What's been going on/Did I miss something?

For better or worse I've spent these last few weeks attempting to 'catch up' on the musical side of 2007 (was blissfully ignorant for several months!). Of course, I've deliberately avoided plenty, including many bands with the word 'the' at the beginning and anything endorsed by Jo Whiley, but who's paying attention?

So in no particular order here are some of my favourite album releases from 2007, as well as a link to a video for each one:

Beirut: The Flying Club Cup

The second full length album by Santa Fe native and all round precocious bastard Zach Condon. The Flying Club Cup saw Condon crooning his way through a set of stirring gypsy-like, horn laden folk ditties; like providing the soundtrack to a fantasised drunken revolution.
Here's a link to a video of Beirut playing on the street in France...You go gypsy boy!


Justice: †

Funky, housey, poppy dance from a Parisian duo who I can safely say have listened to their fair share of Daft Punk over the years. Maybe a bit of an obvious choice, plus I'm not even sure if this came out in 07 or late 06, but whatever, it's still new to me.

Thisis the video for D.A.N.C.E

Malajube: Trompe-l'œil

OK, this definitely came out in 2006 in Canada and possibly the rest of America but I'm pretty sure it didn't get it's UK release until sometime this summer. I heard it through my Quebecois girlfriend, where the band hail from, and loved it immediately. Actually it was probably the first time I heard a band singing in French and thought 'this rocks'. Who'd've thunk it?

Le videoclip; c'est bon!

Von Sudenfed: Tromatic Reflexxions

What do you get when you cross a cantankerous old git from Manchester and an electronic music duo from Germany? Answer = Von Sudenfed. Seriously, this album is excellent. It made me love Mouse on Mars even more and with Mark E Smith adding his incoherent vocals, clarified the connection between LCD Soundsytem and The Fall!

Six Organs of Admittance: Shelter From The Ash

I've always loved Ben Chasny for his guitar work, in particular with his principal project Six Organs of Admittance. His latest offering has so far come across like a slightly more concentrated version of his last. But what it lacks in change it more than makes up for in pure absoluteness; the songs are dense,the rhythms are hypnotic and the guitars are a perfect blend of gentle and abrasive. Get wrecked, find nature, listen to this THIS

Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam

Yes! So weird and wonderful! Strawberry Jam sounds like drugs!. I'm a believer! Check out Peacebone and enjoy!

Bjork: Volta

I remember reading a few times that this was a return to form for Bjork. I personally thought she's never been off form. Anyway, Volta definitely was a vibrant album and accessable at that. The album also features some quality contributions from Chris Corsano, anthony and many more. Oh yeah, and the video to Earth Intruders is pretty cool aswell

Andrew Bird: Armchair Apocrypha

I started off the year on a brilliant note; seeing Joanna Newsom play in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Melbourne. Not only was I suprised to see her being supported by Bill Calahan/Smog but also Andrew Bird. I'd never seen or heard of him before and was immediately hooked by his subtle but intense brilliance. With Armchair.. we found Andrew showing off his intelligent pop with calm confidence. On first listen the songs seem effortless. Give it another go and you'll see how complex some of the arrangements are. And he's quite a whistler to boot!

Thurston Moore: Trees Outside the Academy

Not content with being the frontman for one of the greatest rock groups ever (Sonic Youth), Thurston thought he'd bring out a stunning album of his own this year. In parts Trees was as much of a sonic onslaught as anything the Youth have done in recent memories. However, a sizeable chunk of the album was on a more laid-back melodic trip, which almost came accross like The Stooges gone folk! Thurston you dog!

Bill Callahan: Woke on a Whaleheart

With a change of name (from the longrunning Smog), came a change of spirit. If Bill's predecessor was a farewell cry to his old gloomy days, then Woke on a Whaleheart is a born-again pion to brighter times ahead. Or something.
Anyway, the album shines and Bill's voice seems to have reached maximum richness, exemplified in songs such as Diamond Dancer. We're just waiting for the Bill/Joanna duets album now.

How to spot thievery at Christmas.

Bonjour!
I thought I'd get into the Christmas spirit today, with it being the season of goodwill and everything. The only problem is that I feel hard pushed to find anything worth saying about Christmas that hasn't been said before..?
We've all heard the songs, bought the gifts and felt jack frost nipping at our noses. No doubt by the time Christmas day eventually rolls round we'll all be sick to our back teeth of it. 'Bahh Humbug'.
But no matter how much we get slapped round the face by all this seasonal sloganeering, there will always be amusing things to keep the holiday interesting. Stealing is one that springst to my mind. Especially as today I witnessed somebody attempting to steal a turkey from a crowded supermarket. Seriously, this turkey wasn't subtle. I'm talking a big fat frozen mother of a turkey. One the whole street could feast on. So I thought I'd provide a quick guide, listing all the tell-tale signs of Christmas thievery; examples we should all be looking out for if we don't want our prescious, innocent holiday being spoiled and flushed down the toilet! So with no further nonsense, here we go:

1. There is a man in a christmas tree shop whose mid-section is shaped like a christmas tree. He will most probably smell strongly of pine and walk with obvious discomfort while humming jingle bells in a rubbish attempt at blending in.

2. In an uncharacteristic act of generosity, your 16 year old son buys you a yacht as a stocking filler.

3. Everything you bought for christmas is no longer there (duhh)

4. A shifty looking guy is perched on top of your roof on christmas eve. He is sat by the chimney with a baseball bat and a bottle of reindeer tranquilisers.

5. You see a man hurtling himself out of the local department store dragging a plump elderly man by his long whit beard screaming 'I have the spirit of Christmas'

6 and 7. Old moustachio followed by young Janet Jackson (explained below)


8. (a classic example of institutional corruption) Santa Claus rocks up in a pimped out new diamond encrusted suit while his trusty reindeers appear malnourished and on the verge of collapse.

9. All your presents are on crimewatch.

10. These two men turn up on your doorstep shortly before the big day:

Jo Whiley Must Die!

There, I said it. If I have to listen to that arse-booshed, horse-voiced, pretentious piece of idiot, rambling on in her overly-contrived dry tones about the next big 9-5 indie rockstar/businessman one more time I might be forced to lobotomise myself with a crab-claw. I know that might sound extreme but honestly, I think I'm allergic to her.
And how she gloats can seriously get on my wick; 'Oh I have to pinch myself sometimes, I just love this job so much'. Shut uppa your face Jo, a trained monkey could do your job. That is of course if they trained the monkey to say things like: 'Wow, that was amazing guys, here's Mika'
Come to think of it, I wonder what would happen if Jo and Mika were to spawn a love-child????.....



Yeah, something like that.

First post on man vs squirrel

Now then bitches,

Welcome to Man vs Squirrel!

First of all, the reason for the seemingly random name, in a nutshell (get it?): randomness, the realisation that squirrels are actually quite evil and finally, frustation that all my other selections were already in use (damn you blogger).

So there you have it. Any questions?

OK then, I'll proceed.

So I'm sat by my computer listening to Andrew Bird and eating some cheese. It's Christmas time and the turkey is getting plump. I don't feel Christmassy yet as the house doesn't smell like pine and I'm not drunk. I am thinking about success. Here is a picture of a successful man I found on google:

I think the image says it all.

Which leads me to think about my current life situation as well as the last couple of years. You see, I've just returned from many different countries and now find myself working two extremely bad jobs. Bad in the sense that you certainly wouldn't associate them with the man above. Not that I'm punching above my weight or anything. All I'm saying is that I didn't really spend three years at university to spend half my week selling tinned steak to people that don't know if the steak inside the tin is cooked or not and the other half telling 12 year olds to be quiet while Fred Claus is on.

So I thought I'd write.

About music. About film. About travel. About successful men and women. About the relation between my jobs and the junk I consume on the internet. About food. About other stupid shit.

There you have it.

Here's a video of a drunk squirrel. HA!