tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82262613233492735552011-09-26T18:44:02.714+01:00Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-89239516226123972122010-09-27T17:43:00.000+01:002010-09-27T17:43:35.614+01:00

Well if you missed it you certainly missed one of the electronic albums of the year in Errors 'Come down with me'. A follow up to the hit and miss first album they released in 2008 it has enough heavy hitters in its depths to clear the memory of Mr Milk and its Channel 5 associations. Having been carefully stewarded by label owners Mogwai their sound has grown to stand by itself, although to take

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-43235701482632399762010-09-26T23:13:00.000+01:002010-09-26T23:13:54.854+01:00

Ah. The end of the Labour leadership contest has ushered in a new dawn. Or maybe not. The halycon dawn of the Labour party was in 1994 but look what that got us. Ed certainly isn't Tony or Gordon and maybe in the next few years we will get to see the true character of the man - albeit in opposition, which is hardly the stiffest of tests in a country that tends to vote very similarly every

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-44378798928962338022010-09-24T18:04:00.000+01:002010-09-24T18:04:34.608+01:00

Now that we are under attack once more (the IRA? Really?) I think its definitely time for some Cold War nostalgic soundtracking. After all you can't escape the reality into a bright new future anymore so its better to go retro. OK I know that The International is in a contemporary setting and that things like the Bourne Identity have a yearning for a complicated but essentially straightforward

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-11220258703735232262010-09-15T14:42:00.000+01:002010-09-15T14:42:34.886+01:00

Phew! Well that was the quickest two months of my life in a city that was never once dull. Writing a guide, designing it and taking almost 2000 pictures in a place that never seemed to close (except Sundays and the fact that no shops are open - sometimes a 24 / 7 Tesco Metro is not the devil we all think! ). There was always a bar or a festival, a place to rest or a spätkauf. From the sidewalk to

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-15920207055068290792010-06-05T12:17:00.002+01:002010-06-05T12:18:34.158+01:00

The noble mixtape, that thing of the past, once so ubiquitous and easy to do. Blank tape, record songs, try not to get annoyed at the DJ spelunking through the last 30 seconds. Yes its fantastic to have such a wide variety of media and great access to new ways of getting it ON to solid formats but.....nostalgia sometimes makes me want to go back to those old taped days of family cars and unending

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-67815680478054339292010-06-01T15:08:00.002+01:002010-06-01T15:12:13.765+01:00

Only half way through the year and already I have at least 3 of my favourite albums for 2010 with LCD Soundsystem's alleged swan song and Janelle Monae's latest eclectic offering making up 2 parts of this triptych. Okay, okay Broken Bells self titled EP is in there as well but it didn't look as neat in my head. Needless to say its been a surprisingly strong year for music from the leftfield -

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-91471067442401220212010-05-31T21:25:00.000+01:002010-05-31T21:25:58.906+01:00

Gorillaz - Glitter Freeze - Squealing, pounding and insistent to the very end. Open mouthed assault. LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls - Poppy and perky as well as surprisingly annoying - still love it. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock - Waves of sound crashing on to you when listen to it. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion - Like a protest song with raised fists and an interrogative tone. Blaqk Audio -

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-18255374900015306322010-05-16T14:51:00.000+01:002010-05-16T14:51:39.680+01:00

 A social calendar can be a confusing thing - packing in friends, family, obligations and relaxation will never be easy. Writing to them. Texting them. Meeting up for a drink. It would be fantastic to have all the time and money in the world to be with people but its not a realistic hope for those without a serious acre of funds behind them. One of the biggest things that always stands in the way

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-12024273650986927032010-05-09T12:35:00.000+01:002010-05-09T12:35:58.729+01:00

Everywhere you look nowadays there seem to be cracks emerging in every institution. This is called in this country of increasingly small means a 'crisis', when other European countries have sensibly enshrined these contingencies into solid political structure. Horse trading we brand it and with its overly flexible reliance on the moral compass of politicians horse trading it is. However the civil

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-1571067585996488432010-05-09T01:10:00.001+01:002010-05-09T01:19:15.542+01:00

Paid my dues with the final payment to CTR, with my wallet significantly lighter and my heart similarly buoyant. So what now? Well I think its time that the economic crisis really came home to Bloomfield town and I began to thrift the heck out of my paycheck. A second job and holding on to my mentoring at Sussex Coast College would be really useful! I'm hoping that my old chums at the De La Warr

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-68640127358698335642010-04-21T19:53:00.001+01:002010-04-21T20:42:01.099+01:00

I realised the other day that I had done something rather silly. Actually, cross that out. Put stupid in instead. I had managed to apply for a job, move to a foreign country and pay an £800 deposit before I had asked a very elemental question 'Er....where will I be staying?' Hmm. An oversight indeed. However undaunted by my own foolishness (my resolve is of a similar stature) I got straight on

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-16471130742379871892010-04-18T17:49:00.000+01:002010-04-18T17:49:20.921+01:00

What an exciting period for us eh? The Lib Dems looking like a serious party for the first time in 98 years and the country switching on in huge numbers for a televised debate. Even the terrible themed ties couldn't put off the audience which actually swelled as the discussion lengthened. I'm personally hoping for a major shake up to the complacency of the big two as well as any potential hung

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-75049772595119233562010-04-06T13:05:00.000+01:002010-04-06T13:05:34.493+01:00

Having just bought a new camera and marvelled again at how difficult I find it to seperate money from my pockets in any substantial sums, I realised that I had been lazy enough to neglect this blog. However in the absence of any solid writing I have been doing that other fantastic research activity by reading. And what reading it has been! John Pilger, Wilfred Burrchett, Jessica Mitford and

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-79907318462274130382010-03-11T22:11:00.000Z2010-03-11T22:11:58.672Z

I'm pretty excited at the moment having got my place! As of yesterday I am a confirmed participant in a summer travel guide program in Berlin - with a 50/50 split between learning German and researching and working on the aforementioned guide. Having only applied for it 8 days ago I think this has turned out to be serendipitous in pretty much the best sense of the word. Squeaking in at the last

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-53486001271172615852010-03-09T11:43:00.000Z2010-03-09T12:13:39.021Z

Just getting round to listening to this album finally and I can state without reservations that this is the most enjoyable cut of pop that I have heard since Alphabeat released two fantastic singles back in 2008. This album however has a bit more depth than Alphabeat's EP and teeters quivering on the cusp between full out pop and a sort of operatic lunacy - ala Kate Bush as has been said many

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-37047271951299641722010-03-08T13:45:00.000Z2010-03-08T14:18:35.352Z

The one big surprise (for me) to have come from last Saturday's concert at the De La Warr (that bastion of difference right in the middle of the prosaic heartland!) was Speech Debelle. Having arrived a little late and rushed in to The Invisible and their expansive, mind melting sound she was a breath of fresh air on sweaty and aurally overwhelmed faces. This is not to take away from The Invisible

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-52067161313928552522010-03-04T10:34:00.000Z2010-03-04T10:56:27.849Z

These three bands are all pretty new to me including Micachu and the Shapes so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself attending the De La Warr's increasingly regular fantastic arts program, having only recently stopped being an employee. Distance it seems really does heal all wounds so an opportunity to bury the hatchet via some relatively new music. I'm looking forward to Micachu the most for

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-3469937768797704712010-03-03T15:45:00.000Z2010-03-03T16:17:30.639Z

Sitting down and applying for things is sometimes a long process, sometimes a short 'tap here to send CV' process and other times it requires a bit more. Why DO you want to work here? What IS IT about the position you like? How will you BENEFIT from this position?Sometimes I get confused and splurt out how much the job would mean to me and what I would do there and how it would be a great

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-78316260470634372732010-03-02T23:22:00.000Z2010-03-02T23:47:08.161Z

What makes a great song? Is it harmonious and glorious? Does it have a special something?Or are these songs immediate and powerful because they have grown on us? For me I can be stirred by music on a first listen - by its tune, its oddness or a certain quality that makes it new to me. However the music that I remember, that defines entire stretches of time for me and conjures images of my past

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-78516840699039339692010-03-02T17:30:00.000Z2010-03-02T17:33:12.656Z

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8226261323349273555.post-36161471026044899752010-03-02T16:54:00.000Z2010-03-02T17:12:41.988Z

Hello! Like a trainee administrator on their first day I'm new at this, so give me cautious stroking (ego only) rather than brutal beating for my lapses into either a) overfamiliarity or b) aloof distancing. When forwarding emails do I say sincerely, truly, regards, thanks in advance? Is netiquette, which is itself an obnoxious term, worth adhering to in the workplace or should I just skip to

Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804911054748067973noreply@blogger.com0