2010 summary

Divided into political and cultural this is a bunch of things that I have liked this year and some which I haven't, but everything in here is justified, you'll be please to know. I hope you have all enjoyed reading the blog, there will be probably quite  a few changes - more music and politcs, less other stuff maybe not a weekly blog, it depends on the mood. Little break coming up as well as I regather my thoughts. till the near future then...


Political Highlights

Favourite Politcal Memoir of the year which had the implicit aim of setting the story straight – Tony Blair – A Journey

I  can honestly say that I have never read a book like this, part memoir, part case for the defence, A Journey is Blair trying and failing to be utterly candid with events of the past  - and who can blame him, some of these events aren’t that far in the past and Blair isn’t the person to pass judgement on Blair . It a good and interesting read for the most part, until Iraq. Forgetting the need for the reader to be entertained as well as informed Blair sets about on a three chapter, 200 page explanation of every changing fact and development from September 2001 to March 2003 leaving you praying for a conclusion. Though it isn’t the worst book I read this year, I’m not sure how much of a compliment that is.

Political Hero of the Yeatr - Barack Obama

 2008 will always be the most historic year as far as Obama is concerned but 2010 is when the real progress came. Despite the “shellacking” that Obama received in the Midterms it was year when a huge amount was done; health insurance for 47 million more people, the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, so now gay men and women can serve openly in the armed forces, and Congress passed the new Start Treaty which is reducing the number of nuclear warheads that Russia and the USA have by 30%. Not bad for a years work.  

Political Villain-Pollly Toynbee 

For failing a basic maths test. The Guardian columnist wasn’t the only one begging for a re-alignment of the left, with Labour, Lib Dems, SNP (If you could possibly call them left wing) the main parties of fantasy –land ‘rainbow coalition’ after the general election result in May, but she was the one who couldn’t let it go when everyone could see it was an unrealistic prospect; It  was never going to happen. Move on.

Picture of the Century

Oh how the mighty have fallen. It seems the students no longer agree with Nick Clegg. Fickle lot.

Cultural Highlights


Albums of the Year
These are the albums that I loved and the reasons why.

The Walkmen – Lisbon

A real 11^th hour choice – as I only heard of it through word of mouth - Lisbon is quite simply a barnstormer of an album. For me they never seemed able to eclipse The Rat, four minutes of frenetic playing which left you breathless and in awe. But with Lisbon, The Walkmen have produced an album which sees them come of age. The album is just a consistently beautiful of effort, with touching lyrics from the first to the last such as ‘you’re one of us, or you’re one of them’ from album opener Juveniles, or ‘now the street light, bright and pale, as we sip our ginger ale’ in Woe is Me, a song which 60’s in rhythm but post modern in its execution, like so much of the album. For those who love the faster side of The Walkmen there is Angela Surf City with a drumbeat reminiscent of a heartbeat. The consistency of the album in setting a mood and feel is really something to be admired, the guitars and synths with timely reverb create a deliberately slower pace and hazy sound.  But the biggest asset this band has is the voice of Hamilton Leithauser and it is used here to perfection. A  truly beautiful album.

 Walkmen - Juveniles (KEXP) by flogase

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I can

The follow up to ‘Alas I Can Not Swim’ – an album which was a favourite of mine in 2008 – I Speak Becase I Can saw the maturing of the young folk singer into a crafted storyteller able to pull at the heart strings in a variety of ways; with songs about relationships with lovers (Devils Spoke), but also relationships with family (Hope In the Air) and relationships with the environment around. The last point is done most convincingly with the song Goodbye England (Covered in Snow), a song that makes me miss a land I inhabit. The album is thoughtful and thought provoking and has sees Marling developing a character.

 Laura Marling - Blackberry Stone by wereofftherails

Talons - Hollow Realm

Debut album from this experimental and instrumental six piece - the group has violin players. Hollow Realm from first to  last is an explosion of post rock sounds, in  a guise that I have heard before, but never with such energy and unrelenting pace. The stand out track for me has to be Impala – the last two minutes of which never fails to have me jumping up and down.

Despite the fact of having a been a big fan I wasn’t expecting too much, perceiving that they would be one of those bands who would take a few turns to get it just right. But with Hollow Realm they have really hit the ground running.

 Talons - Impala by bsmrocks

Foals – Total Life Forever

Antidotes, the debut album from the Oxford five piece, saw these guys become the poster boys of math /post rock. What next, then? Hole yourself away in a Swedish recording studio constantly repeating the mantra, less is more. Result? Total Life Forever, a stunning low fi, high impact album which  seems to tick all the boxes for a follow – up. It’s a piece of music which has a truly affecting nature as displayed by Spanish Sahara, a gutsy pop song if there ever was one.  Blue Blood, the album opener, is by a country mile my favourite song of the year. Funk in the bassline, poignancy in the lyrics, beautiful simplicity in the guitars and drums, all pared down to create a fantastic harmonious sound. These are recurring themes in all their songs but it works best here.  Black Gold is another triumph of simple music being very effective and wins the award for best ‘drop’ in a song.

All the Radiohead comparisons are a little unnecessary are these are two completely different bands. But it just goes to show if that if you are being talked about in that breadth then you’re definitely here to stay.  

 Foals - Black Gold by yodudeblog

Gold Panda –Lucky Shiner

Catchy, chilled, crazy – infectious, these are all words I’m sure I have used in every day conversation to describe this album and even if I haven’t I should have because this album is all those things and more. Caribou and Four Tet may take the plaudits for introducing indie kids to dance, but Gold Panda, for me, achieves a far more eclectic mix of guitar and synth with Lucky Shiner. The oriental feel mixed with modern technology gives this album a very cultured feel. Same Dream China and India Lately are the obvious manifestations of this, but Marriage, with its odd, echoed string also has a strong oriental feel. This isn’t dance music to dance to – it’s for contemplation and meditation. Namaste.  

 Gold Panda - You by subraw

Strong commendations

Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History

The album that proved power pop isn’t dead. Tourist History also had the fun-est lyric of the year; ‘to the basement people, to the basement, many surprises await you’.

Vampire Weekend – Contra

Deciding to tone down the Soweto sounds for the follow up, Vampire Weekend delivered a masterclass in metropolitan lyrics mixed with an expanded sound and solid ,staple rhythms. The sort of rock music you could show to mother.

Efterklang – Magic Chairs

Less experimental than previous efforts such as Parades and Tripper, Magic Chairs saw Efterklang delivering solid pop hooks with charming vocals and off-beat drums. Works a treat on tunes such as Modern Drift or Raincoats.

Favourite play

Daniel Kitson’s, It’s Always Right Now, Until It’s Later, isn’t quite a play and it isn’t quite a stand-up routine. Over one hour-twenty minutes Kitson covers over 80 years, two love stories and countless innocuous incidents. The result is a hilarious exploration of life which is itself heartening and life and affirming, and frankly every humanist dream. I have cried before, but I’ve never cried at a show and then spent the rest of the day smiling every time I think of it. A classic.

Favourite Film

Inception Post-modernism meets Hollywood - was very, very refreshing to see a completely new action film plot, rather than a re-hash or a sequel.

Video of the Year

No contest. till later...

PEELED

between now and the 31st Dec there may just be a end of year special - which will have my favourite political heroes and villians, my favourites from the world of arts and a special extravaganza on my favourite albums of the year.

//KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED//

No dropbox for this one; this is very much my own selfish choice.

 These guys didn't quite make it despite being one of my favourite bands. So this is their consolation price:




till whenever
toby

toby raves: on culturonomics, physical theatre and meta journalism (again)

Favourite Story of the Week: Search Every Word Ever written. Ever


the brain boxes at Google have unveiled their latest innovation this week. Ngram is a programme which allows you to type in any word in the dictionary and see how often it has appeared in print since the birth of mass publishing. The possibilities for history scholars is endless and cultural studies professors have already come up with a name for it, "culturonomics". But the aim is that an 8 year-old should also a be able to manage their way around the site.

Here's the link, try it for yourself: http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/

I put in a few and thought I'd show you the results for capitalism and communism. Interesting, very interesting (red is communism and blue is capitalism. obviously).

Opinion of the Week: Let Journalist be Journalist

Some journalist report the story, and some, a very few –whose ideas are worthy enough, become the story. Christopher Hitchens is one of those very few. His career has always been about railing against authority, be they political or celestial and his long standing views are both very well developed and a constant headline maker. The recent outpouring of support has brought him a wave of public sympathy from both sides of the Atlantic, but it would be remiss of me to say that it has also brought pleasure to some.

So why hasn’t he been a household name for years? Admittedly he is a little too high brow for most households but there is also another reason. He is part British, part American and so unlike his brother he doesn’t have a newspaper column or regular guest spots on political TV programmes. In a recent interview for Charlie Rose he explained why it was that he felt the need to leave the UK for the USA. This was the reason he gave:

“If you show any promise as a writer in London, that fine, but you keep feeling that you have to pass through a series of test and hoops; ‘he’s quite promising and so forth.’ You can die of that kind of encouragement. Whereas in America if you are willing to take the chance and say ‘here I am, try this’ you don’t feel that you are having to go through these stages of evolution.”

Whilst I am a writer of sorts, I’m not the sort of writer who is paid /commented on/cited/read, so I am nowhere near the standard that Hitchens is or was when he crossed the Atlantic. That said, with the little experience that I do have as a journalist I can see exactly where he is coming. Writing and journalism, from where I stand, has become straightforward and formulaic. If you’re a novelist, where your job is to distract people from hellish tube journeys then the consequences aren’t that grave –though if you’ve looked in the fiction section of Waterstone’s they are disheartening, if you’re a journalist, where the craft of writing and the grit of endeavour fuse, then the consequences are a little more severe.

The situation in the UK is very much that if you can only report on salacious topics and you can only write about what you know; on the face of it this might seem a perfectly logical standpoint (personally as a journalist I can only write about what it is like to be young or black, or if I’m lucky and the editor has some vision, young and black). But new ideas become shut out as it just becomes a constant loop of the same old same old commenting on and reporting on issues of the day, a fresh outsider perspective can give some new insight and information, people want good reporting and to be challenged in their ideas not just comforted in them. That for me is the job of a journalist. It seems odd, to me at least, that when an industry is as on its knees as journalism professes to be it should not allow for new ideas and new ways of doing things and indeed new perspectives.

This is my own example of something that many people have experienced. i.e. the marketisation of what they love and its subsequent dumbing down – but for journalism this is a dangerous trend as they perform such a vital duty. John Pilger’s recent documentary on the Iraq war, entitled “The War You Don’t See” laid into the free press of the UK because of such narrow mindedness. When reporting on the war, without exception, the major news outlets chose to embed their forces with the military rather than report independently. This meant that stories of soldiers committing atrocities and the true devastation of shock and awe were never dealt with until afterwards; the procession of tanks with journalist in toe moved on to the next story, or indeed got stuck on the same story (the fall of Basra was reported as breaking news story 17 times).    

 When comparing the free press of the UK with that of Russia, Pilger has recounted this story to further hit the point home:

“During the Cold War, a group of Russian journalists toured the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by their hosts for their impressions. 'I have to tell you,' said their spokesman, 'that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV, that all the opinions on all the vital issues were by and large, the same. To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don't have that. What's the secret? How do you do it?”

In trying to report the story war correspondents became too close to those whose actions they were there to report on, shattering any hope of objectivity. 

For (young) writers who have a different approach there a series of hoops, essentially drills, designed to get you thinking a certain way and essentially taking the new ideas and beating them out of you.

The point Hitchens makes is that he simply wouldn’t have been allowed to get away with some of the things that he has written if he stayed in Blighty; in the land of opportunity and freedom perhaps it’s the case that controversial opinions can flourish. Hitchens though is an exception, an exception that makes me want to read everything ever written by De Tocqueville and dream of a journalist utopia where ideas are ranked on purely on their strength and not on their “angle”, but an exception nonetheless.

In the main journalism is driven by what everything is driven by in the end – market forces. But the importance of free thinking journalism is as important to a free society as galleries or free school meals. Journalists perform a function and are there to serve a purpose, reporting on a story for viewers means being innately sceptical, not accepting the line from a politician or a soldier or anyone in authority, constantly having an inquisitive nature and putting ideas out there in all there unformed, unpopular glory. It’s surely in the job description somewhere. Ummm... where did I leave that copy of “Democracy in America?”

Music of the Week: Post rock instrumental I 


Along with fusion jazz and Scandinavian pop this is my favourite sub genre at the moment, so I've put together this collection of a couple of classics (Explosions and Mogwai) and something you may not have heard of. This is my first playlist on this genre, but it wont be the last.


track listing
Explosions in the Sky - Day 1
Mogwai - Tracy
Tallships - beanieanddodger
 Explosions in the sky - Day1 by oomphstations 


 Tracy - Mogwai by Fernandon 


 Tall Ships - Beanieandodger by bsmrocks 


Video of the Week: Physical Theatre


Summer 2010, and whilst at the Edinburgh Festival I saw 'Inside', an intense physical theatre piece which captured the imagination. Intense and abstract and more powerful than any dialogue, here is a snippet from their show. The second video takes abstract physical theatre to its limits and is entitled "Sideways Rain." Enjoy.

N.B. toby raves will be taking a break for a while to enjoy Xmas and so wont be back to mid January; their may be the odd video to pass the time but that will be it. So have a good Christmas and see you in January. Toby Bakare



Sideways Rain - (excerpt 1) from Alias/Guilherme Botelho on Vimeo.

Midweek preview

What to expect I hear you murmur under your breath (I have very sensitive hearing, some would call it paranoia); the mix bag will veer from physical theatre to post rock instrumental and back again.

What will not be in the blog this week or any other week is boxing. It’s a sport I loathe and find barbaric. That said if you are going to box you might as well do it as well and charismatically as this guy:

They don’t make’em like this any more... til Saturday

toby

toby raves: on questions that can't be answered, what is art? what is the future of journalism?

Favourite story of the Week: Blair's back

Everybody’s favourite progressive politician, Tony Blair is being recalled to the Iraq Inquiry in January to give further evidence.

Blair gave evidence to the inquiry earlier in the year in what many saw as the unofficial trial of Blair and his decision to go to war with Iraq. He was extremely well prepared and therefore many thought that he got away with being pressed.

This time round will there be the same level of anticipation. This reporter thinks not.

Opinion of the Week: The future of the noble profession

Wikileaks – the whistle blowing website has produced the biggest leak in the history of history with exposure of the murky world of world diplomacy. Some are for and some against the disclosure of this information, but for Wikileaks at least, it seems that the knives are definitely are out.

The consensus also seems to be suggesting that the Guardian, New York Times, Der Speigel and El Pais, the papers that put in print what Wikileaks had on their USB stick, did something wrong but don’t have a case to answer to; in the words of Simon Jenkins, “the job of journalist is not to avoid embarrassing governments.” So what then is their role, what should have they have done?

In the good days of trench coats, hats and shorthand the role of a journalist was to find the story and bring it to people – to go out in to their world and use their nouse, their ingenuity to find what was out there, but that isn’t what has happened here. The Guardian and the other news agencies have this story put right in to their laps.

Is this how it is going to be in the future – others doing the spade work whilst the well known journo is just at the top of the pile taking all the glory/revenue? Well probably not, newspapers are struggling to make any money that’s worth shouting about and the world of amateur journalism, as this blog demonstrates, can only go so far. The internet revolution means that there is no going back, whilst we haven’t quite arrived at the brave new world of quality, multi-platform journalism that is cost –effective.  

There are a huge number of questions surrounding the future of this noble profession. I don’t have the answers for you now, but rest assures it is something that I am working on... 

Music of the Week: Winter Nights


Winter is by far my least favourite season, your hands can't be exposed for too long, your nose feels as if it is about to fall off, everyone is heading aiming to get indoors in the quickest possible time and the landscape, although briefly able to be a sight of stunning crispness, is invariably at this time of year a scene of extreme bleakness.

The music, on the other hand is a another story. Full sounds recreate bleak landscapes in the mind, or can be a great soundtrack. From the folksy sound of Laura Marling, to the heavy screeching sound of Edinburgh outfit Muersault this week's selection is all about music which fits a winter's night. Be it chilled and mellow or heavy and thumping these songs all have a winter element to them.
track listing:
Laura Marling - Goodbye England (covered in snow)
Jeniferever - Alvik
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
Meursault - For Martin Kippenberger
Bleak Output  - Sunday Morning
 Laura Marling - Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) by Ragged Words 


 Jeniferever - Alvik by soundscreen 


 08 Harrowdown Hill by devinbeth 


 meursault - for martin kippenberger by TobyBakare 


 Bleak Output - Sunday morining by bleak-output 

Pictures of the Week :

This week, courtesy of Ray Tang, we are taking another look at the Singapore, focussing specifically on the architecture and skyline. Enjoy.

Video of the Week: Turner, then and now


Is it art? Now is not the time or place for such a debate, but the fact remains that Susan Philippz soundscape, currently installed under a bridge in Edinburgh was the winner of 2010 Turner - So the most important art award in the country went to something that can't be seen. Make of that what you will.

The second video is an excerpt from her installation; by way of contrast, the first is from Steve McQueen (of Hunger fame, and soon to be of Fela fame), who won the turner Prize in 1998.

Enjoy watching the videos... till next week then...

Midweek preview

Saturdays edition will be the usual mix bag: Wikileaks -the rights and wrongs of it all, the Turner Prize and by way of music I'll be looking at some perfect winter tunes.

Any suggestions for the music selection, then let me know

Send me your sounds

In the meantime, to warm you up for the bit on the Turner Prize:

toby raves: on the perfect society, snow and progressive music

Story of the Week: We've got a leak!


Wikileaks, of course. toby will probably write at further length on this in the near future. What seemed like a rather cut and dry story in terms of who was right to publish and who was wrong in being two faced and deceitful (for no justifiable reason) has turned in to a furore. Naturally to settle the argument I will wade in with 2 cents.

For now I will leave you with this; an article on Wikileaks having to avoid cyber attacks.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/fba399d2-ff13-11df-956b-00144feab49a.html#axzz176z5Xn8j

It like I’ve always said; journalists, corrupt - the lot of them.

Music of the Week: This is a progressive playlist, I repeat a progressive playlist!
It's one of those words that is so often used it almost has no meaning whatsoever. For politicians it's the term that is most definitely flavour of the month, whilst for musicians the word progressive had its heyday in the 1970's with Yes and David Bowie - heavy synth, abstract lyrics and guitar solos that sounded as if the someone had forgot to tune the thing.

I don't know what, in today's modern age, the word means but there are no menacing solos to of speak in the world of new age progressive music and, if I were to hazard a guess, I would say it sounds something like this.

track listing
Four Tet - Angel Echoes
Museum of Bellas Artes - Watch the Glow
Bjorn & Gorden - III
DJ Dous - Happy Meax
Pet Moon - Superposition

 Four Tet - Angel Echoes by WeAreBlahBlahBlah
 Museum of Bellas Artes - Watch the Glow by CulturedeluxeDotCom

 Björn & Gorden - III by Björn & Gorden

 Happy Meax! by Seizure Inducers

 Superposition - Pet Moon by Pet moon

Opinion of The Week: The Perfect Society

“Recipe for a successful country: mix one cup liberty with three teaspoons of justice. Add one informed electorate and baste well with veto power. Stir in two cups of checks, sprinkle liberally with balances.”

The above citation from the Simpsons (the episode where Lisa enters a essay writing competition only to become disillusioned by the America she has to pay homage to when she sees her senator taking a kickback for logging rights) and my recent fondness for pizza has got me thinking: what would my own perfect society  would look like?

Perfect society pizza

Mix together freedom of the press and a pinch of due process to create your base, making sure to get the quantities right so as to avoid trial by media or corruption

Use free guitar lessons for all as a sauce, then for the cheese create 2 for 1 cinema tickets everyday of the week – not just Wednesdays as many people like to go to the cinema at the weekend

Be sure to remove any autotune pop from the toppings

For the toppings use:

Bloc Party songs on constant repeat no matter where you are

The banning of Converse shoes

Free university education for all

An Apartheid style segregation between those over the age of 65 and those under

Place on a tropical island, 30c minimum, occasionally pulling out to freak winter weather conditions 

such as snow or heavy rain, but no wind

Slice equitably, from each according to his ability to each according to his need

Best enjoyed in the day with a left leaning newspaper or a book (anything by George Orwell), and a glass of pineapple juice

In the afternoon serve with extra Bloc Party, and in the evening with obscure Scandinavian “pop”.

Enjoy 

Picture of the Week: It snowed, didn't you know

photo courtesy of Michael E Clarke


Video of the Week: This is what snow really looks like


Seeing "Scattered Flurries" which was filmed in Canada in 2009 made me realise that what we have been experiencing in the UK this week could not possibly be called snow, or it would look as beautiful as this does.

N.B
These words were written before I stepped out of my house and realised how bad the weather actually was.

till next week


[scattered flurries] from felt soul media on Vimeo.

Midweek preview

Because there is absolutely no avoiding the topic, this week’s blog will feature somewhere along the line snow. But it won’t dominate. There will be other topics on the to cover ; most notably what on Earth does the term progressive mean in music? What is a progressive track?

Any ideas, send them over.

Send me your sounds

Meanwhile, in a lazy attempt at irony

till Saturday...