Do It Anyway » Archive
Sunday Night Music: Trout Mask Replica
I really don’t think you should buy Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. I’m almost certain you won’t like it. It will sound like a load of random words croaked over a dissonant free jazz cacophony and you will hate it. Recorded in 1969 and produced by a certain Mr F Zappa (who famously called his children Moon Unit and Dweezil), Trout Mask Replica initially had an indifferent response from the critics but has since gone on to be regarded as one of the most infuential experimental albums ever. Rolling Stone Magazine stuck it at 58 in there top 500 greatest albums of all time back in 2003. Regardless though, you definitely wont like it. You need some sort of OCD level of perseverance and an extremely high pain threshold … Read entire article »
Filed under: Music
Whiny wine wine wine wine
I love a bottle of plonk. Or even a glass or two if I’m intending to stay awake for more than an hour or two. At heart I’m a real ale man who still likes a crafty can of generic lager but given the ease of supping a large glass of vino, you’ll often see me cracking open a bottle of wine of an evening. I’m just that middle class. The thing is, what with all … Read entire article »
Filed under: Other
A good pair of cans
I love listening to music. Okay, you might have seen my post extolling the virtues of the KLF and be thinking, what is this loony on about? but bear with me. The Loudness War is already ruining a lot of new music and released old stuff without you even realising it. Bummer eh? Not that it matters if you use the bundled pair of earphones that came with your MP3 player though. Around 5 years ago I bought a pair of Shure EC2′s for about 50 quid to go with my iRiver H140 MP3 player. I don’t think I’ve listened to music in the same way ever since. There were albums I’d had for years that I was hearing new things on, percussion, snare drums, cymbals and multi-tracked vocals that was lost … Read entire article »
Filed under: Technology
Do you pick up loose change in the street?
My dad always instilled a sense of awareness in me to keep my eyes open for money. I remember well when I was a nipper kicking a screwed up bundle of scrap paper in the street only to see the queen winking at me, stooping and picking up £30 in notes. I was 7, the year was 1982 and I was rich beyond the dreams of men. The Beano only cost 6p at the time and you could get a Mars Bar for 8p. I couldn’t quite stretch to my own house, so my dreams of financial independence were dealt a blow they’d take another 15 odd years to recover from but I was able to indulge my love of books and buy a game for my Speccy. I’ve been called … Read entire article »
Filed under: Other
Mindless (access to) violence
I’m not the Daily Mail and I’m not about to lay the blame of every single teen gun massacre on video games as a result. I am however 36 and has been playing games since 1982. As a parent I want to tell you some things about the games your kids might either be playing or want to play because their friends do that you might not appreciate. Because you might not be a gamer. The impetus to share my knowledge with other parents has come from reading a question on a parenting site that asked whether it was okay for a 13 year old to play 18 certificate games, specifically Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. The parent who asked the question said they sometimes let their boy watch … Read entire article »
Filed under: Other