I think I've snapped out of my mood I've been in after the weekend, I'm blaming the frankly heroic amount I drank last Friday... hmm, no comment.



I've made some changes which might need pointing out. First off the information section has been blogged up and renamed to darth phil's online personality disorders, I'm a fickle type who changes his mind constantly especially with regards to the questions in that section, so I need to change it easily.



I've finally added some impressions of CD's I've bought to the site along with a long winded explanation as to why this review section isn't a review section... no sir-ree!



And there's been a couple of changes to graphics, theres a new banner - a tribute to the view from phil's phone section, and some new wallpapers for gx-10 owners, if you have one of these phone's (it might work on others... I haven't tried) try the URL http://www.darthphil.com/gx10.html, sit back and wait for the pictures to load - the picture of Spider Jerusalem works quite nicely.



OK, I'm off to watch my Jam DVD, have fun kids.

OK, as stated before the intention of this section is for it to evolve into a full blown review section of all the CD's I've bought this year. So is it yet? In a word: no. I've had a go at writing a 'proper' review of one of the CD's I'm going to talk about in a minute - unfortunatly it just didn't work out.



What do I mean by proper review? Well, not wanting to sound like a complete music snob, but a fair proportion of the music I buy is a little off centre, so any review will likely have to start off with a little background history. Then I've probably got to try to articulate what the artist (or compiler in the case of a compilation CD) is trying to, forgive me for saying this: express to the listener. Maybe I should also talk about individual tracks, after all since the invention of the CD quite a few albums are based around tracks which have been specifically intended to be listened to in isolation, ie as Singles, so talking about the album as a whole entity can be a little misleading. Finally I've got to seamlessly blend these concepts together and somehow shoehorn my opinion into the the whole mess...



My first attempt at this was, well... shite. However darthphil.com as you see it now is about two and a half months old, this website has been my first attempt at writing anything vaguely creative since ooh about puberty, give me time and I'm sure I'll get better at it and be comfortable with calling this a review section. Just not yet...



OK, with that caveat out of the way here's a list of the CD's I've been buying recently with some 'thoughts' (not reviews!) on there content:



DJ Spooky - Dubtometry



OK, let me start off by giving it's full title: "DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid featuring Mad Professor & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Dubtometry" - except this is a damn filthy lie! I've worked it out on a piece of paper with the use of a pencil and calculator and my amazing knowledge of mathematics that Mad Professor's and 'Scratch' Perry's contribution seems to last all of 2 minutes. Anyway, I'm ahead of myself, what's Dubtometry? Well, it's a remix album of what has been argued as being one of the finest jazz/hip-hop crossover albums ever - Optometry. Effectively that was DJ Spooky remixing a bunch of New York Jazz musicians, so I guess this is a remix of a remix. What's it like? Well, very DJ Spooky, in fact it reminds me more of his mix albums than anything - OK that probably doesn't help much if you don't know DJ Spooky, now this is a great disservice to his work, but think traditional hip hop DJ-ing, ie two turntables and a cross-fader, now add a whole heap of reverb and effects - now try to intellectualise that. Hmm, that is a really bad way of describing his work, almost sounds like an insult doesn't it? Time to redeem myself - this CD is very good, you should buy it.



Linkin Park - Meteora



Yeah, yeah you can stop sniggering now, I know... but at least it's not fucking Nickelback. First off: the lyrics suck so hard it's frightening, it's all "you don't understand me", "I'm not very fond of you", and "boo hoo, I'm so sad and misunderstood" - yet, I can't believe I'm going to write this, there is a small part of me that this sort of stuff appeals to - sometimes I swear I stopped maturing, emotionally speaking, around fifteen. Anyway, the good points: well I think Linkin Park do a damn fine line in heavy metal influenced pop music, you can't help but hum along to much of this album, and there are some fine bit's of sampling. The japanese flute on "Nobody's Listening" is particularly inspired.



Painkiller - Talisman



Hurrah, here comes Painkiller and there grindcore dub influenced free jazz to rescue some of my music snobbery. In case your wondering Painkiller are a three piece comrising of Mick Harris (ex-Napalm Death, now doing bass heavy beat driven music as Scorn) on Drums, Bill Laswell (who has worked with everybody in the know universe I think) on Bass, and John Zorn (who I only know from Naked City and God - I won't even try to descibe those two bands) on Saxaphone. This album is a live recording of them in Nagoya Japan from 1994, the first song is called (deep breath now..) Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia and is over half an hour long... Still with me? I actually think this album is quite listenable, Mick Harris's grindcore influences are not as evident as there previous releases its alot more dub influenced, dare I say it quite tuneful in places...



Murs - The Beginning Of The End



I saw Murs live a few weeks ago supporting El-P, this album is released on his label and has the same sheen of quality that seems to be on most Definitive Jux releases. Live, and on this CD he comes across as one of the most amiable MC's in Hip-hop, he never talks down to his audience, he just wants to share his tales of buying Star Wars toys and goofing around on a skateboard with you and me. And these tales will stick in your mind, I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of this album was instantly recognisable even after only hearing the songs once before in a live environment... while I was slighty... OK, not slightly... drunk.



Gold Chains - Young Miss America



Yay! It's the first album from Gold Chains - I have to confess I only just got this about 3 hours ago, so I haven't had much of a chance to listen to it. But, from what I've heard it's the Punk Hip-Hop Disco shit that I'm down with! I'm never sure if Gold Chains is one man or if it's a group - I'm going to assume in my little world it's one person, and I believe his name is Topher Lafata, basically he looks like Dangermouse's assistant Penfold and comes across as a left-wing P-Diddy vocally speaking. Intrigued?

Good intentions suck don't they? Every weekend I swear I'm going to use my time to it's fullest, but do I? Do I bollocks!



Plans for this weekend included a trip to the Saatchi gallery (conceptual art - good god what's happening to me?), getting to grips with my new music program and sorting out the cd reviews. As you may have guessed none of these happened...



Still I did get a cool new X-men comic book, so it wasn't a total waste.

The shocking display of unbridled capitalism continues...



A couple of the CD's I mentioned on Thursday have turned up, Painkiller's Talisman and Murs's The End of the Beginning. Painkiller's album seems to be close to the work they did on the Execution Ground CD, I went to see Murs live a few weeks ago and it's a tribute to the man's talent that most of the songs are instantly recognisable even after only hearing them once before. Detailed musings on these two releases will appear soon... honest.



Anyway enough of that nonsense, pictures of last nights debauchery are now available.

Because of a combination of a 'continue to checkout' button, an itchy finger and a credit card that knows no fear, the following CD's are either pre-ordered, being packed or on there way to Phil Towers:



Murs - The End of the Beginning

Gold Chains - Young Miss America

Tes-X2

Painkiller - Talisman (Live)

Linkin Park - Meteora

DJ Spooky - Dubtometry

Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age Of Grotesque

Soundmurderer - Wired for Sound

Numbers - DEATH

The Bug - Pressure



...I think thats a resonably well rounded selection, a bit of hippity hoppity goodness, some dub remixes of jazz tunes, jazz grindcore (...lazy description there, but if you've got a drums/sax/bass trio who happen to contain the ex-drummer of Napalm Death in there ranks, it is a fairly apt one), a bit of Metal with a hint of pop, some ragga, and a sprinkling of electronic weirdness. Nice...

Sorry there's something else I wanted to get off my chest:



Natasha Hamilton from Atomic Kitten has won 'Rear of the Year'. Now, at the risk of sound sexist here, but...SHE HASN'T GOT ONE!!! .Just look at the picture here and explain to me: a) where this so called rear is exactly, and b) why it's so good...

Damn it! I've just realised Channel 4 have been showing Jam again, and I seem to have missed the first couple of episodes. Damn my videogaming obsession, oh well the DVD is pre-ordered so things aren't too bad.



Anyway, I love Chris Morris - not in the biblical sense really, but his humour is so up my street. OK, I can see how some of his work is a little close to the bone, the cot death baby being plumbed into the central heating system springs to mind, but I'm yet to find anything he does offensive. And the man has impeccable taste in music as you can see on the Jam credit's site...



One thing though, if you go to that site you can download an audio track called 'Distant Artillery FX', this appears to be about half an hour of, well, distant artillery noises... I'm missing something here aren't I?

The phrase "Go to bed phil!" springs to mind at the moment... oh dear.



Anyway before I do, a couple of changes I'd like to draw to your attention: First up, the beginnings of an information section - hopefully it explains the menu system around here a little better, and theres a bit of an FAQ section in there; secondly a new CD review (sort of) section.

A new section, hurrah! The idea of this is to document and possibly review all of the CD's I've aquired this year. I'm starting off with a list containing fairly brief descriptions of everything since I don't really have the time to review them all properly. Hopefully future entries will be a little more complete.



The Bug vs The Rootsman feat. Daddy Freddy / DJ /Rupture



Six track split EP, 3 mashed up tracks from The Bug & The Rootsman pre-empting the next big thing in underground electronic music - Ragga! And 3 tracks from DJ /Rupture who continues his three deck journeys with some more ragga-esque beats and, well, noise.



t.A.T.u. - 200km/h in the wrong lane



Shut it! I like them... OK, some of the album does get a bit overly Eurovision (look at me jumping on the Eurovision comparisions already - how lazy am I?), but the Trever Horn produced singles and the fantastic cover of "How Soon is Now?" make up for that.



Mr Scruff & Seaming - Beyond



The nice people at ninjatune gave me this when I ordered my new record bag from them. Its well up to there usual high standards.



Kevin Drumm & Lasse Marhaug - Frozen by Blizzard Winds



I'm still not sure what to make of this, it's not music in the traditional sense. As far as I know its a recording of treated electric guitar and improvised laptop randomness. File under "different".



DJ Spooky featuring Killah Priest



Nine versions of one song do dilute the appeal of the original some what...



Manic Street Preachers - Forever Delayed



I only really got this for the latest single 'There By The Grace Of God'. I'll grudgingly admit the rest of it is OK.



Philip Jeck - Stoke



This is really good, Philip Jeck is best described as a turntabalist, but rather than the traditional vinyl gymnastics he deals with antique record players and long forgotten dusty old scratched records. The overall effect is one of the most hauntingly beautiful CDs I've purchased recently.



Hexstatic - Listen & Learn



The second in Ninjatune's Solid Steel mix series - plenty of old skool funk mixed with the labels traditional fondness for the genre.



Sonic Youth - Dirty (Deluxe Edition)



Re-release of what I think is there most successful album (I think) with all the B-sides from the era and a collection of rehearsal recordings of early versions of the songs.



Gold Chains - EP



I've only just recently discovered Mr Topher Lafata and I have to say I'm impressed. Proof that modern electronic music can be fun - contains the video for 'I come from San Francisco' and the Stereolab sampling 'Rock the Parti'. Highly recommended.



The Powerpuff Girls - Heroes & Villains



Frank Black? Bis? Devo? Surely this can't be the soundtrack to a kids cartoon show? Oh but it is - and great fun too...



Susumu Yokota - The Boy and The Tree



I really don't listen to this enough. The easiest way to describe this is as Ambient music, but the use of traditional Japanese samples and phrases mean it would be equally at home in the World music section of your local HMV - not that those heathens would stock it... probably.



Jay-Z - The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse



Another album I haven't got to grips with, mainly because it's too fucking long! Still I do admire Jay-Z, he's basically taken bragging to an artform.



Boards of Canada - Twoism



Not a paatch on there new stuff in my opinion...



Sonic Youth - Murray Street



Named after there studio which got destroyed on September 11th apparently. Like a fine wine they seem to improve with age.



Various - The Big Bash



I don't know why I still buy the NME, especially judging by this CD - full to the brim with the usual indie tosh the NME feel free to force on the readers. Still it's got The Streets, and The Clash so its not all bad news.



Matthew Shipp - Equilibrium



I saw Mr Shipp when Spring Heel Jack toured and he was amazing, mad as a fruit bat during the first half but I remember during the second half of the show when the rest of the players were just going, well... mental, for about five minutes he just stuck to a simple series of chords which would make you want to weep... Anyway I think this is his latest solo CD, free jazz but kept in check with some clever programming by FLAM.



Gold Chains - Straight From Your Radio



Pure filth, great!



Faultline - Your Love Means Everything



I'm a sucker for albums with names like this, it doesn't dissappoint.



Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Nocturama



Once again Darth Phil turns up for the party far too late - the beer's all gone and someones already puked up in the bathroom. Anyway, as you may have gathered Nick Cave has been someone I've always been interested in but this is the first album of his I've purchased. It's not as gloomy as you may think - OK, the first track is a bit melancholic, but the last track is a fantastic 15 minute long - well rock out!



Grand Theft Auto Vice City Boxset



Eighties cheese! Except it's not cheesy, it's just really good. There is just something about cruising around Woking while listening to Crockett's Theme which almost makes me forget the nineties ever existed.



Sophia - De Nachten



OK Darth Phil, someones holding a gun to your head - you have to choose one CD from all the ones in this list... No problem, this one easily.



So who the hell are Sophia? Well once upon a time there was a band called The God Machine they released a classic album called "Scenes from The Second Storey" (if anyone has a copy let me know), then just before the release of there second album the bass player tragically died of a brain tumour. This album was called "One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying".



Sophia followed were the band that followed, much more introspective, and even without knowing the circumstances surrounding there origins hauntingly beautiful, the sense of grief surrounding what they did was unavoidable.



De Nachten is the third album they have released, recorded live at the De Nachten festival in Holland and in my opinion there best. If I was to describe this in very simple terms the best I can think of is think of the start of The Scientist by Coldplay - now add a bit of country and then add in a string quartet. I feel like I'm diluting the appeal of this CD by describing it in these ways, but maybe I've intrigued someone enough into buying it. Right enough waffling, next!



Boom Bip - Seed to Sun



You know that car advert (or is it petrol?) with the horses charging through darkened city streets? The first track is used as the soundtrack to that... Part of the Anticon hip hop collective.



Themselves - The No Music



More anticon goodness, I think it's doseone's frankly amazing vocals and the production talents of someone from cLOUDDEAD. I guess it counts as a grower since it improves the more it's listened too.



The Soft Pink Truth - Do You Party?



I guess this could be counted as electroclash. But it hasn't got it's head stuck up it's arse, it's fun! Good God, I'm buying music that's 'fun' and not morbid or depressing - what has happened to me? Anyway it's from half of Matmos (who I like to think have always taken the piss a little - this is a good thing and should be encouraged), and Blevin Blectum does some great dead pan vocals on 'Make Up'... You have no idea who I'm talking about do you?



Wings of Desire Soundtrack



Yay! German Arthouse cinema. One of my favourite films of all time, helped enormously by this soundtrack.



Badawi - Soldier of Midian



Very middle eastern, very percussive and very very angry.



Electric Company - It's Hard To Be A Baby



I guess if there is such a thing as a typical Tigerbeat6 release this is it, pleasantly glitchy.



Unklesounds - Do Androids Dream Of Electric Beats



Apparently a rarity of huge proportions, bollocks! I bought this from the HMV in Oxford Street just after christmas when there were dozens of copies, and its still taking pride of place in HMV's nu-beats section on there website. Anyway, its a three CD mix, I suppose it's got a slightly housier feel to what UNKLE normally do, some very clever mixing in places, I especially like what they did with The Queens of The Stone Age's "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer".



Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes For Cash



My God he's getting lazy, still its going to annoy the crate diggers and its nice to finally get hold a copy of the remix of Curve's Falling Free



The Wire 20 Years 1982 - 2002



Nope, not the band, the magazine. Fairly difficult going but definitely worth it.



Scorn - Plan B



I don't think anyone understands bass as well as Mick Harris. Good to have him back.



Paws Across America



Tigerbeat6 compilation centred around Cex, Numbers and Stars As Eyes. Special mention goes to the track by Original Hamster - Notorious DSP gangster rap via the Apple Mac speech synthesiser.



Isis - Oceanic



Metal! Just very very good faintly atmospheric metal. Justin Broadrick from Godflesh has done a remix for them which definitely wins them kudos in my mind.



Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf



Not as good as there first album, but good to have them around. There aren't enough bands out there to recognise the need for a good old fashioned drug binge to make a decent rock album.



Autechre - Draft 7.30



The world needs groups like Autechre, I like the way they sound slightly alien, how there beats don't really make sense. Having said that there are a few tracks here that vere off into almost hip-hop territory.



Spring Heel Jack - Oddities



I'm not sure what to make of this, after the Amassed and Masses albums it does seem like a bit of a step back for them - I doubt anyone else would see it that way though.



The Ravonettes - Whip It On



Short, Sweet and very rock'n'roll - in a very 50's sense. Completely inappropiate in this day and age - yeah!



2 many DJ's - As heard on radio soulwax pt.2



This has been re-released recently but with all the photographs on the CD scribbled out - odd. Anyway, its a compilation and contains some of the most inspired mixing you will ever hear.



Club Transmediale 03



A free CD from the Wire magazine. Lot's of very pretensious electronic music - some of which may be German.



Domino 03



Another freebie from The Wire. I think it's a label from Belgium this time



The Mad Capsule Markets - 010



Oh god, it's a concept album - but, its from a bunch of mental Japanese metallers so doesn't make a huge amount of sense thankfully. Very fast and noisy - but once again not quite as good as there last album.



David S. Ware Quartet - Freedom Suite



Nice.



DJ BrokenWindow - Parallel Universe #1



Simple concept really: take two songs, one mainly instrumental, the other mainly vocal, mix them together et voila! DJ BrokenWindow's trick is to vere towards the more obscure end of the musical spectrum. German Techno vs Sesame Street? Seems to work.



~Scape - Showcase



Yet another Wire freebie, Germany this time.



Gus Gus - Attention



Hmm, a bit disappointing really - can't really say anything about it.



Alice Coltrane - Universal Conciousness



It's funny really how a CD so steeped in spirituality can appeal to a heathen like me. Some wonderful string arrangements complement Alice's Harp and Organ playing beautifully.



The White Stripes - Elephant



Unfortunatly the hype has got to me a bit and I find it difficult to really like this album. However, I can appreciate the purity of this album, everything is stripped back to the basics: guitar, drums & vocals - nothing extra is added since it's just not needed. And I have to admit Jack White is a mighty fine guitar player.



Beans - Tomorrow Right Now



Beans used to be part of the Anti-Pop Consortium, damn shame they split up.



System Of A Down - Steal This Album!



OK, it's just a filler really before there next proper album, but it's a lot better than most groups manage.



Yabby You - Jesus Dread 1972~1977



More religious music? I'll be renouncing the ways of the dark lord before you know it... Anyway, some righteous dub reggae, very good for the soul.



The Wild Bunch - Story Of A Sound System



Mix CD and accompying booklet about the Bristol sound system who would later spawn Massive Attack. I look at this as more of a historical document than anything.



Derek Bailey - Ballards



Derek Bailey is what can only be described as an experimental jazz guitarist, he's been making music for decades, using a fairly unique plucking style of playing. This CD contains his meditations on what are apparently various jazz standards, interesting.



Undercover Cuts



A free CD I got with a hip hop magazine whose name escapes me, some great stuff on it: Vadim, Gamma, Mr Lex and lot's of other artists I'm not familiar with I'm afraid.



Coldplay - The Scientist



Being the music snob that I am I just can't bring myself to buy the Coldplay album - especially when the likes of Sophia (probably the closest I get) are criminally ignored. Still, I can't resist this tune, it may be the simple understated piano riff, or lines like "you don't know how lovely you are" appealling to the hopeless romantic in me, but I love this song.



Muggs - Dust



Cypress Hill's producer goes all Pink Floyd? Who would have thunk it? OK-ish...



Main - Transiency



A CD that I feel is best half listened to, not entirely sure I like it.



Antipop vs Matthew Shipp



Apparently the last recording of the Anti-Pop Consortium, and what do you know! They've teamed up with my favourite Jazz Pianist. Very Good



Rough Trade Shops - Counter Culture 2002



To be honest I only got this because it's got a track by The Bug (Killer - in case you're interested), but the rest of it's pretty good - I guess this is because it's been compiled by some of the most discerning music fans around, the employees of Rough Trade...

Prepare to shown some respect Woking - Westwood returns!!! Oh dear...

Well its going to take a few days for this grin of mine to wear off!



Leicester have been promoted, and have somehow managed to sneak to the top of the league in true ninja style. I think I need to go for a lie down...

Oooh, tis the witching hour... almost... or it might be past it once I hit the post button.



I know I've said I wouldn't do another post under the influence of alcohol, especially after the complaints from last time, but I think I'll be alright tonight - I've had a quiet night in, I've been on the el vino rather than the wife beater, and media player has shown some very good taste tonight (Anti-Pop Consortium, Portishead and Deborah Anderson have featured in the last few random selections), so the music coming from my laptop has been most agreeable - and not in the least bit annoying.



Anyway, prepare yourself for some random ramblings and linkage! (no, hold on media player has just woken up and started playing a Filter song which reminds me of a girl I... hold on, give me a moment...)



Right (media player has moved on to Autechre... still good, but no emotional attatchment), first up google has woken up! Type in darthphil and I'm top of the list, and if you try darth phil I'm at least in the first page - although Pat's site gets above me, not that I'm going to begrudge him that, especially since I get a well cool link in his daily reading section.



So tonight, I've been trawling the darkside of the blogosphere, and found plenty of worrying websites - mainly by teenagers pretending to be disturbed... which they are so obviously not - trust me, I've seen a couple of people I know go through proper mental breakdowns, and getting out of bed has been a mission, updating a website just wouldn't be an option. What these people have been going through is some thing I like to call puberty, ah those were the days... long hair, metallica albums, skateboards and a tendency to feel like I was the centre of the universe...



Anything else? Well the donnie darko quiz (link stolen from Pat's site...again!), posting my answer would break one of the rules of my website... but it is so obvious which character I am...

talk about... pop music! talk about... pop music!



Hmm, I'm not sure why but I think I'm listening to a lot of pop music at the moment. So what? I hear the masses cry - well, I've currently got the following CDs on order:



Soundmurderer - Wired for Sound (hardcore mix CD of some seriously ruff ragga tunes)

Numbers - DEATH (theres a Kid606 mix/tune on it I want)

The Bug - Pressure (bassbin blowing, mechanoid mash ups anyone? more dancehall ragga basically, but by half of the mighty techno animal)

Painkiller - Talisman (...a Painkiller live album - anyone else heard of them?)

Spring Heel Jack - Oddities (continuing there excursions in modern composition and free jazz, I damn well hope, or there will be trouble!)



...not your normal top 40 album material really. So why do I spend half of my time recently listening to the likes of Justin Timberlake and T.A.T.U.?



Well, the Justin Timberlake thing is difficult to explain, but I think I've come up with an answer. First up we have Timbaland's production, it amazes me he gets away with some of the stuff he comes up with - strip away the vocals and it wouldn't be out of place on Warp . Next up, our lad Justin has a mighty fine voice, it's been said before I'm sure, but the closest you get to it is Michael Jackson in his prime. And finally, that video for Cry Me a River is one of the most wonderfully vindictive things I've ever seen in my life.



So, there's my Justin Timberlake excuse, the T.A.T.U one is easy - they are my Lesbian Russian Pop Pixies and I will not here a word said against them ...and they are responsible for making one of the finest cover versions of a Smiths song ever. A difficult task I think (although Schneider TM have also had a fair crack), since The Smiths are well up there in my list of most overated bands of all time.



There are a couple of other 'pop' CDs I might buy soon, but they're not really pop... just popular. The first is Linkin Park (they appeal to my immaturity), and the new White Stripes album (I should own more of there stuff, because they are really jolly good).



OK other random stuff, I've renamed drnk to something more appropriate - I've got these stoopid dogme-esque rules for this site - one of them being only 4 letters in the menu options. If anyone has any better ideas there is a comments link below, feel free to use it. And I've found a couple of cool new t-shirts, the first up possibly the most fuck you t-shirt ever, the second one a tribute to the comedy genius of the second gulf war: El Ministro Saeed al Sahaf!

well this definitely deserves a link... have fun kids!.

Woah! I'm watching the Kids in the Hall film and they played a tune from Jet Set Radio future I really like, you know the one that goes:



Turn up the TV.

Do you agree? (Yeah!)

I'm talkin turkey.

Take it from me.

I'm gonna show my love for my dove.

"But it's moldy... Mom, isn't it?"



oh come on! you must know it...



Anyway, as you may have noticed there have been a couple of improvements to the site. First up a couple of new banners, gleefully stolen from transmetropolitan and ninjatune; then we have the comments - these could get interesting. Note that I have complete and utter power over these - fuck with me and I will hunt you down and kill you... OK, maybe not, but I will go into your posts and start messing around with them so show some respect - this is also implemented in the drnk/view from phil's phone page



The next stage of the plan involves commerce (note that I'll probably change this design soon), but I want to see how many people use the comments bit before I start the troops recruitment drive. And finally check out my ugly mug.

It may have come to your attention that Darth Phil is a Leicester City fan. I may not be the best fan in the world: I don't own a season ticket and the last match I went to was a friendly however I consider myself a fan, always have been and always will. Anyway, today could have been the day we went up to the Premiership, the day when every Leicester fan could have stood up proud, flicked a v-sign (Liam Gallagher style) in the general direction of the people in charge of the Football League and said "thanks for nothing you fuckers, we're out of here".



Unfortunatly it wasn't meant to be, we drew to Rotherham after what was apparently a pretty poor show. However, the God's of Football did decide to grant us with a small consellation prize: Portsmouthlost, and we're top of the league! OK, not for long, but still it's a nice view for a couple of days.



Now, I know a few Pompey fans (I won't mention the names, but the arse in the view from phil's phone belongs to one), and as you can imagine the text messages have been flying tonight. I think it is my duty to show a choice selection to the world, due to the vast amount of swearing I've replaced a few words with slightly less anglo-saxon variations - it just makes the list a bit more interesting, but if you want the original version I'm sure you can guess what the words in bold originally were...



"You are the biggest CLUMPERTON I know"



"You are the biggest CLODPOLL I know too"



"You fox COISTREL, You fox COISTREL..."



"Howsabout you FEEB off you Leicester COCKABALOO"



"CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD"



...the fools! do they not understand the dark side thrives on hate!!! mwah! mwah! mwaaaah!

for fucks sake go to bed phil...



Another resonably uninspiring friday night out, some vaguely interesting pictures are up, feeling a bit disappointed about the number of people I know who haven't watched or don't understand Donnie Darko... they really should try harder...



(this post has been edited by a much more sober Phil at a more reasonable time of the day, it used to be much more melancholic... and longer... my god it got boring - note to self: avoid website whilst pissed)

I'm not sure whether it's because I made the decision to keep my new PC free(ish) of filth, or that I've been reading The Invisibles far too much recently but my browsing habits seem to be taking a definite turn towards the left - and not just politically speaking.



Tonight's reading material has included an article about the Sacred Art of Star Wars - my advice, approach with a very open mind and it makes an interesting read. It certainly has the best argument I've heard as to why the new films are a former shadow of the original trilogy... And once you've read it go here and have a look at the Bizango altar picture, the first one to spot our boy Vader gets a prize. Jedi may have missed out on being a proper religion, but it looks like the Sith are in with a shot!

I've been reading far too many articles about chaos magick recently - I expect I'll be joing a cult very very soon.

So, tonight I dragged a few people along to a def jux night at the ULU and my god it was good! Murz, the DJ from Cannibal Ox, Def Jux's latest signing (I'm afraid I can't remember his name) and the mighty mighty El-P!!! A fair proportion of the night was spent at the back of the venue (hey! I'm old!), but towards the end the funk caught up with me and I had to have a bit of a closer look. Pictures are here

And as if by magic the shopkeeper appeared... Well something weird happened since it's gone midnight and I can't work out how I've managed to waste a whole evening doing bugger all.



A funny thing happened to me on the way to the record shop the other day, well it was actually while I was paying for a CD, but that didn't sound like a good way to start off the story. Anyway, I was handing over the new Autechre CD and the girl who was serving me asked, with a concerned tone to her voice, if I had heard it? As if the music on the disc was just too damn weird for the public at large to listen to, like it should be served from under the counter in a brown paper bag... I find that kind of worrying. Are people's music tastes so narrow in these so-called enlightened times that they can't listen to anything that doesn't conform to the verse - chorus - verse structure, that maybe just tries to go off and explore slightly different territory? Apparently Nick Hornby has argued in his new-ish book 31 Songs that it's impossible to enjoy avant-garde music. Of course this is coming from a man who put's songs by Nelly Furtado and Van Morrison (arguably two of the dullest musicians ever) in his the list of life-changing songs... I'm probably making too much of this aren't I? And probably coming across as a complete music snob too. Well, in my defence, I'm a bit of an obsessive Nine Inch Nails fan and I've had several arguments with people about the genius of Tatu - so there!



OK, random link time! Hand's up who thinks this is the greatest music video ever made? And I don't know whether this is very worrying or mildly arousing.



Finally let's hope that Portsmouth don't fuck up and let Leicester overtake them in the league, because if that happens there may be a few people I know with shattered eardrums... Why is that phil? Well, because of me screeching in there earholes with laughter!



COME ON THE FOXES!!!

I've been fiddling with that cd page I put up a while back... It may (or may not) have turned into something a bit more useful now.

So did you miss me?



Anyway, this weekend I have mainly been drinking worrying amounts of alcohol, the fruits of this little experiment can be witnessed here.

blog blog blog... blog blog blog...



I'm think starting to get rather enthusiastic about this whole blogging thing, you may have noticed this by the way the posts have evolved from rather dull lists of crap I want to buy into proper entries with *gasp* thoughts (well, half hearted attempts at thoughts). I'm also starting to realise that my effort is still very young in blogging terms, just check the archive... only six entries, I have a lot of catching up to do. In fact in human terms it's probably still at the "three year old having a tantrum as he's being dragged kicking and screaming out of the star wars lego section of toys'r'us "-stage.



Anyway, I digress... What I wanted to post was a record of tonights blog-hopping and guestbook drive bys. Obviously I needed a place to start, so it's off to First Season Filmic Frippery - this gives me huge ego boost, and almost makes me miss Darius Vassel's goal, after discovering I'm described as "the all-knowing, all-seeing darth phil" (mwah! mwah! mwaaah!!!... sorry). Anyway, I like this site - the man has obvious taste and a very well written site.



From Pat's site it's off to imperial doughnut (I can't resist a good Star Wars link). Damn, this is a good site - I really like the star wars/retro gaming political comic strips, and the post relating the current situation in Iraq to the Star Wars trilogy is one of the most touching pieces of writing I have ever read. OK, I'm probably going a bit far there but hey...



So I'm looking at doughnut's links for something interesting, a couple catch my eye. For some reason The Art of Rhys-isms is the first one, nice site - hell of a lot going, he's running a campaign to help his brother's web presence problem, I'm sorry though that's nothing compared to my web presence 'problem'... my second name is 'Smith'.



The other link was Indie Girl, after a brief milli-second of feeling slightly voyeuristic my mouse makes the decision for me (honest!)and it's off to Indie Girl's site (and god-damn she's cute). After the information overload of the previous two sites this is makes a pleasantly restrained stop on my journey through the blogs of the world.



OK, that's enough for this post. I think I can get alot more mileage out of this blog hopping and I don't want to waste it all in one post. And it looks like I need to replace my protest song of the day feature.

What with the Americans 20 odd miles away from baghdad this link seems a little pointless, but fuck it...it's my website, I'll do what I like.



Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame (keep up at the back, I'll be asking questions later) has taken the protest song of the day concept one step further and set up an mp3 label called protest records. At the last count this contains roughly 50 songs, a couple of which I've brought to your attention here, and quite a few by bands I'm unfortunatly ignorant of - still it's all good stuff, heartly recommended even if your not feeling particularly political.

This is quite cool in an 8-bit sort of way...