Sydney.

I’m going to Sydney tonight.

I’ve never been before.

Should be great. Get there Friday night and come home Wednesday night. Yay.

Finger injuries.

So I haven’t typed anything in a while.

This is most likely to the fact I am nine finger typing at the moment. Which I am now surprisingly good at. And don’t laugh, you try touch typing with nine fingers with your usual flow and you will see it is most definitely a tough skill to master.

So what’s the dealio, yo yo?

I slammed the middle finger of my left hand in a sliding door at my place. Sure, it hurt. I didn’t think it was anything. A bit of blood, a bit of throbbing… she’ll be right. Woke up the next morning and the bottom half of my fingernail was blue. Eh. A bruise. If anything, I was impressed at the sight of it. Sure, I was up ’til 2am in my girlfriend’s bed playing DS to take my mind off the pain and distract myself from my inability to sleep, but the nail bruise backed up my manliness in the face of having to do so. Then, two days after the incident I was in even more pain. And the patch of blue and spread to a patch of blue and black across my entire nail and beyond. And with patches of yellow. And it hurt like fuck. And ‘hurt like fuck’ is an understatement. My finger was twice its normal size. I tried icing, heating, lifting, etc. Nothing helped. I came to realise I had three types of pain. The sharp biting pain. The blunt constant paint. And the dull throbbing pain. All at once. But considering how many sensory nerves we harbour in our fingertips, its unsuprising. And, y’see, when you have an injury under the fingernail… the fingernail itself gets in the way of the swelling. Meaning you have all this pressure stuck under it and causing a world of suicidal thoughts.

Now my dad is a doctor, and my mum is a hospital manager type person. But the strange thing is they have never given me an ounce of useful medical advice or parental sympathy/care in my life. Honestly. My dad’s advice was to take asprin and leave him alone. Thankfully, my girlfriend accompanied me to a 24hour medical clinic whilst I was overcome with restless pain that night. And after a shot of painkillers, some anti-biotics (my lovely finger was not only crushed but badly infected, it seems), and a prescription for some strong painkillers, I was thankfully on my way to recovery. My girl is a saint, by the way. I was instructed that if things didn’t get better, I should go back and they would drill a small hole in my fingernail to release the blood/fluid and relieve the pressure. Thankfully, my finger got in such a state it decided to relieve it itself. Ghastly, I know, but whilst in the shower I noticed the water on the shower floor was a blood tinged red. It seems my finger (which had swollen out even more at that point) had finally had enough, and it was bleeding out like you wouldn’t believe. It was glorious. On and on it went. Relieving a lot of the pain, and actually allowing me to BEND my finger again. Who’d have thought.

Now I just have to wait until my finger rejects the current nail and grows a new one. I don’t even know how the process of growing out this nail will work, but apparently it takes a couple of months at least. Sounds like fun? At least the pain is now manageable.

Sorry for this obviously disturbing post.

Technology, Splendour, Time-Wasters, and Amazing Ladies.

Lately technology has hated me. I know it’s co-incidence, but withing two days my iPod touch started screwing up (It doesn’t seem to hold its charge anymore… like, it will be good the day I take it off the charger, but after then it will be at zero charge… almost like it’s losing power while doing nothing), my external hard-drive crashed (which is a fucking big thing, as all 80GB of my music is on that thing… leaving me with a depressingly noiseless week), and the computer at work died (meaning I had to write hand-written receipts at work all weekend. And yeah, I work at a knife shop, despite having a psychology degree with honours. So fucking sue me). But yes. It all happened within a day. I’m cursed. The new guy at work (Patrick) is really nice, though. And he constantly mentions how he has no friends outside his girlfriend (which I chalk down to him moving here from the country), but yeah. He’s great. I’d be his friend.

I love Splendour in the Grass. It’s my favourite music festival. Or favourite anything. Ever. Ever ever. The lineup just got announced. I’ll let you judge for yourself, but it’s:
Devo – yes please. so long as they whip good.
The Music – hadn’t heard about them in ages, but i love them. And they’re great live.
Wolfmother – Bogans have ruined their fanship, but I still dig them much so. Sue me.
Sigur Ros – Never really been into, but their adoring fanbase urges me to give them a go should there be time.
The Living End – They are everywhere ever. Seen them twice. Refuse to dislike them, but won’t go out of my way.
The Presets – Fucking horrendous. Them and all their fans should die for liking terrible cockshit.
Tricky – No opinion. Have surprisingly never listened to.
Vampire Weekend – I adore. Yes please.
Ben Lee - Can’t hate, but can’t like. Whatever.
Cold War Kids - Oh yes. I missed their last tour, but their debut album is the shit.
The Fratellis – Can go either way. Will see.
The Wombats – Catchy but amazingly annoying. Who knows.
Pnau – Will see if no one else is on. Have their first two albums, don’t know why they’re suddenly popular. But will run with it if they put on a good show.
Laura Marling – Don’t know at all.
The Vines – Fucking love. Despite anything. Fucking love. #1 band here. Don’t care what you think.
The Grates - Entertaining. Viewing depends on the timetable.
Operator Please – Operator No.
Band of Horses – Great band. Will watch for fucking sure.
Van She – Pretentious cunts who happen to make pretty good music. I don’t know.
The Panics – Good, but samey. Which they’d switch it up a bit more. Play some stuff from your first album, damn it.
Gyroscope – eh.
MSTRKRFT – I only care about them because it’s one half of the amazing Death From Above 1979. Have no opinion of them themselves. So yeah.
Lightspeed Champion – Again, only care about because of the past project (Testicicles). Don’t know about the current one. But I like folk, so sure why not.
The Brown Birds from Windy Hill - No idea
Scribe – Rot in hell
The Gin Club – No idea

I’ve put down my nintendo DS for a while lately, but recently two games have grabbed me. Firstly, the terrific puzzle/adventure game ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village” which is a great collection of lateral thinking puzzles surrounded by a good adventure game slash interactive novel. And it’s great fun, and very classily presented with great cut-scenes and amazing art direction (which despite being a Japanese created game seems to have a strong French art style). The second one is ‘The World Ends With You’ which is a strange modern RPG type thing, which merges final fantasy / kingdom hearts with fashion, and j – pop, and frenetic combat, and much fun. I don’t care how nerdy I seem right now, it’s amazing (and deep) fun.

I live in Australia, yes. But I’ve never been to Sydney. This, however, will change. As in nine days I leave with my adorable girl friend, Jaci. And I’m way excited. So very very. I leave on Friday week. And we’re staying right in the city, with her Nana. I’m totally doing all the touristy shit. As well as going to Luna Park with her Aunty and family, and y’know whatever. I usually don’t do interesting things. I can’t wait. I am smitten with this girl, in case you haven’t caught on. And within the past week the three things that had been most on my mind have been completely dissolved. I really don’t feel anything holding us back right now. I am so happy right now, and i know she is too, so I await in utter anticipation of whatever comes our way. Yes.

What not to do in a crowded shopping centre.

So, I’ve been a tad sick lately. So before work today I had a brilliant idea… why not combine my Pepsi Max (it probably causes cancer, but I love the stuff) with my Panadol Max powder sachet (it’s a sort of lemsip type thing… basically paracetamol in a lemon tasting hot drink powder). Brilliant idea, I thought. I like lemon coke, right? This will basically be lemon tasting pepsi max… with the healing powers of paracetamol, and the gentle nudge of caffeine! I’m a genius. Pure genius.

Unscrew lid.
Pour in powder.

KA-PIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

Oh shit! Oh shit! Mentos effect. Turns out they actually put sugar in that stuff. Who puts sugar in medicine? And if you’ve ever put sugar in diet coke or something you’ll know it goes spaz. So there I stood, in the middle of my city’s busiest shopping centre, while my pepsi bottle went bezerk and gushing medi-drink erupted everywhere. Real smooth.

I fully admit to being an idiot.

Hercules, Consolers, Tellings, and Double Danger Mouse.

Woah. Cryptic post title. Yeah. I think it’s time to add a few more albums to my running list of 2008 highlights.

Hercules and Love Affair (self-titled)

There was a time when I hated Antony and the Johnsons. Hated. My mind was completely unaccepting of Antony’s vocals and bewildered at the praise their last album received. Then I started to soften, I gave the album a few chances (Antony and The Johnsons’ I am a bird now). I don’t know why, but over a period of at least twelve months I grew from disgust into utter infatuation. It is a masterpiece. And I finally appreciated Antony Hegardy’s style for the genius that it is. Which is why I was so surprised that I didn’t notice this album until it was out. Antony appearing on a dance album? Released by DFA (record label with a golden touch, and the American home of my beloved Hot Chip). The album is the work of a DJ named Andrew Butler, who I’d never heard of, and features Antony on literally every second track. And it is fucking brilliant. The most apt way to describe it would be to invoke the usually unmentionable ‘disco’ moniker. But musically, it’s quite varied. Opener Time Will sets the scene early, with Antony’s wail dominating by the end of the song. As my girlfriend’s housemate Kiki exclaimed to me when I said I was putting on some ‘disco’… “This isn’t disco… it’s afrobeat stuff!”. Perhaps, but then the guitars seem almost flamenco. And Antony’s presence indescribable. The next track is the real pleaser though. Hercule’s Theme being one of the albums five (out of ten) songs not featuring Antony. Yet, it manages to be one of my favourite on the album. Amazingly punchy and upbeat, with a female vocalist and amazing sax work. The saxophone makes many welcome appearances on this album. It shows the album isn’t dependent on Antony, and futher tracks only cement this point. It’s just great music all ’round. The album peaks at single Blind. Which is oh so good. If the public had any sense this track would be the mainstream breakthrough that Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy was last year. I could die.

DeVotchKa – A Mad and Faithful Telling

If you watched the wonderful movie Little Miss Sunshine (and lord knows i have several times) then you’ve already been introduced to this band, as they did the majority of the soundtrack. Musically, in my mind they’re some glorious blend of Arcade Fire, Gorgol Bordello, Sufjan Stevens, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. But entirely unique in their own way. It’s sort of gypsie meets indie rock meets something else. The vibrato heavy vocals are very very distinctive, and the instrumentation is lush and varied. In fact, I was laying in bed listening to this album a few nights ago when it dawned on me that the bass lines are almost entirely performed by what I assume is a fucking bassoon. Correct me if I’m wrong. All in all, a very heartfelt album with amazing amazing instrumentation. Totally in it’s own league musically.

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely

I can say without any hesitation Jack White is my favourite guitarist. He’s forced me to change underpants more times than anyone else. Orgasmic. This album came out of nowhere. And this time not because I was out of the loop, but because allegedly they gave no word to their label about its creation… just slapped it down one day and said ‘oh we made an album. release this bitch in a week’. Ok, maybe not an exact quote. But it was a nice surprise. Jack White is again joined by Brian Benson, and the rhythm section of The Greenhornes (who are a great blues band in their own right, check them out), but this is far far from a side project. It’s well and truly it’s own entity now. And it fucking rocks. If you can listen to the first two tracks without needing a change of pants than you are incontinent. As a bass player I may be biased, but holy zombie christ the bass tones on this album are so god damn ballsy. Gritty, dirty bass. Just how it should be. And with Jack’s amazing guitar, precise and crunchy drums, and the one-two vocal attack of Jack and Brian (who in my opinion actually seem to be sounding more like each other these days). Musically, it branches out too. Not just dirty blues-rock, but with many surprises along the way. The highlight for me being the amazing fiddle parts in Old Enough. And there’s plenty of great keyboard/organ parts throughout, also. And the fucking guitar, man.

Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple

And now the first of two albums produced by Danger Mouse. The man with the golden touch. Anyone responsible for the musical brilliance of Demon Days (by Gorillaz), The Grey Album (the Beatles v Jay-Z mash-up album that first brought him attention, both from music listeners and copyright lawyers), The Good, The Bad, and The Queen (by the Damon Albarn led band of the same name), and The Mask and The Mouse (his collaboration with one of my favourite rappers, MF Doom) deserves all your attention. But it’s his collaboration with Cee-Lo as Gnarls Barkley that unexpectedly defined his career. Cee-Lo Green (the soul machine) has been around for quite a while, but never gained the mainstream attention that the musically similar Outkast did. Just a tad too weird, perhaps. But together, they are an unstoppable force. And this album is no different. Musically, it is still quite similar to their debut St Elsewhere. It is however lyrically darker (and I already loved their ability to bring self-deprecation into the mainstream music community littered with egos and aggressive masturbation over the microphone), at times more stripped back (such as on the standout track Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?), yet at times way more busy (such as during bizzarre first single Run), and there are enough surprises to keep you hanging (the seemingly Celtic music inspired Going On, for example). In true DM style, the drums are amazing, the music is polished, and his trademarks are everywhere. If you liked their first, I can’t see any reason you would love this.

The Black Keys – Attack & Release

The Black Keys have always been a great blues-rock band ripping it apart in the mid-fi arena. Not quite lo-fi, but way too gritty to be considered anywhere near the mainstream as far as production value is concerned. A guitar & drums band. Which is why it was so surprising to hear that the aforementioned Danger Mouse had been roped into producing this album. It’s world colliding stuff here. The crisp, often simplistic style of DM clashing into the pure grit and gravel-rash of The Black Keys. But it WORKS. So well. I think the real key is that DM’s presence is distinct, but still subtle. It’s definitely the most polished sounding album of their career, but the dirt still remains. The gorgeous touches of DM do it wonders and expand their palette. His keyboard parts not overtaking, but wonderfully complimentary. See Psychotic Girl, for example. And the trademark vocal ‘oohs’ he seems to love. Basically, this unexpected collaboration seems to reflect amazingly well on both parties… two worlds working very well with each other. Far and away my favourite Black Keys release. And in true DM style, the drums seem crunchier too. If you’re a fan of either, I would not miss this one. Now if only we can get him to produce a fucking Hives album. Oh yes please.

That fresh feeling.

Warning: General “life” blog post ahead. Stop reading if my everyday flow of inconsequencial events is nauseating to you. But I figure It’s been a while.

It wasn’t long ago I felt suffocated and stuck, but lately I’ve been breathing quite easy. Well, not literally… my sinuses have been playing up… but uh, yeah. It’s that sort of on-flow from one thing to another. Domino effect. Positive feelings about one thing seep into other areas and suddenly you’re feeling fresh about things. So what’s changed? Really, not a lot. Just a greater feeling of self-acceptance, and the realisation that other people’s expectations are exactly that… other people’s expectations.

I know it’s been a short time, but I am feeling absolutely smitten about Jaci. Dare I say, I love Jaclyn. And it feels great. At times scary, but great. We really bring out the best in each other. Who knows what the future holds, but every second spent in her company is a second worth living. And I feel more myself than I’ve ever allowed myself to feel before. It’s liberating. And for once I’m living in the moment, and not not in the fear of the future. I can feel my walls crashing down.

I am adoring ‘Six Feet Under’, the TV series. I hadn’t watched it at all a few weeks ago, but the DVDs were cheap and it seemed interesting. But now I’m hooked. For those who don’t know, it’s a series about a family and a funeral home. The characters are intriguing and very human. It’s a tad dark, but I believe it’s written/created by the writer of my favourite movie (American Beauty), so it’s unsurprising. I’m just at the tail-end of season two, so there’s still three and a bit seasons to go. But I await them muchly.

I’m still skating. Slowly getting competent. No strange stories like before. But it is a lot of fun. I’m still not game to go the steeper inclines, but my balance and control is getting decent and it sure makes going to the shops a lot more enjoyable. I’m yet to seriously hurt myself, also. Although I did nearly land in some dog shit the other day. My major problem is that the road is a hell of a lot smoother than the dodgy pavements around here. But I don’t want to get wiped out by a car. While walking the other day I did discover this totally brilliant stretch of side-streets that are amazingly quiet during the day, and perfect for cruising. I aim to give them a run tomorrow. Should be a lot of fun.

Oh! I totally forgot. My mum had her 50th birthday party the other weekend. Fucking fifty! I wonder if I’ll ever make it that far. She had a ’south pacific’ theme. It’s some shit musical movie that was released the year of her birth. But holy shit, it was worth it to see old people in bad bad Hawaiian shirts and floral necklaces. There was a cocktail machine, much beer, much wine, and… much to my demise, a karaoke machine. Which I, in my Piña Colada’d up state, abused. Ruining music by soft cell, green day (sue me), and the beatles. Although the highlight was hijacking my brother and his girlfriend’s rendition of a spice girls song. The ziggy-zig AH one. It was hot. Other embarrassments include asking my neighbor of many years how he knew my mum (after not recognizing him), having our cleaner (who was invited) of many many years telling me i was ‘never like this!’, being stuck between my two crazy (and drunk) uncles AND my grandma with my girlfriend as they made never-ending (but hilarious) conversation, and err… lapdancing Jaci in view of my dad…? But it was a fun fun night.

Seen a couple of movies lately. It’s a bit of a dry spell, but whatever. ‘Horton Hears a Who’, ‘Drillbit Taylor’, and ‘Semi-Pro’. Horton had amazing animation, but was a lot less humorous than I’d hoped. Definately the best Dr Seuss movie to be created, though. And I love those books (and poetry style) to death.  Drillbit was worth it for Owen, though he was not at his best. It felt a lot like a PG (and younger) version of Superbad, which is unsurprising given the people involved. And Semi-Pro I went in with no expectations, but enjoyed. Mostly for the ludicrously overacted WIll Farrell parts, peppered with Will Arnett (from Arrested Development). So all in all, nothing life-changing but all were quite entertaining in there own way.

I’m becoming increasingly more certain that I’m going to end up back at Uni. More on this later, I suppose.

But yes, I’m feeling that fresh feeling.

Book review: Things The Grandchildren Should Know.

So first things first. Mark Oliver Everett is eels (the band). And I love eels, so perhaps there’s some bias here. This book is absolutely lovely, though. His story is so unique, full of tragedy beyond my understanding and yet still with great success and hope. It charts E’s (Mark is usually known simply as E) life, from the drug experimentation and bizarre family of his youth (his dad is a famous physicist who invented the ‘many worlds’ theory) to the release of his epic last double album. There’s suicide, cancer, bewilderment, crazy women, and an unwavering creative musical desire. All delivered in an amazingly blunt and honest style. As in, this was/is my life, and that’s how it is. No embellishment, just a fascinating life. Being a fan of his work does help, though, as reading the sections of the book involved with different albums certainly gave his music even more depth for me. To understand the context behind the development of each song and idea, the driving forces, the struggle to get it released, and most of all.. expand my understanding of the meaning of the lyrics.. it’s a very rewarding insight. His life is so intriguing, however, that I’d be surprised if someone wouldn’t enjoy this even without hearing a note. And, well, if doing so inspires them to listen to the music of eels then it’s a great day to be them.

V Festival – Gold Coast 2008 Review.

I wake up to the news that the festival start has been delayed from 12:45 until 2 due to problems with the weather that week. I’m assuming that it interfered with their setting up time. Fair enough. But this created two problems: 1) The set running times were messed up. Yes, they put an updated schedule on the internet… but the timetables they handed out upon entry had the original times. Which would have been ok, but the bands weren’t in sync with either of these. 2) MUD. My shoes went from pink/red to brown/black. But I grew to enjoy sloshing through it. At times the ground was fine and grassy, but at points you had no option but to wade through it ankle deep. And wet socks all day is yuck.

BUT I had a great day. So now the negatives are out of the way, let the review begin.

First band I saw was Hot Hot Heat. They came on about forty minutes late, but that was ok as I swiftly found my pal Tamara and settled into one of the few spots with shade. Now I used to love these guys, and Make Up The Breakdown is still a fantastically awesome album. And I enjoy Elevator and the Knock Knock Knock EP also. However, they sorely miss old guitarist and creative talent Dante DeCaro. Who is brilliant. As such, the set varied between the excitement of hearing older songs (”Bandages”, “Talk To Me, Dance With Me”, etc) and teetering on boredom during the less captivating numbers. Now I hate people who do the “this band used to be way better” thing, and their frontman is still really great, but they really miss something these days.

Next up, on the same stage, we saw Modest Mouse. I like this guys on record, but live my verdict is ‘good, but not great’. Definately all very good musicians, and I dig a bit of accordion action. And I love Johnny Marr. I just found the vocals to lack a bit of impact live, when on CD they’re the most noticable and distinctive part. Still, enjoyable set with a nice mix of their stuff. Worst crowd all day, though. I mean, who the fuck crowd surfs to Modest Mouse? The guy who fell on my head, that’s who. And people shouldn’t be completely wacked out drunk that early in the day. Or continuously knock into people with their mid-crowd makeout sessions. But yes.

We wandered over the stage over the hill next. Ex-moloko front woman Roisin Murphy was on. I’ve actually heard good things from a couple of people about her set, but the bit I saw was nothing short of embarrassing. There were gogo dancers. And she had the worst had I’ve seen. And started doing that dance where you lean forward and run on the spot with your arms outstretched. You know the one? Anyway, it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. This photo is stolen from fasterlouder, but it’s too good not to post.

Back over in time for the Jesus and Mary Chain. They sounded really great, but had very little stage presence. Just old blokes standing their in sunglasses pretty much motionless. Musically very nice, though. And there was this one old guy in a Sonic Youth shirt doing the BEST old man dancing I am yet to witness. Absolutely rocking out. If he was on his back you’d assume he was seizuring. He’s my hero. I hope I never get too old to enjoy music like that.

Left before the end of JAMC to see the much anticipated frenchmen Air. Should have stayed at JAMC. Not because Air were bad, but because they came on fifty minutes later than timetables.. could have seen the rest of the chain. Once Air hit the stage, however… Holy fuck. Amazing. Just amazing. Five piece band recreating their music entirely live. Thick bass, crisp percussion, gorgeous vocals, and fucking brilliant synth work. Oh the synths. I loved every minute. And they finished the set with the Moon Safari triple punch of ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’, ‘Sexy Boy’, and my very favourite ‘La Femme D’argent’ (which is even better live). I love them. I need a vocoder.

Caught they last four songs of Brazilian dance-punkers CSS. Which was a pity, because they too sounded great. “Let’s make love and listen to death from above” and “Alala” were great. The thick thick synth during the later was ace. Very fun band, if only I could have caught it all.

And then over to 80s legends Duran Duran. Oh christ I love them for their pure cheese. Dancing in the mud to ‘Notorious’ and ‘Girls on Film’ was amazingly awesome. In fact, I was very pleased they dug out so many of the old songs that made them so great. And on stage their unashamedly cheesy and camp. So so camp. The frontman has a great pedo-vibe going on. And great 80s dramatic arm motions going on. Aww yeah. Also got songs such as ‘Rio’, ‘Save a Prayer’, ‘Wild Boys’, and the glorious ‘Ordinary World’. A few new ones too, but I can forgive them.

I shake my head at anyone over at The Smashing Pumpkins (AKA the Billy Corgan plus ring-ins show). The man is a cock. I only saw the encore, but it was most embarrassing and perhaps the worst encore I’ve witnessed. Padded out with Billy encouraging to the crowd to bash people at the other stage watching dance music (The terrible Presets, but that’s not the point) before launching into a improvised satirical song poking fun at dance music. For way too long. Then playing one of their own terrible songs. Now don’t get me wrong, there is some good prime-era Pumpkins stuff. But this is not it.

So all in all, great day. My highlights were Air and Duran Duran, but they day was (mostly) filled with great music and good fun. And mud. Good day.

Ten Great Albums of the 1990s

Post dedicated to Sean B.

Beastie Boys – Check Your Head

 

Mixing rap with rock and/or funk can lead to disaster. In this case, however, it leads to fucking brilliance. Fuzzy bass that will melt your head, dirty loops that wouldn’t be made into sounds by anyone else, great instrumental work, and distorted raps with the typical beastie charm. This is alternative music.

 Jane’s Addiction – Ritual De Lo Habitual

Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro before they turned into douche-bags. Where did all that creativity go? This album showcases astounding alt-rock songwriting and tight yet frenetic performances.

 Blur – Modern Life Is Rubbish

Better than ‘Parklife’. The best britpop album in my mind. Gritty and depressing pop music.

Weezer – Pinkerton

They got sledged by moving from the lovable pop-punk of their debut to more serious and emotional ground, but time has shown Pinkerton to be a mature and emotionally deep masterpiece (and with all the pop sensibilities that made them a name).

Beck – Odelay

The lyrics may be self-admittedly mostly nonsensical, but that odd-ball charm and left field production by The Dust Brothers (who also pulled off one of the 80s masterpieces, Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique) made him one of the anti-heroes of the 90s. And for good reason.

DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…

And what an endtroduction.. erm, introduction it was. You can get lost in this trip-hop epiphany forever. Proof sampling can be a deep and intricate musical artform.

Regurgitator – Tu-Plang

The greatest Australian alternative album of the 90s. This saved me from bad music.

Air – Moon Safari

Poppy yet ambient, cheesy yet endearing, electronic yet instrumental. Like any good moon safari should be.

The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin

Marks the point where The Flaming Lips went from being good to being untouchable. Brian Wilson would be proud of this. Dreamy and grandiose yet kitchen-sink in its recording and entirely unpretentious.

 eels – Electro-Shock Blues

Last but definitely not least. Incredibly dark and haunting pop music dealing with his sisters suicide, diseased alcoholic father, cancerous mother, and much more. Startlingly honest, confrontingly cold, amazingly endearing, and still manages to finish on a positive note. An utter masterpiece.

This is my happy face :)

I now have the most lovely new girlfriend.

A few people have asked about her. Out of respect for her privacy (she doesn’t read this blog) I won’t say too much. But I will say that she is:

-Incredibly sweet, and in a way that’s unforced and smile inducing.

-Incredibly beautiful. With messy brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and features as cute as a button.

-Funny. And finds me funny. And there’s nothing better than laughing a lot with someone.

-Honest. And I mean the most honest person I know. She’s one of the few people who have managed to move beyond being concerned about what other people think of them, and is truely just herself (without cliche) and open.

-Makes me feel myself. Perhaps related to the last one, but I feel so comfortable and unguarded around her. I don’t worry about the things I used to and I can honestly just say whatever I’m thinking without being judged.

-Enjoys every minute of my company, and vis-versa.