update

I've started a new photoblog, which you can find here. Due to this, I probably won't update this one very often anymore. Over the last 18months or so, I've found it harder than I expected to get a lot of the things I think about down on 'paper' in any sensible manner. Usually the thought has passed long before I get to the computer.

The new blog will be a mixture of old and new photos, and will hopefully chart some form of progress in my abilities.

Tentsmuir Beach, 10th Jan 2010

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Albums of the year: 2009

50 Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti Is... Skyscraper
49 Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
48 Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
47 Jesus H. Foxx – Matter.
46 Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
45 Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
44 Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
43 Gong Fei – Fifty Fifty in 1940
42 Florence and The Machine – Lungs
41 Wheat – White Ink, Black Ink
40 White Lies – To Lose My Life
39 Washed out – Life Of Leisure
38 Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
37 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
36 The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant
35 Owen – New Leaves
34 Maxïmo Park – Quicken the Heart
33 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz!
32 Spyamp – Settlement
31 Fever Ray – Fever Ray
30 The Raveonettes – In And Out Of Control
29 Yahweh – Tug Of Love
28 Little Boots – Hands
27 Why? – Eskimo Snow
26 El Perro Del Mar - Love is Not Pop
25 The Thermals – Now We Can See
24 The Sea and Cake – Car Alarm
23 The Whitest Boy Alive – Rules
22 Jack Peñate – Everything is new
21 Johnny Foreigner – Grace And The Bigger Picture
20 Japandroids – Post-Nothing
19 Zoey Van Goey – The Cage Was Unlocked All Along
18 Slow Club – Yeah So
17 Noah and the Whale – The First Days Of Spring
16 Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
15 My Latest Novel – Deaths & Entrances
14 Passion Pit – Manners
13 Kings of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence
12 The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
11 Frankmusik – Complete Me
10 Dananananaykroyd – Hey Everyone!
9 Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
8 Fight Like Apes – Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
7 Annie – Don't Stop
6 De Rosa – Prevention
5 Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4 Idlewild – Post Electric Blues
3 Marions – Origin of Birds
2 King Creosote – Flick the Vs
1 The xx – xx

waiting

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i can't sleep

Broughty Ferry, September 16th 2009.

neglect

Cycling

electric music aka

Tangentially related to my recent post about the Associates, 'North London Spiritualist Church' was the first album from Electric Music AKA, a band featuring Tam Doyle, the author of the excellent Billy Mackenzie biography "The Glamour Chase", and fellow Dundee ex-pat Anth Brown - from vague memories of an NME piece at the time, both had been members of a failed "baggy" band and found themselves in London. The album was released in 2000 on ZubiZaretta, a short-lived UK offshoot of the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label, if I remember correctly. Despite positive reviews, the record never broke through, though Sanctuary did release an equally excellent follow up ('The Resurrection Show') in 2003. Now recording as Boo Hooray, the duo have completed a third album which they are hoping to release this year.

Both albums are full of mid-tempo, slightly downbeat, pop songs, taking cues from the likes of the Blue Nile, Spiritualized, The Flaming Lips and Talk Talk. Highlights are "If The Good Times Are Killing Me" from 'NLSC' and "Something Up With the Stars" from 'TRS', so start with those if you need to start somewhere - both are lovely, especially the overlapping vocals on the latter. The first album is available to download from the link below.

I remember listening to 'The Resurrection Show' quite a lot over the summer of 2003, it definitely was one of the many influences I was working from when we started The A Forest.

[MP3] Electric Music AKA - 'North London Spiritualist Church'
[Stream] Electric Music AKA - 'The Resurrection Show'