Shuffleblog #20. Snow Day!

I had the day off today and it snowed all over London. I had some beautiful walks and remembered the warm feeling of crunching snow under my boots again. I also saw lots of dogs in great coats. Better than most of their owners' choices generally. I wonder what that says about this area? I also watched the wonderful 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', a truly timeless festive cartoon which everyone should watch. It's all on youtube I think. I wanted to watch it on the train so I bought it from itunes and was surprised to see it come with two other peanuts ones too, 'It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown' and the bizarre Snoopycentric disco fantasy, 'It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown'. This had a couple of songs in it and one was about Lucy and sounded like a sixties, female fronted Ben Folds Five. Folds should totally cover it. I have lots of video links to put up here so less natter, more matter. First up is The Walkmen covering Lindsey Buckingham's 'Holiday Road' for the wonderful AV Club, second is Matt Pond PA's 'Snow Day', which is self-explanatory, and third is the aforementioned Lucy song.

I also made some big progress with my Christmas album. There's lots more on the way soon but here is my version of 'White Christmas'. Enjoy.

Shuffles:

AFI - Silver and Cold
Owen - Note to Self
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - You Will Never Be No Good
Beastie Boys - Posse in Effect
Matt & Kim - Silver Tiles

The Walkmen cover "Holiday Road"

Happy Snow Day!

Shuffleblog #19. Wagner, we hardly knew ye.

This is going to be a short one as I'm currently mourning the loss of Wagner from the X Factor/finding out where he lives so my side-project band, The Inkstars, can grab him to join us before the major labels do. We need him. Shuffles:

The Maoists of Aix - The Sanctity of The Italian American Family
Son House - Walkin' Blues
Slow Club - There's No Good Way To Say Goodbye (Live)
Iron & Wine - Radio War
Mclusky - The World Loves Us

The Maoists of Aix! This is a project by my dad which involves mad sampling. Bother him on twitter (@goodoldMJ) to find out more.

Shuffleblog #18. Return to the 90s.

So next week me and some friends are seeing Suede at the O2 Arena, which I'm really looking forward to. Suede definitely get forgotten occasionally in the wake of Blur, Oasis et al, but were really the bridge between The Smiths' jangly melancholy and the upbeat britpop stylings of the 90s, and as such are great. See this if you don't believe me:



Shuffles:

Saves The Day - The End
Mates of State - My Only Offer
Blink-182 - Carousel
Dent May - When You Were Mine
Death Cab For Cutie - A Diamond and A Tether

Death Cab again. The plot thickens.

Shuffleblog #17. Rickrolled on ice.

This Friday just gone my girlfriend and I went ice skating at Somerset House. It was magical. There was a pretty cheeky DJ who was playing some well chosen and nicely mixed electro, the kind of stuff which used to go down at Lofi Hifi, the night I ran last year at the Cavern in Exeter and which continues to go from strength to strength in new hands. However, after wowing me with a nice mix that went from Animal Collective's 'My Girls' into one of the more recent Hot Chip songs, he dropped the bomb and rickrolled us. Rickrolling Somerset House. What an achievement. It certainly made my evening. Shuffles:

Hot Club de Paris - My Litte Haunting
Sara Bareilles - King of Anything
Biffy Clyro - Bubbles
Imogen Heap - Kidding (Live)
Kevin Devine - Brooklyn Boy

Shuffleblog #16. New comics!

Today I received the hard copy of my comic book, 'Small Town Heroes', back from my tutors with their comments. It was my MA Dissertation, and it got me my best mark. Their comments were very complimentary indeed and I was humbled by them, even if the second marker's comments could more or less be summed up with the phrase 'I lol'd'. So as such I thought I'd upload part two of five (so far) and put up the download links. That makes two chapters so far. Please to enjoy! Today's shuffles:

Field Mouse - Take Off
Death Cab For Cutie - Stability
Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family - Paperboats
Something Corporate - Ruthless
The Housemartins - Caravan of Love

What a great mix. Get stuck in to these free comics:

Small Town Heroes Volume One
Small Town Heroes Volume Two

Shuffleblog #15. Unbroken Bells.

The sleigh bells came in the post today and they are amazing. I've never owned any before. I'm certain I must have picked them up (along with a fish guero and those weird bonsai cymbal things) in primary school music class at some point, but I have no recollection. It's as if I've suddenly found a guitar tone I've been listening to on record for years but never been able to recreate. Totally sweet. I recorded some samples so I can make them into a festive drum machine. The results will show soon. Sleigh bell shuffles:

Joe Hisaishi - On Board The Tiger Moth
Blondie - Heart of Glass
Mumm-Ra - Light Up This Room
Sam Isaac - Apple Tree
Idlewild - El Capitan

Shuffleblog #14. Weiss rules.

Today was a tough day at work but the underground was made all the more bearable by the dulcet tones of Allison Weiss. I'd had odd songs from her but only recently got her album, 'Allison Weiss Was Right All Along'. It's a marvellous indie-pop record, with highs, lows and a perfect balance between youthful, twee optimism and Morrissey-style jangling melancholy. A quick youtube search reveals a number of sweet, personal and intimate live performance videos which make me feel, briefly, like the existence of such a phenomenon is justified. Here is one such video, followed by a full band video and today's shuffles.

Shuffles:

Weezer - The Good Life

Jack's Mannequin - Rescued

Alexisonfire - We Are The Sound

Sonic Youth - Silver Rocket (Live)

A Genuine Freakshow - New Houses

Lovely selection. A Genuine Freakshow are excellent - we played a show with them earlier this year and they were brilliant. Some of the best use of strings in indie/post-rock influenced music I've seen in a long time. Their debut album, 'Oftentimes' is set for release any day now. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears pricked.

Shuffleblog #13. Lucky 13?

So as this is the 13th shuffle I figured what I'd do was press 'shuffle songs' and shuffle to the thirteenth song five times to see if it forms any spooky patterns. Here goes:

Say Anything - Ahh...Men
The Get Up Kids - Shorty
Henry Homesweet - Pocket Monster
Into It. Over It. - Can I Buy A V_wel?
Tegan and Sara - Alligator

Ahh...Men again. That's weird. Say Anything came up a lot in the songs in between actually. Maybe my ipod is trying to tell me I'm being too silent. Will blog about how that pans out at work after tomorrow.

Shuffleblog #12. Sleepy sunday synth-pop.

Last night I caught up with some old friends at a funk and soul night where Craig Charles was DJing. He was great. Most significantly, he looked like he was enjoying himself, which can be rare among guest DJs. Hero. Now I'm trawling through synth patches and messing with waves to make cool and lovely sounds. Sunday shuffle sunday:

Incubus - Mexico
Johnny Cash - I'm So Doggone Lonesome
The Age of Rockets - Hell (Tegan & Sara cover)
Slow Club - I Was Unconscious, It Was A Dream
Max Bemis - Ahh, Men (Live @ Chain Reaction)

Good to see some covers and bootlegs creeping in. The Max Bemis one is excellent, all the best Say Anything songs performed as they were conceived. Check it out. Also, tomorrow sees the release of the new Tellison single,'Collarbone', a great return to form after their debut 'Contact! Contact!' which is one of my definitive records. Check out the video here and buy the single from Banquet Records.

Shuffleblog #11. Sleigh bells ring.

I just bought some sleigh bells to use on my Christmas album. Let's hope I don't go totally nuts and use them on every song! Saturday shuffles:

Death Cab For Cutie - Stability
Loudon Wainwright III - Strange Weirdos
Diana Ross & Lionel Richie - Endless Love (Reprise)
The Boy Least Likely To - Fur Soft Fur
Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam - Staring Into Space

First time Death Cab have popped up. I think I have more tracks by them than anyone else so their probability is high. Also a nice link to Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, which I watched last night - an insightful, funny and occasionally crushing film which all should see.

Shuffleblog #10

"True or false - an adult heron's beak is longer than a curly wurly?"
I miss Shooting Stars.

Kupek - Nothing Compares 2 U
Team Teamwork - Dr. Dre and Snoop Still D.R.E. (Getting Treasure)
Joe Hisaishi - Wandering Sophie
Bright Eyes - From A Balance Beam
Roddy Woomble - Under My Breath

Good to see Team Teamwork in there - that's from an incredible album called the Ocarina of Rhyme, which splices classic rap songs with the marvellous instrumentals from the best video game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Pure genius.

Shuffleblog #9. My favourite guy.

About a month ago my lovely lady partner and I watched the brilliant, heartwarming indie flick Away We Go and since then it seems every film we've watched his featured its lead actor, John Krasinski, whether in a large role or a brief supporting one. I think he's a great actor and am always excited by his appearance on screen as such. This has lead to my girlfriend calling him 'your favourite guy'. I'm pretty sure she'll never learn his real name, and it would never be the same if she did. I am going to watch his film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men next, and am very excited about it, probably largely because it also stars Death Cab For Cutie Singer Ben Gibbard, but also because it's based on a book by David Foster Wallace, one of the coolest American Authors around and who I was once compared to. Here's the trailer, followed by today's shuffles. Happy November.



Shuffles:

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - The Christmas Song
My First Tooth - Sleet and Snow
CSS - Let's Reggae All Night
Piebald - Rich People Can Breed
The Beach Boys - 409

I only just got Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack to 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' after remembering how great it is following the purchase of a Peanuts book. I love how these things work out!

Modern art is often awesome.

This weekend I popped in to The Royal Academy of Arts in London and wandered into a small, two-room exhibition which examined the work of modern painter Stephen Farthing, who I'd never heard of. It had some of his paintings then showed the sketches which became them. One whole wall showed Farthing's sketches of classic paintings (Hopper, Rembrandt etc) done with a number of differently coloured lines, and at the end of the wall was a collation of all of these into a tube-map like sketch in which each line was *ahem* a line and each painting was a station, with all the relevant interchanges and intersections. After doing a bit more research, it turns out he's done this sort of thing before. On his site I found his 'definition of drawing' in much the same fashion and was again blown away. I can't put my finger precisely on why but the idea of explaining abstract concepts through maps and practical functions really appeals to me. Probably because I was given The Great Bear as a present when I was quite young. Anyway, here is the 'definition of drawing', which you can also view in better quality if you click the link and go to his website (and download the PDF), which also explains a lot about his pretty impressive body of work. If you're ever in central London drop in to the RA and check it out. It's not free though, so obviously I don't want you to waste your money. There's a lot of free art galleries in London. In fact it's one of the main reasons the city is great. So get on it!

Shuffleblog #8. New Titles. Peanuts.

So the blog is now called 'Harmony, Counterpoint and Sarcasm' after a panel I saw today in a Peanuts strip. I bought one of those massive Peanuts books (1961-1962) and it brightened up my day no end. I couldn't find the panel on the net and our scanner is not playing ball so you'll just have to imagine it. The quote is, unsurprisingly, spoken by Lucy, leaning on Schroeder's piano, while he continues to ignore her as he will do until the end of time. Shuffles:

Mr Scruff feat. Alice Russell - Music Takes Me Up
Goodbooks - Startstop
Spoon - Take A Walk
Jenny Owen Youngs - Woodcut (The Age of Rockets Remix)
Neko Case - Favourite

Lovely mix. Good to see the Woodcut remix as that's two for the price of one.

Shuffleblog #7. Panther on the line at Chessington South.

That's what I say when I'm late at work. Hopefully one day it will be true. Shuffles:

Foo Fighters - DOA
Marmaduke Duke - Music Show
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA
Sara Bareilles - Before I Knew Better
The Shins - Red Rabbits

Bruce & Sara both owe their place on my ipod largely to my girlfriend. I forgot to mention previously that it was her that invited me to the Harry Potter premiere. Thanks for taking me with you baby. You're the greatest :)

Shuffleblog #6, and Mastery.

So today I found out I passed my MA in Creative Writing with a Merit, with my highest mark being in my dissertation, which was a graphic novel (and the first time anyone in the department had done it). I feel like a winner and will get back into comics soon. I feel like a winner, and would like to thank you for reading my blog and let you know that you are capable of anything. Today's shuffles:

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks
Los Campesinos! - 2007, The Year Punk Broke (My Heart)
The Popticians - Red Ken (Peel Session)
Robert Johnson - Preaching Blues

Wow. I had forgotten the Popticians existed - John Hegley's band. The greatest living poet of the English language sings. Might have to put up the mp3 of that tomorrow. Watch this space.

If you don't know yet, I have a Christmas Charity Project on the go and we've had our first donation! Massive thanks to the spectacular filmmaker Hannah Shaw-Williams for that. Click on the links to find out more and please give generously. Thanks. Big Love.

Shuffleblog #5

Sunday on a Monday.

Loudon Wainwright III - Fame and Wealth
Paul Simon - American Tune
The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Independent Luxury
Yo La Tengo - Little Honda
Harry and the Potters - Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

Good to see the Wizard Rock creeping in. And a Christmas tune too!

Shuffleblog #4

Again, sorry for the lateness, I was spending a relaxing weekend hanging out with my girlfriend and looking at the astounding art of Stephen Farthing at the Royal Academy of Art in London. Go, and be amazed. Today's shuffles:

Jimmy Eat World - Stop
Kupek - Born Beautiful
Joan of Arc - Flowers
Roddy Woomble - Every Line of A Long Moment
The Lemonheads - Confetti

The same Joan of Arc song again, seriously?

Charity Christmas Album

A couple of years ago I spend a very cold day in fingerless gloves busking on Exeter high street. I did a few Christmas songs but mostly just did a few nice acoustic numbers over and over. I got a fair bit of cash but I reckon this was largely because of my big sign proclaiming it was for charity. Despite a ten-year-old boy's earnest proclamation that I was 'not very good' I really enjoyed it, despite the near-frostbite of the fingers. This year, I'd like to go one better and do a campaign to raise some money for Charity, to truly get in to the spirit of Christmas and give something back. As I will never be able to run a marathon, wouldn't last ten seconds in a sponsored silence and can't take part in Movember on account of already having facial hair, I've got to use what little skill I have with music to do something special to convince people to part with their pennies and give them to the sick kids. So from now until probably mid-December I'm going to record as many Christmas songs as I can until I have an album, then put it up on a pay-what-you-want basis on my bandcamp page, with all donations going to The Roald Dahl Foundation, a charity which helps to improve the quality of life of kids with long term illnesses.

Donations are open already because I figured if I start now then the campaign could gain some momentum and people could help with the process if they feel so inclined. Obviously it's okay if you want to wait until the album is finished to donate, but should you wish to help me along the way you can donate at my Just Giving page or by paying any amount at all towards the album on bandcamp. I've put the first song up, and will put each one up as I go, so that the album builds gradually. The first song is 'O Holy Night', a cover of a traditional and a fair beginning. The rest of the album, however, will be a mix of covers, traditionals and original material. If you have any suggestions for songs you think I should cover then drop a comment.

Please support in any way you can - visit the facebook or justgiving page and click 'like', tweet, invite your friends. All of these things take seconds but could change lives. But it doesn't make you a bad person if you don't. Check out the video blog - there'll be one of these, with an update and live performance, with each song. Boom!

Shuffleblog #3

Here we go again:

Sam Isaac - Carbon Dating
Luke Leighfield - I Never Say What I Mean
Buddy Holly - Lonesome Tears
Kyte - Solsbury Hill
AFI - Girl's Not Grey

Now Sam Isaac followed by Luke Leighfield is surely too big a coincidence to be a coincidence, right? Who knows. I heart shuffle.

Shuffleblog #2

I'm a day late on this one because I went to the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) last night and didn't have time to blog. I know, I'm a bad person. The film was good - standard Potter fare (wooden acting, clumsy script, fantastic visuals, epic score), but this time much more faithful to the books than before, and as I'm a bit of a Potter nerd it satisfied me. Plus we (me and my lovely lady partner) had better seats than the X Factor contestants. I would have given mine up for Wagner, but he seemed happy.

Anyhow, today's shuffles:

Gogol Bordello - Think Locally, Fuck Globally
Magnetic Fields - Time Enough For Rocking When We're Old
Marmaduke Duke - Heartburn
Bad Books - Please Move
Wilco - Hummingbird

Once again, very eclectic and suspiciously cool. A song from High School Musical or something will crop up soon. Promise.

Shuffleblog #1

This is something my dad's been doing for years and I always meant to do, but never quite got round to doing. I just take my ipod, put it on shuffle and write down the first five songs which come up. Here goes.


Incubus - Love Hurts
The Hold Steady - Both Crosses
Bright Eyes - False Advertising
Billy Bragg - Ingrid Bergman
Joan of Arc - Flowers

That's pretty good for a first time. I'm sure it'll reveal some of the godawful rubbish on there in due course.