrevolutions "Kitsune: Ultraviolence"


Leigh

The Art of Being Difficult

While scouring my bloglinks this morning, I chanced upon this link set by Jim Carroll on his On the Record site this morning. The piece is a short interview with Gregor Pryor and Elisabeth Hoffnell of law firms Reed Smith and Lindahl respectively.
While a majority of the interviews reads about the consequences of the case that many others have already referred to, I must admit I was intrigued by the following paragraph:

Billboard: "Is this ruling likely to help new legal alternatives? "

GP: "The big frustration is that we act for all these legal services who pay lots of money to the rights holders, and it's almost impossible to get licenses. They are so expensive and the process is so slow. Two or three years can go by and you can throw millions at trying to get a compelling service launched, and there are obstacles in the way all the time. Pandora is a great example, it's just not possible [to operate it in Europe]. We also advise Last.fm and MySpace, it's just so much hard work. This is the irony: they [labels] complain about piracy and then you walk in the door with a new service with some VC funding and an amazing bit of software that is essentially promoting and selling their content. But they say 'we are not moving unless you give us an advance of $5 million plus equity.'"

I wrote here about a week-and-a-half ago (right here) about my beliefs for the future regarding the next step of the music industry and one of my niggling points is the industry's apparent inability and/or unwillingness to adapt to the future and Billboard's post-Pirate Bay case article alludes to the industry's stubbornness as well.
Meanwhile, although Pirate Bay may be shut down soon, how long before another sprouts up? And another..? And another..? And another.......

Current listening:
Ladyhawke "Ladyhawke"


Leigh

Monday Music , Part One

I'm having one of those days where i require lifting and nothing lifts better than The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats. Released in 1982 by MCA, this became a smash in both the US and the UK and has since been covered, copied and parodied, but mostly enjoyed. So sit back, relax and enjoy it one more time...




Leigh

Stop Billy, Just Please Stop

Christ on a bike, this is pure shit...



Currently listening:
...to my brain fart bubbles


Leigh

The Music Industry -Vs- Evolution and Innovation

I remember a number of years ago, I came across a large book detailing the history Grand Prix racing and cars in general and on the inside cover, the author reprinted a famous quote from 1896. Taken from a text that was printed in 1896, it read;

"…the automobile will never replace the horse and carriage…"

You only have to look briefly at what has happened since to disregard that statement as nonsense; however it was an absolute belief at the time.

Whenever I am directed towards the subject of music piracy and record companies, that quote often come freshly into my head – in the sense that the entertainment corporations and large independents represent that outdated and outmoded horse and carriage; whereas the purveyor’s of the digital age are the new car.
Much has been made of Spotify recently and while I think it is a wonderful idea and product (free music to stream, bar some advertising or sign up for a tenner a month for zero interruption), it is nowhere near its potential yet; however it may not be that long before it does encroach it’s maximum.

Technology moves very quickly nowadays and with that the lines of communication have expanded their potential in recent years and it's not something that is going to slow down any time soon. Eventually a point is going to be reached where a program like Spotify can go fully mobile, but that may not occur until the third or fourth evolution of 3rd Generation phones become available – a point where mobiles become recognised as fully integrated media units; however a stigma still exists in UK where phones are still seen as low grade alternatives that can’t handle high quality media. The simple fact is remains that 3G units are currently far too primitive to adapt to the necessary conditions.

Eventually I’m going to end up repeating myself over and over and over again (if that hasn’t happened already), but I don’t believe that the likes of the Pirate Bay are the future – more than anything, torrent search sites are more likely a stepping stone in the evolution of technology; however, technology does evolve by itself. I have believed for some time that technology, like social culture, economics, and human media all co-exist to some degree and develop and evolve separately and together; in that no one single unit can strive so far forward without somehow affecting how the other sectors exist.

The future could conceivably be a mobile media centre that can receive and project nearly all forms of media to the point where products like iPod become obsolete - in essence the iPod is being/will be replaced by the iPhone (when it is good enough). The economic theory behind this is based in the practice of subscription for media usage - much in the way that users pay set monthly bills, the subscription for media policy would see customers pay a set figure every month for unlimited access - much like how Spotify currently operates.

That is the future, threatening the owner's of torrent websites is not. However, until the horizons multimedia usage are expanded, nothing will change and ridiculously pointless court cases like the Pirate Bay one will continue. Spotify may not necessarily be the future, but it is a step in the right direction.


Leigh

Eoghan Quigg; No. 1 album in Ireland

Sweet Jebus...
The test tube born X Factor fuckwit has bought you all...


Leigh

David Firth "Time"

David Firth has released a new piece of absurd animation for all to enjoy - Time.




Current listening:
Animal Collective "Merriweather Post Pavillion"


Leigh

Hitler Learns Lewis Hamilton is the World Champion

This shouldn't be funny, but it is. This clip is taken from the excellent German film Downfall (about Hitler's last days in the bunker), but it replaces the story with his general's informing the Nazi leader that Hamilton passed Timo Glock in the last corner to take the 2008 World Championship.
Excellent stuff.




Leigh

Arrived Today

...two of my favourite albums on pretty, pretty 180g vinyl...

Joy Division
"Unknown Pleasures"



















Joy Division
"Closer"

Currently watching:
Indy Racing League "2009 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg"


Leigh

Soundcheck (DJ Set, April 2nd) ***updated

Hey that was fun stuff. For the few who were wondering, here's the set list from last night:

1. The Normal "Warm Leatherette"
2. Franz Ferdinand "Ulysses"
3. Beat Happening "Pinebox Derby"
4. Grinderman "No Pussy Blues"
5. Kap Bambino "Hunger Texas"
6. Dan Deacon "The Crystal Cat"
7. NOMO "Brainwave"
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Zero"
9. Sexy Sushi "Princesse Voiture"
10. James White "Control Yourself (edit)"
11. Hot Chip "Ready for the Floor"
12. Little Boots "Stuck on Repeat (Hot Chip Remix)"
13. HeartsRevolution "Ultraviolence"
    
14. Scott Joplin "The Entertainer"
15. Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" *************
16. Primal Scream "Swastika Eyes (edit)"
17. John Dalton "Motion"
    
18. Terry Lynn "Kingstonlogic"
19. Peaches "More"
    

*************A this point whoever was supposed to be on after me never showed up, so I started stealing CD's from other people when I started to run out of muzak.
Daycent shindig all the same.

---------------------------

I'm in Dublin for a few days this week and I'll be doing a lovely little DJ set at UnaRock's SoundCheck shindig in Spy on Thursday

Soundcheck Blog
Leigh