Singles Review

Probably worth saying that I don't actually buy singles. In fact the only CD I've bought in the last year is Flying Lotus. Only bought Future Of The Left last year as well. Downloads (legal of course) are the format of choice these days. This is more a summary of the four tracks that have been sending those crazy cats over on Hype Machine wild. You know, those tossers who have Pitchfork as their homepage.

First up is Klaxons with Flashover. First thing you notice is how dirty it sounds, like they've spent their entire time playing in the mud as opposed to honing their sound. It's not too much of a departure from their usual shtick but that's in no way a bad thing. Solid opening. 8/10

Kanye is also back with his first song since Gay Fish with newie Power. It's got a big beat to it that almost harks back to Jesus Walks. More than anything there's not a hint of that horrible T-Pain esque auto tune that was all his last album seemed to amount to. The lyrics are the usual "Kanye is amazing" stuff, but that's probably what we love him for. 7/10

Most excitingly really is Papermill from Madvillian's long awaited second album. The beat is amazing, the perfect evolution from the 50's comic book aping debut. The mixing of DOOM's rap however, is less good riding much to high and making him sound lazy and almost uninterested in the going's on. Undoubtedly Madlib will be layering on the polish before this one hits though. Optimism still at a maximum. 6/10

Finally (the) Arcade Fire have returned with the bewilderingly uplifting Suburbs. It opens like the long lost cousin of The National's So Far Around The Bend and pretty much continues in that vein. A nice catchy chorus saves the day on this one, hinting at a more pop orientated sound for the new album. But this is the Arcade Fire so they could have recorded them weeping into an accordion for 45 minutes for all we know. 9.6 on Pitchfork probably then. 7/10

U2 Pull Out Of Glastonbury

A big hoo-hah was made earlier this year when the Eavis' confirmed U2 for the Friday night headline slot. Initial fears suggested that they would just belt out the same old songs on a smaller, less ostentatiously ridiculous stage. However, this week saw our worst fears confirmed when Bono had to pull out after having emergency spinal surgery. Even if you don't like Bono (proportionately speaking you probably don't), you can't help but wince at the thought of it. So whilst Bono lies in bed, surrounded by piles of money and sunglasses and weeping himself to painful slumber thinking about all the good deeds he's not being able to do, we're left with a void that needs to be filled. Obviously not a precise void. I can't see the auditions for a "smug, sunglasses adorned know it all", "hat wearing, pedal obsessed, name changing cock" and "other two" being necessary. Rumours are rife and varied, much like the pre-festival speculation. The favourite is obviously Chris Martin riding in on his middling, strumming Coldplay stallion. You can picture him running, twirling, leaping on to stage as a surprise act only to be stopped in his tracks by the audible noise of an entire festival deflating. 6 Music reported on Led Zep stepping up, although that's unlikely as is the many people I've seen crow out for The Libertines. One thing I'm glad I'm missing at Reading this year is watching them trying to fill a stadium on glory's past and forgotten. They were good, but they weren't The Strokes. There's also the long shots of Dylan, Bowie, Radiohead and even The Smiths but a lot of hope will be needed for them to come true. Best familiarize yourself with Viva La Vida then. They're not that bad really....

Flaming Lips are on the Other Stage you know.

EDIT: Literally minutes later Gorillaz are confirmed as the replacement. Glad to be wrong for a change!

The Walking Dead & Luther

So before I watch Scanners on the iPlayer (yeah it's that kind of day) I thought I'd reminisce about the last week or so which I've mainly spent re-reading The Walking Dead comics. I'm not a big comic book fan but this series has sunk it's claws into me. Not too much though, I only buy the hardback editions and only then when I have the money/remember I have the money/kid myself that I do have the money. I delved back in last week because my copy of the third book recently arrived and the fourth should soon (if it doesn't I'm in trouble because I'm moving house next week). The premise is simple in that it's the same as every zombie movie/book/game you've encountered. The twist, however, is that the story "never ends". Which from a writer's perspective is money in the bank. At first you might snidely point out clichés and inspirations (the main character waking up in a hospital is not exactly original) in it, but you slowly warm to it as the characters grow in front of you and the story slowly propels them forward. It's primarily about the people and the effects on them. The zombies are only a factor in this. Of course, add in bountiful swearing, violence and all kinds of wrongs (there's several scenes in the third book that are not for the faint hearted) and you've got an addictive and enthralling piece of literature. Hopefully my fourth book will arrive tomorrow, so I can sit in the garden and read it in the sun with a glass of iced beer. But then it'll be the wait for coins for the fifth book which isn't due until May 31st. Sad times.

In between perching and scouring through graphic novels I've sat down with Stringer Bell's foray into BBC crime solving. It's no Wallander that's for sure. No lingering shots of countryside, story threads of parental illness or (probably most unfortunately of all) funny Swedish names. Luther is set in Laaandaan, or I believe it's safe to assume this from his boss' ripe accent. Anyway, he accidentally puts a paedo in a coma and goes off work for a while before returning to his job straight in to a case of a stunningly attractive mental case murderer with his marriage and mental health falling down around him. It's one of those shows that's clearly too bombastic but yet is still strangely enjoyable. The support are good barring his little runt partner who has played a prick in some BBC Three Two Pints spin off. A crime that cannot be forgiven. The first two episodes are an entertaining yarn and hopefully they shall continue in this vein. Suspension of belief required obviously though.

Cameron, Chelski & C...Fulham

Although they probably went about encouraging it in the wrong the way I think young people have become more involved in this election than those of years before. This frankly upsetting video (which Charlie Brooker claims was genuinely produced for this) aside of course. A straw poll of Facebook reactions show this is true, at least amongst my brethren. People were chirping left, right, and (most commonly) centre right about their thoughts and feelings on the candidates. Personally I can't help but feel aggrieved about Cameron's claiming of the crown though. The Tories are renowned for their loathing of the poor and hatred of all things free and equal (BBC, NHS). Yet through a campaign of full frontal nonsense they've squeezed into power like Dawn French clambering into a morph suit. You can't help but feel disillusioned when their obvious and shameful tactics (funded by a man who is so uniformly evil he eats children just for thrill of it) secured them the passageway to destroying a country that is already on the brink of collapse. But then again, given the shit-storm Labour have sat through for the last few years you can't blame everyone for their shortsightedness.

In many ways Chelsea's title win is the perfect metaphor for this. Whilst we revel in the glory of Man United being dethroned we're still celebrating the victory of a team that have bought their way to success with none of their winning squad coming from the youth ranks or even the lower leagues. At least they had the good grace to win it in a romping style though. For that I can commend them. Which leaves us with the only light at the end of the tunnel right now, good ol' Roy and his worthy bunch. I do hope they put in a good showing, it wouldn't half cheer the country right up. Whatever happens though, Fulham have been an inspiration this season and deserve their moment in the spotlight tomorrow more than any other English team.

Cameron's March To The Apocalypse

So Thursday was the General Election that we've all been waiting for. The bloke on the left has been especially looking forward to it, rubbing his hands in glee at the prospect of waltzing into Number 10 on that hallowed Friday after a brief jolly round after the foxes. Unfortunately for him we have a hung parliament instead which means that although the majority of the county liked his smug, posh cake hole there wasn't enough seats in the colour of blue for a full majority. I stayed up to watch this spectacle unfold. Worse than that, I sobered up watching this spectacle unfold. Not a sobering in terms of political disillusionment, a genuine alcohol recovery. This was due to the fact that I got locked out, went to the pub to wait for a house-mate to get back and ended up starting an all night binge because I got too involved in the 20/20 cricket. Good game is was too. Anyway, I got back about 1ish and watched the BBC coverage which was seemingly broadcast from some kind of extravagant James Bond-esque lair. Things got worse than that though. The slightly frantic coverage would skip between a variety of seemingly strange events. Firstly Jeremy Vine has taken the "Swingometer" to a new level and entered the world of Tron with PS1 graphics. Scenarios where he's climbing stairs to compare vote share tallys beg the question "how did they do that?" but also (and more appropriately) "why?". Then there's the horrifying moment where Dimbleby would utter "and now over to Andrew on the boat". Andrew is a man with a wig that defies comprehension and array of guests and dull chatter that make you reach for the shotgun. All the stars were there, from Kirsty Alsopp to Bruce Forsyth. There was the grilling of Lord Ashcroft to brighten things up though which in many ways felt like an alternate more subdued finale of The Devil's Advocate. The man practically drips evil. No wonder he lives abroad, probably found somewhere he can drink the blood of virgins unnoticed. On the whole though there just wasn't enough of Paxman yelling at the video screen like a demented villain making his demands. Those moments were just priceless. Anyway, we've now got a few days to see if Clegg fancies a bedfellow or if we're going to be back down the village hall again. Either way lets enjoy these few days where we technically have no government.

Halo Reach, Humble Bundle and more Pokémon

So last night saw the meticulously well planned, hushed, almost understated launch of the Halo Reach beta. I of course talk in jest. It was horrible. Well, not horrible. Just painfully dull. Took me about 3-4 hours to successfully download the beta which left me almost too embarrassed to play it having spent so long staring at a 99% completion bar. I did of course play it though and to my great delight (read tearful disappointment) I played about four round of Oddball in a row. Which just turned into manic re-spawn, shoot, pick up ball, die, re-spawn, etc. I was frightfully underwhelmed. I went back today though, more out of blind optimism than anything, and was greatly surprised at how much more fun it was than the night before. A few games of the new four on four slayer mode are the reason. I'm still yet to get to grips truly with the new armour add-ons though. The jet-pack is fun, useful and seamless in it's integration into the Halo fold. The invincibility punch thing is good when you know what you're doing. Sprint is sprint and I haven't fiddled with invisibility yet. Been on the receiving end of all of them though, so there must be a good use for them all. I'll delve back in at some point as it's only on for two weeks or so anyway.

Found a decent deal as well today. 5 indie games on a pay what you like scheme found here. The games in question are World Of Goo (which I already own and love) and four others I'm not familiar with (Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra). They seem to be broad in genres and graphical styles but when you're paying what you like I guess complaints aren't something you can have. Finally on the Pokémon front things are looking good. Got 7 badges now and a squad of relative quality. Found some other new features, namely some bizarre arena where you complete athletics challenges with your Pokémon via the stylus and much screen stroking. Hmmmm. Good job it's still a quality Pokémon game then.

Pokémon

Pokémon will always hold a place in my affections. It was my first love really, before women, alcohol and other more alluring prospects came about. I'm ashamed to say I've owned pretty much every Gameboy iteration of Pokémon at some point. Including Pinball and the Trading Card Game one. So, under the guise of peer of pressure from a friend, I've bought the new one. Soul Silver to be exact. Not quite sure why they've been named Soul Silver and Heart Gold. Just sounds a bit shit really. But then again this from the company that named their world conquering console the "Wii" so titling their products obviously isn't the highest thing on the agenda. Anyway, the games are a re-skin of fan favourites Gold and Silver with a few bells and whistles. The shiniest of these is a Pokéwalker which lets you wander round with your favourite little beast while catching Pokémon and getting items. However I found that I could never find an item in the mini game and Pidgeys would be all I could find Pokémon wise. So, pointless then I guess. The game itself though is still as glorious as ever. I've just got to the third Gym city (Goldenrod) so plenty left to do for me. Puzzles have been rejigged and few other things tweaked from what I remember but nothing that's mind-blowing as yet. The highlight is still probably giving your little beasts "hilarious" names. Was worth digging my DS out for the first time in a year anyway. Although if I could find that copy of Zoo Keeper I'd use it a whole lot more.

Also got my copy of Cosmogramma delivered a few days early, which was nice. Pretty much the same as the leak but without the hassle of the tracks being out of order and labeled incorrectly. It's certainly growing on me a lot more now than when I first got it. Not as much as High Violet by The National is though. I can't seem to stop listening to it. Also got Jason and The Argonauts and the original Clash Of The Titans delivered as well. Can't beat a bit of Harryhausen.