Well, that's Christmas over with I think, just New Years Eve and the inevitable 31 days of depression and gloom that is January.

Stash from this Christmas included such things as a USB cup warmer (which could actually be handy as I'm king of the half drunk cup of coffe), the world's most infuriating puzzle (19,186 solutions my big fat arse), and a chopping board which came with this sticker on it...


So let me get this right, a chopping board where I have to avoid contact with sharp implements - like knives for example, hmmm.

Anyway, some updates to the rest of the site. Here are some pictures from my companies Christmas party, and as an added bonus some ones from my last night out before Christmas.

And finally my last CD of the year from Mr Jason Forrest. Looks like I managed to buy a few less CDs this year, got up to 86 - although of course this doesn't count the ones the accidently leaped from various dodgy torrent sites onto my laptop.

last CD of the year... honest

Jason Forrest - Shamelessly Exciting
Jason Forrest used to call himself Donna Summer, obviously that wasn't going to last long, if you see pictures of him on stage unlike most laptop musicians you'll see pictures of someone having fun. Which sums up the feeling of this CD very well, it's fun! It's also really well put together, he works pretty much solely in the medium of 'the mash-up' but on a very microscopic scale, for example one of the tracks on this CD is called My favourite 36 punk songs - guess what that song is made up of. Anyway, here is a track called War Photographer, it's loud, uses loads of hair metal samples by the sound of it, and I rather like it.

MP3: War Photographer

Well that's me done with work until 2006, thank Cthulhu and all his ungodly chums, had more than enough of it for the year.

That's my Secret Santa present, a stressed stress ball...

Anyway, Christmas, I feel the urge for a tune. Well, I've just noticed the search box in Media Player, and what do you know I have a bunch of christmas related tunes. So here's a cheerful little number from the late great Mark Sandman and his band Morphine:

MP3: sexy christmas baby mine

Heh...

The staple thing to do when you have a blog and you're stuck with things to do is to fill out posts with results from personality quizes. So here's one from a place called drawahouse.com.


Your house tells the world that you ought to be a leader. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. You are very tidy person. There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. Your life is always full of changes.

You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You see the world as it is, not as you believe it should be.

You are not a romantic person by nature. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself.

You don't think much about yourself?! Blimey, way to make me feel better about myself, some of the other answers are a bit odd, but that's what you get from being psycho-analyzed by drawing childish pictures I guess.

Anyway, some updates. I've finally updated my music collection page, so there is now a bunch of mp3s for you to listen to, the one by Jackie-O Motherfucker is particularly good.

And if you want some drunken pictures, sorry can't help much. The best I've got is this.

tail end of the year...

DFA Holiday Mix 2005
Ace quick and dirty mix from one of this years most celebrated record labels, even though they only seem to have about 3 bands on the label: LCD SoundSystem, someone called Juan Maclean, and for some reason which I just can't work out why, avant-garde noise-meisters Black Dice. Very good mix, makes you want to dance (always a good sign in a mix), and it only costs about 3 quid! This track is from the slightly harder end of the mix

MP3: tribulations (tiga remix)

Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Lightning Bolt are a very odd metal band, they don't bother with guitars - no need, just throw as many distortion pedals as you can at the bass. They dress as superheroes, and have been known to perform gigs in the audience of other bands, and in back alleys. There singer seems to be singing through a microphone that costs less than a tenner, and they are prone to improvistation. It really shouldn't work, but it really does, honest!

MP3: Birdy

65daysofstatic - One Time For All Time
I've heard this band described as Mogwai mixed by Squarepusher, not sure about that. To be honest I think they've got more in common with someone like Linkin Park, but without the vocals, and maybe a bit louder. No, scrub that, alot louder. I should be loving this album, but I'm not sure, it hints at greatness at times and I've heard that they are pretty amazing live. I await further releases with interest.

MP3: Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here


Jackie-O Motherfucker - Flags of the Sacred Harp
Worse band name ever! Think I've mentioned this before... Anyway, on this CD they tackle some traditional American folk songs, to a pretty successful end. Gently ambient droning meets some good old mournful country music. Very nice

MP3: Hey Mr Sky

Nettle - Build a Fort, Set That on Fire
Nettle is DJ /ruptures band, there pretty similar to what he normally does but maybe less hip-hoppy. For want of a better word it's world music mixed with noise - not exactly easy listening, but definitely worth your time.

MP3: Serranito

Nettle - Firecamp Stories Remixes
Remix album of the above Nettle album, where there already fractured songs are broken around and fucked up even more. I thoroughly endorse this sort of behaviour.

MP3: The Ballard of Jimmy Hollin is More Awkward Than That

I haven't posted in a while, been busy not selling my new XBox360 on eBay (Condemned has been, well condemned... and I'm in the top 300 on Zuma), watching the new Harry Potter film (which is very good actually) and cooking more experimental meals (note to world in general: when cooking beetroot be prepared for the after effects, it can cause quite a shock the next day if you're not prepared, and if you use mature guryere get some strong air freshener).

Then there was the small matter of the quest to return the Ring of Sauron to Mordor.


Normal service will resume shortly, might even start taking some pictures soon.

So, I've got the week off to play on my new XBox 360. Kind of embarrassing to admit that really, but if I was at work I'm sure I'd just be pining for my new toy. Sad isn't it?

Today I've been mainly playing Condemned: Criminal Origins.


It's probably the most next generation looking game of the three I've bought for the new XBox, it's a strange first person shooter in which you hardly get to shoot anything. Unlike most first person shooters guns and ammo are really hard to find, most of the combat is done with melee weapons like pipes and rusty old signs which you rip off the walls as you progress through some seriously eerie and menacing levels. It's an exceptionally creepy game, you tend to only see enemies either as shadows flitting across the corner of the screens or as they jump out at you brandishing a bit of wood with a few nails stuck in them. Very creepy and suitably scary at times, plus the story isn't too bad, I'm rather enjoying it.

It gets a bit much at times however, which is when the new XBox Arcade comes in very handy. This is a new feature which lets you download mini-games for the XBox, I'm mildly addicted to Geometry Wars Evolved at the moment (highly recommend that anyone with a new XBox tries this out). I'm kind of in awe of the people at the top of the leaderboard, my top score is about 230,000 which puts me 2976th in the world, the top score is 1,955,255 - doesn't half make you feel inadequate!

Went to see The Progidy last night, rather good. One of the loudest shows I've ever heard, almost glad that we were in the balcony, there was a constant cloud of steam from people sweating in the pit. They thankfully went for a greatest hits show, ignoring most of the new album, just like being back in 1991 - although maybe with a bit more metal. Usual blurry, crappy pictures here.

Now there's something else... Oh yes, Happy 'Being Microsoft's Bitch' Day!


As you can see the new XBox360 has settled in nicely, the old one has been discarded like the proverbial unwanted puppy at Christmas. I've got three games with it, Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero and Condemned: Criminal Origins. Project Gotham is pure videogame racing porn, I'm not sure about Perfect Dark - need to play it a bit more, and I haven't played Condemned - but from what I gather it's about beating psychotic tramps up with big sticks. Sounds like fun!

Christmas has arrived in our office.

Oh, and indeed, dear...

I'm back from my brother's wedding, before I mention the day I think I need to say congratulations to Andrew & Julie, not that they'll be reading this as they're in Paris at the moment.

Top day out, the ceremony itself was at Leeds Town Hall so no boring hymns to sit through instead we had Julie walking down the aisle to the sound of Les Fleur by Minnie Riperton, and the ceremony being finished off with the Match of the Day theme tune.

The football theme continued very much in force at the reception. The music was stopped to allow the the classified results to be played over the PA, there was table football to entertain everyone, the tables didn't have numbers - they were named after famous Manchester United and Leicester City players, and we had red and yellow cards with whistles for name cards. These came in very useful during the after speech quiz! Top day, of course it does put the pressure on yours truly - I now have a younger brother and sister who are both married...

Anyway, if you want to see some pictures they are over here.

My little brother is getting married this weekend, if you happen to be near a computer around about 3:15pm on Saturday you can watch it if you hunt around on this website for a webcam link. Probably going to be more entertaining than my excuse of a webcam.

If George Best only has hours to live, would it be inappropriate to run some sort of sweepstakes on whether he'll get past teatime?

And here's possibly the most subtle piece of comedy I've ever seen on the internet: The NWYH Stock Image Library. It's taking the piss, isn't it?

Spent Monday in this office underneath The Mall, with a bunch of monitors for company.


That was a barrel of laughs.

Today I was in an office sitting next to some bloke who somehow managed to snore whilst still awake. I was torn equally between mild fascination and coming up with some new and entertaining swear words...

I mean, how do you snore while awake?

How! Damn it!

Mr Padgett, as requested: The greatest pool game ever...


And here's some pictures of various people wearing inappropriate glasses.

Haven't done much for most of this weekend, watched an awful lot of sport, pretended I was a Dark Lord of the Sith, drank a lot of beer and smoked too much.

Other than that I've been a been a bit domestic today, I'm getting into cooking - I think when you're a vegetarian there comes a point where you realise you have to get past the staple pasta sauces and fake meat to try something a bit more interesting

So I've been trying a couple of recipes from my new cookbook: Green beans braised with tomatoes and garlic, and Green beans with butternut squash, tofu and a maple syrup glaze. It's Yes I know those both probably sound a bit dull to any carnivores reading this, but they're both quite nice - honestly. And the book is quite fun to read, sample quote: "Lift the pan to within inches of the heat, hovering above it, like a psychic with healing hands". Sort of thing that makes me chortle...

In a slightly twisted way I like this time of year, the way it gets dark early, the cold nights - matches my cold black heart very well. Bah!

I've been in a bad mood today, first reason is work - spent the best part of the last couple of days trying to solve a Sharepoint Portal Server issue, if anyone is doing a search for a problem involving not being able to crawl the portal and getting error code 0x80041205 0x80041209 in the search log feel free to post a solution in the comments. Seriously.

Off on a tangent, just had a look at the search keywords that are used to get to my site, for some reason the top two results are master chief and heroin addict. Really don't get those, but the search keywords that have appeared at number 13 in my stats have got me curious: juxtapositional eugenics? Wow! I have no idea what that means... Oh, hold on - it was referring to the first episode of the second season of Lost that I mentioned on this site... Bit disappointed now, thought I was starting to sound intelligent.

Anyway, back to moaning about why I've been in a bad mood. Reason number 2: Chris Bastard Moyles. I had the misfortune of turning on the radio in my car on the way back from the Dentists and listening to that fat cunt (Mr Pot, meet Mr Kettle) bragging about how he had got a free XBox360. Bastard! And then hearing his cretinous posse of mental throwbacks discussing videogames with all the intellectual grace of an episode of that old TV show Kids say the funniest things (or what ever it was called) really set me up for the day. Yes, I know I'm probably taking it too seriously, but some of us gamers would like to be occasionally treated with a modicum of intelligence. See! Some of us use words like 'modicum'.

And finally: cigarettes...

I'm reduced to hoping that fictional superheroes are going to save me from the evil weed.

Photo's from Berlin have been uploaded, so without further delay let me present Berlin 2005 - Die Britischen Jungen auswärts!

And now I'm back...

That was a pretty full weekend, suprisingly cultured in places, included plenty of architecture appreciation, and a gallery and museum visit. Of course there was also plenty of alcohol involved which led to one or two strange moments, including drinking beer decorated with weird German sausages in a shopping centre and an odd Goth club.

I've got lot's of pictures to post but I've left my phone cable at work so they'll have to wait I'm afraid.

On my way to Berlin for three days. Memory loss expected...

Notes from Phil's del.icio.us links...

Futureme.org could be interesting, it allows you to send emails to yourself in the future. I'm being a bit cowardly about it and only sending nagging emails to myself to stop smoking and to stop being lazy and get some... well, you know - some. I could be horribly wrong though and I'll just end up recieving spam from my past self.

Speaking of the future, it is said that as a civilisation we are only four missed meals away from complete anarchy (five if you're optimistic, three if you're impatient like me). Well when society does eventually crumble and we are all living in some sort of post apocalyptic Beyond Thunderdome dustbowl, I for one will be riding one of these bad boys around:


We'll try to ignore my lack of interest in motorbikes for a second. More pictures here.

And finally, even though it went round the email circuits not so long ago, some fainting goats. Almost as funny as the video of the tasered bull that did the rounds many moons ago. Yeah, I know it's a bit sick, but as a reasonably hardcore vegetarian who thinks fishing is a bit suspect, karmatically speaking I'm way ahead of you - so there!

Another week of ignoring my website flies by. I guess I should try to write something or other.

So what have I been doing? Well buying CD's as usual, got some mild shoegazing, hippy shit and a bit of modern classical music for you to read about and listen to. It's getting to that time of year which sucks if your a music fan: Christmas, give it a couple of weeks and the only new CDs will be sell-out best-of compilations.

I've also been reading again, pretty sure this one isn't going to do any favours to my reputation of being a miserable so and so.


Go Ask Ogre by Jolene Siana is a collection of letters written by a teenage girl to the lead singer of Skinny Puppy Kevin Ogilvie aka Ogre, sort of like a modern goth version of The Diary of Anne Frank if you will - but without the Nazis. She's a funny girl at times, but also very troubled growing up with an abusive mother and prone to cutting herself, however she keeps herself together just about by constantly writing letters to Ogre. It seems a very one sided correspondence, but years later Ogre gives all the letters back and here we end up with this book. Interesting, if occasionally depressing reading.

Can't think of much else, got a few pictures from Nikki's last day, none from the evening though - I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Off to watch cartoons now...

mild shoegazing, hippy shit and a bit of modern classical music...

Slowdive - Catch The Breeze
Slowdive are another one of those bands, like My Bloody Valentine or The Cranes that during the nineties I missed due to being too narrow minded and too wrapped up in my metal. Thankfully now I'm older and wiser I'm able to appreciate this sort of music. Anyway, Slowdive were known at the time for being at the forefront of the shoegazing scene - basically think standard indie music, but drenched in reverb and compression - it was all about the drone really and creating music that was dreamlike and almost ambient at times but with a traditional rock setup. This collection has tracks from all three of there albums and a few EPs so gives a fair impression of the bands career. I'm a bit fonder of the earlier stuff so here's a tracks from the first disc.

MP3: Albatross

Angels of Light & Akron/Family - Akron/Family & Angels of Light
A slightly strange split EP in that one of the bands appears on all the tracks, in this case it's Akron/Family who also act as Michael Gira's Angels of Light nowadays. So, let's concentrate on them. The songs here are obviously recorded in a fairly live environment, so unlike there previous album they have a much rockier feel, it's a mad collection of songs full of freedom and joy, not giving a care in the world to current trends and fashions. When backing Mr Gira they take a more measured approach, there's an almost respectful air to proceedings. The Angels of Light songs on the disc aren't far removed from the previous 'Other People' album, a couple of cover versions are thrown in, one of Bob Dylan's I pity the poor immigrant and an old Swans song Mother/Father, although that one doesn't really add anything to the original. A good album, although I think that Akron/Family steal the show here, so here's one of there tunes.

MP3: Raising The Sparks

DJ Olive Vs JP Dessy - Scories
A difficult one for you here, a collaboration between DJ Olive (whose CD's I've always found annoyingly difficult to find - he was in a band called 'We' who released a fantastic album called 'the square root of negative one'), cellist JP Dessy and the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles. A very minimal and almost ambient example of modern composition, some of it works very well (first track especially IMHO), some of the other shorter tracks where there is obviously some improvistation going on between DJ Olive and one of the more traditional musicians I'm not sure about. Still, it's different.

MP3: Walking Slowly

I currently eating a breakfast consisting of meat-free sausages and reduced-salt, reduced sugar baked beans with a cup a decaffeinated tea with artificial sweetener. I can't help think that's one great big whacking metaphor for something or other.

Weeeeellllllllll! I bet that you look good on the dance floor dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984!

Been stuck on that song all week, needed to get it out of my system. Plus I needed an excuse to post a picture of some dancing robots.

Number One...

The Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
Main song is blinding - no arguments there - I'm always right about these things! Second song kind of reminds me of the Streets, third song is a bit meh but top marks for naming it after a move from a Streetfighter character. Please be gentle with my bandwidth...

MP3: I bet that you look good on the dance floor

I'm not sure if it's the lack of caffeine, or a dodgy stomach that made me a slave to the smallest room in the house over the last few days, but I seem to have slipped into a proper sleeping pattern. After years of thinking that three o'clock in the morning was a perfectly reasonable time to go to sleep I've actually been going to sleep around midnight. Maybe I'm sick! Really really sick!

Anyway, small steps. I just have to sort out the mildly obsessive behaviour towards videogames, the credit card bill of DOOOOOM, go to the gym a bit more, cut out the ciggies, and maybe kickstart the old libido into doing something constructive, et voila! Not that I'm saying gaming is wrong, to be honest I'm inclined to belive it has far more benefits than slumping infront of the latest episode of Eastenders or The X-Factor every night, but when you find yourself looking at upcoming lists of games and mentally dividing them into games you'ld like to play and games you need to play - well, questions have to be asked.

So, enough analysing. For anyone keeping notes, I spent most of Saturday in a pub in South London watching Spurs against Man Utd. I'll say that it had character, can't quite put my finger on it, but there a few dodgy deals obviously going on before the match. Still after a few beers, shouting along with the Spurs fans and joining in the post match Sports Quiz it did turn out to be a great little venue to watch away games in. And it helped that we won a free round by coming up with the best team name: FLUPOCALYPSE NOW! (which I totally stole the name of... heh heh).

Finally, Greg Dulli has a new CD out. My thoughts about that are here.

soul music...

Greg Dulli - Amber Headlights
If there was one man in rock whose shows I wouldn't mind stepping into for a day it would surprise you to know that it wouldn't be one of the usual subjects such as Nine Inch Nail's El Rezzo, or the might Justin Broakrick of Jesu, it would have to be Greg Dulli. The man has soul, he sounds like he lives a life full of whiskey, cigarettes, sleazy hotel rooms and equally sleazy women - all the things that make up a proper rock and roll lifestyle - and damn, does he know how to sing. This album is made up of tracks written during a time when he was between his two bands The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers. It was put on the shelf after a friend of his died, however he's recently revisited the songs and thankfully we now have this disk. As an introduction to his music it's a pretty good start, or even better if your in the mood for some TLC of the soul I think it's a pretty safe bet.

MP3: Cigarettes

I often find myself staring at this page really wishing I had something interesting to tell you. I don't know, like I was going off on some big adventure, or had met someone to drag me out of my geeky rut. To be able to say that: the constant meaningless quest to drag my credit card balance to even higher levels of reckless spending by buying as many CDs, games, DVDs and comic books as possible has taken a back seat in my life.

But alas it continues...

Shit, my first post for a week is developing into a horrifyingly self-loathing one, quick find an excuse for this.

Well, I've just been watching the Metallica film Some Kind of Monster, where they spend two hours basically moaning at each other, that has clearly had an effect on this post. And I'm working on Sharepoint at work. I hate it, nope - hate's not enough, I loathe it - incredibly annoying and awkward tool to work with.

The tone of this post has nothing to do with the music I've been listening to, that has been reasonably cheerful for a change...

heavy metal music...

The Young Gods - XXY
The Young Gods were a strange rock band in that despite sounding very guitar orientated at times they had no guitar player, instead the lineup was comprised of vocals, drums and a keyboard player. They also had a tendancy to experiment, dabbling in ambient-esque sounding music and even recording an album of early 20th century composer Kurt Weil's songs (Mack the Knife, that ring any bells?). They are also responsible, along with Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, for helping to drag me into electronic music when I was a young narrow minded head banger thanks to a 12" version of there Skinflowers EP. This is rather a good introduction to the band, there is a good cross section of there music and it comes with a bonus CD of remixes and rare songs.

MP3: Skinflowers

M.I.A. - Galang
Despite being a bit of a fan I still haven't got round to buying the M.I.A. album instead settling for buying lots of singles and the going for the download route. Anyway, here's a rerelease of Galang, picked this up as it has a fascinating remix from System of a Down's Serj Tankian. See what you make of it.

MP3: Galang (Serj Tankian Remix)

Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black
What a find! I was in the mood for metal at the time so went for these as I'd seen a couple of promising reviews, they are on Isis's label Hydrahead which was a sure sign I was in good company and I'm sure they have something to do with Old Man Gloom. Anyway, I was expecting a fairly dark and challenging CD, instead it's full on quality metal with hints of pop sensibilities. They seem to have two people handling vocal duties, one shouty and guttural, the other nice and melodic - there bassist can pull off a good old fashioned galloping riff when he needs to, and they know the value of a metallica-esque dual guitar break. Hands down one of the best Rock albums I've heard this year, I really struggled to choose a single song for you to listen to.

MP3: Down the Drain

So, today was John Peel Day and as such I feel it my duty to post some new music for you to listen to (Seriously, check out the Why? track, it's brilliant).

I'm not entirely sure I'm confortable with the official celebrations. OK, having plenty of gigs in his honour is no doubt a good thing, but what is this I hear about a charity single involving Elton John? Doesn't seem right to me really...

OK, that's all - if you're still bored this comic made with screenshots from the game Half Life 2 is quite good. Won't make a blind bit of sense if you haven't played the game though.

John Peel Day...

Celebration - S/T
I very rarely dive straight into a band without some sort of connection to another band I like. Usually I'll go via the 'band x is on the same label as band y so I must like them, or band x toured with band y - they can't be too different' route. In the case of Celebration I've gone via there singer Katrina Ford, she is credited as a singer on TV on the Radio's faultless Young Liars EP (according to Media Player anyway), I've since discovered that various member of TVotR make guest appearences so I can't go too wrong. Well it kind of worked, I quite like this album, but it's not up there with the aforementioned TV on the Radio's work - it's kind of like one of those early nineties 'Baggy' bands with each song driven by organ lines rather than guitars, but with an interesting Souxsie and the Banshees feel. The song I've gone for is one of the ones with one of the guys from TV on the Radio, about halfway through this gorgeous droning guitar sweeps in, I rather like that. Anyway, it's an interesting album.

MP3: Holiday

Why? - Elephant Eyelash
A confused album, it's from leftfield hip-hop label Anticon (although we really need to stop calling them a hip-hop label now), Media Player thinks it's folk, and the CD case has a sticker labelled 'file under rock'. I think the label is about right, it's still Why's surreal lyrics but with a slightly more personal slant, but's it's the tunes that make this album, there are some seriously catchy tunes on this disc. In fact if there is one problem it is with track 3, it's just too damn good! A real reach for the repeat button track, for your listening pleasure I give you said track.

MP3: Rubber Traits

OK, give me five minutes to metaphorically wrestle my Nintendo DS (the official darthphil.com game console of choice) from my own hands so I can stop playing games about weird fascist looking male cheerleaders, puppies and war and actually write something here.

I've got a fairly unhealthy symbiotic approach to music, when I'm miserable I listen to sad mournful music, and when I listen to miserable music I can get a bit moody and reflective. So the last couple of albums I've bought from Earth and Sunn0))) have not exactly been conductive to me being the proverbial bundle of joy. Luckily I think the next few albums on my hit list are a bit more cheerful. We start with the new Broken Social Scene album, a gleefully chaotic album which you can read about here, I've also got the new album from Why? which looks fun - more of which in a later post.

So, television. Whose watching the new series of Lost? If you are you may be interested in The Hanso Foundation, if you're in the UK and are being good and ignoring the torrent sites you may want to avoid it. I can't help but reveal one secret on the site: The Hanso Juxtapositional Eugenics Development Institute? J.E.D.I.? What do you reckon, light sabres and Jedi Knights? Almost as amusing as the rumour that Meg White was going to be Nine Inch Nails new drummer...

yay Canada!

Broken Social Scene - S/T
Well the new Broken Social Scene is here, whisked over by the good people at Fed Ex from the less civilized side of the Atlantic because I've got no idea when it's coming out over here. There last proper album was pretty much the perfect indie album so this has got quite the expectation to live up to. For there new album the Canadian collective has swelled there ranks to an impressive 17 full time members, this has lead to an album that is almost over brimming in ideas and sounds. I've seen some reviews imply that its a bit too chaotic at times, I can sort of see where they are coming from, they're wrong of course - I think it just gives the album a more charmingly looser feel that I like. Anyway, here's a song from the album - it's one of the stranger ones: constantly in danger of falling apart, wonderfully dreamy in places and with a lovely female vocal line that floats in and out of the song. Probably my favourite one on the album actually.

MP3: bandwitch

Broken Social Scene - to be you and me
And what's this? If you are quick you get a little bonus treat with the new Broken Social Scene album in the form of a nice little self contained EP. I could probably say it's a bit more experimental than the album it comes with, a couple of the tracks play around with drum machines and electronics more than the album - just as good though. The track I've chosen from this, like Bandwitch, is in danger of falling apart, but that's more because there are just so much going on in it. I love tracks like this, you can listen to it dozens of times and never quite hear all the parts on offer - plus it's noisy as fuck which is always a bonus!

MP3: canada vs america

You would have thought that a redesign of this website would have spurred me into action to write something vaguely interesting here wouldn't you? Apparently not it would seem.

A couple of sections have been updated, there are some pictures from last weekend up on the camera phone page. That weekend mainly involved alcohol and singing songs about Arsene Wenger's sexuality at the Spurs - Charlton game. I've also updated the CD page with the new album from Sunn0))) for all those connoisseurs of doom and despair out there.

I'll try to write something more diverting here soon...

the blackness!!! the blackness!

Sunn0))) - Black 1
I've talked about Sunn0))) before here, there connection to Earth, the way they have distilled the the idea of metal down to it's purest essence, so I won't go on about it again. Somehow they have managed to produce an album that is even more metal than anything they've done before but still keeping that sweet sweet subsonic drone. To get the authentic ambience of doom and dread they apparently went as far as recording vocalist Malefic whilst he was in a coffin in the back of a hearse, you can't get more real than that can you? Top album, 99% of the human race will hate it - they are wrong.

MP3: CandleGoat

doom country...

Earth - Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method
OK, my exposure to Earth is as follows: I've got a remix album, I know that they are famous for producing some of the slowest, droning metal ever produced, they have heavily influenced Sunn0))), and if legend is to be believed Dylan Carlson (Earth's leader) was Kurt Cobain's drug buddy and gave him the shotgun he used to commit suicide. So, where does that lead us? Well to the world's slowest country album, it's fantastic! The slowness is still there, the drone is still there, but what we have extra is slide guitars and atmosphere that can't help but transport you to some the wild wild west, you can practically smell the horses and the cowboy spit. A truly great album.

MP3: Raiford (The Felon Wind)

Work is in progress...

OK, I think I'm happy with the redesign - it's clean, the webcam is always on display, and if you can be bothered to use a scrollbar there are all sort of goodies at the end of the page. I've tested the site in Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0 beta (I'm a developer, I'm allowed to have that one), Firefox 1.0.7 (the officially endorsed darthphil.com browser), and it's readable in Opera 8.5 and Opera Mini (OK, I'm not really allowed to have that one). If you are viewing this site in an older browser may I suggest getting some sort of protective head gear and then joining the rest of us in the 21st century.

Change of tact, do you know any depressed cowboys? I mean really really depressed ones, not just moody ones like Clint Eastwood used to play. Well I think that the new Earth album would be perfect for them, the rumours are true - Earth have gone country and I have the proof right over here.

I'm redesigning the site to incorporate the web cam on a more permanent basis, the current plan is to do something which steals this idea from Derek Powazek's site. In the meantime I've got a couple of new CDs, MP3s are over here.

vaguely folky...

Devandra Banhart - Cripple Crow
Devandra's previous albums were pretty sparse affairs, mainly just solo guitar numbers with his strangely enthralling warbling voice. For his latest album he's enlisted some help from his friends, lots and lots of friends judging from the artwork, which gives the whole album much more depth. Anyway, really good album let down from being a classic album as it is way way way way way too long. Anyway, have a listen - although be warned, we are travelling into serious hippy territory here.

MP3: Cripple Crow

CocoRosie - Noah's Ark
This album has been getting some pretty vicious reviews (stand up Brainwashed and PitchforkMedia), which I don't understand why. They are a fairly strange group: two sisters, one of which is a trained opera song, and they have an odd approach to percussion which seems to involve hitting toys with large sticks, but really these songs are quite nice in my opinion, sort of like a very lo-fi Bjork. Absolutely no need for such vicious reviews, I think the unicorn porn on the front probably made the reviewers a bit uncomfortable...

MP3: K-Hole

I'm having another one of those half-hearted attempts at sorting my life out by making a fairly meaningless and potentially easy to fail gesture. I'm giving up caffeine.

I drink way too much of it, at work I'll make it using three spoons of instant coffee to every cup, and I'll easily have at least half a dozen cups during the day (ie nearly 20 cups of normal coffee). At home I'm slightly addicted to that lime flavoured diet coke, getting through a couple of two litre bottles over a weekend.

I'm reasonably positive that this intake of caffeine has something to do with the fact I'm never asleep before 2am... which would be great if I didn't have to get up by about 7am to have a reasonably productive morning.

So it's all gone now, I have caffeine-free, sugar-free, super-boring coke in my fridge and decaffeinated coffee and (I'm such a fucking hippy!) decaffeinated green tea at work.

...
Can't think of a way to link the previous rambling with this next lot, so I won't even try. I've updated my CD page, this time with a bunch of albums that were nomintaed for the Mercury Music Prize (well, sort of). You can read about them, and download dodgy tracks here.

Mercury Music Prize...

Antony and the Johnsons - I am a bird now
Hmmm, OK I'm going to have to throw my hands in the air here and admit that I may have been wrong about this album winning the Mercury Music Prize. Yes there are some fantastic heart crushing songs, and he does have an amazing voice (basically Nina Simone, but male... and a little bit gay), but there are some other pretty hideous songs on it which sound like the sort of things Jules Holland would enjoy playing on which is 100% the reason I don't like them. Basically it's not sad enough for me.

MP3: Hope There's Someone

The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning Strike
To be honest these are slightly more deserving. The Go! Team have been all over the mp3blogs for a while, and I've seen nothing but good live reviews of them. On record they mix Indie Rock, Hip Hop, with what feels like good old fashioned Motown soul - then they turn the volume on the drums up to 'bastard loud'. It's all good clean fun.

MP3: Huddle Formation

Antony and the Johnsons - Antony and the Johnsons
Not entirely sure why I bought this aswell as the Mercury Prize winning one, think I just got excited. Anyway, same contents as before apply - although this one is sllightly more melancholic.

MP3: The Atrocities

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm Remixed
Not quite the album that was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, but pretty close. A track for track remix album with some very interesting names providing remix duties (Mogwai, Four Tet, M83). Bloc Party have never done anything for me, but I have to confess this CD is rather good - the M83 remix is especially stunning.

MP3: Pioneers (M83 remix)

Can't believe I haven't updated my CD collection page for over a month. Well, actually I can believe it, I'm lazy and I was probably in the pub or something...

Anyway, I've started updating it now - first up is an Anticon loving post, I've got a couple of other posts planned for the next couple of days. One being a Mercury Music prize post, and the other a bit of Neo-Folk loving shenanigans - I bet you can't wait.

Anticon appreciation post

Alias & Ehren - Lillian
Alias moves further away from hip-hop with this release of melodic electronica with help from his brother providing wood wind instruments. It's rather a lovely CD, well thought out beats with plenty of lush electronic sweeps and Ehren's instrumentation bringing an organic human element to proceedings. Recommended.

MP3: Lillian

Alias - All Things Fixable
This is a companion piece to Alias's previous album Muted, like Lillian it's full of hip-hopped paced electronic instrumentals, but this time with the odd vocal number. It's a bit all over the place, but I mean that in a good way. I rather like this track:

MP3: Half The Devil

Dose One - Ha
After being an active member in bands such as Themselves, cLOUDDEAD and Subtle, Dose One has had a go at a solo album. It's actually very good, lot's of weird and wonderful vocal work on top of layers of sound from all sorts of sources. I think the best way of describing it is that it sounds like how it feels just before you wake up... (eh Phil?). Kind of have to listen to it for that last sentence to make sense.

MP3: Lullaby #2418a

Themselves - Live II
One for the fans here...

MP3: Grassskirt & fruithat (Denton)

Viva La Revolution! (I get way too excited about this sort of thing)


This is the Nintendo Revolution controller (well the thing on the right really) it works like a 3D pointer able to detect vertical and horizontal movement and the direction the controller is pointing. The D-pad controller is a bit of a red herring, I think it's really there for backwards compatibility (turn it 90 degrees, voila! Instant NES controller). This video shows how it's meant to be used - I'm suitably intrigued.

Just been to see Green Street, it's OK-ish. Another film about maybe adds too much of a shine to hooligan 'culture' (no hint of Racism and they all 'stand there ground' for each other in a fight) but it's clearly one of those films aimed at the Yanks what with the painful explaining of Cockney rhyming slang at the start, and some equally painful accents). Not totally bad, but I think some of the user reviews on IMDB are a bit over the top, I'm sure there are better films about football hooligans...

Vaguely W800 related post to blatantly drum up a bit of traffic...

This is not a highly dodgy link to Russian website chock full of games for your fancy new mobile phone that has been gathering dust in my del.icio.us bookmarks. Nope, not at all...

But this is a link to RocketBoom's list of RSS feeds which I've been using to download little 5 minute news clips to my phone everyday (although it's been a bit flaky recently). I think this sort of thing is a brilliant idea, and if anyone knows of any other decent videoblogs that have RSS feeds to mobile phone compatible files I'd like to know.

See! I told you we would win the Ashes!

Absolutely fantastic day, probably the best atmosphere I've experianced at any sporting event. I've got lots of pictures over here, might change my background image to incorportate this picture at some point, but the slight hangover and mild sunstroke is slowing me down a bit.

*edit* Big up junglist respect to Mr Butler for sorting out the tickets!

This weekend has a distinct Sporting theme, yesterday was my first trip of the season to see my adopted Premiership team Spurs. As is traditional alot of lager was consumed and plenty of shouting was erm... shouted, and a few silly pictures were taken. Been playing with the panorama mode on my phone as usual, almost got a decent picture of White Hart Lane from it.

Continuing the sporting theme I'm off to see England win the Ashes (yes WIN! damn it!) tomorrow, yes I know technically it's not the weekend - but I'm not at work, so I'm declaring an extension. Could be a very special day.

OK, that's the sporting stuff finished. Now for something completely different, as you may be aware I am a bit of a fan of (or more accurately FUCKING OBSESSED WITH!) Nine Inch Nails. Although I'm sure all the other NINternauts out there will know this but El Rezzo has graced us with a brand new shiny song, it's called Non Entity and is a rather lovely little piano based number which will appeal to the older more relaxed affeciando. You can watch a video of it here, or search around in this forum post to find an mp3 version.

I've been meaning to do a Katrina post for a while as that's all I seem to be reading about on the internet and watching on the news at the moment, but for that precise reason I don't think there is any need for me to wade in (excuse the very flimsy pun there - it is genuinely unintentional), but I couldn't just let that picture pass this website by... Congratulations to whoever does the captions on Sky News.

I've been watching the coverage of the Mercury Prize on BBC4 tonight with some interest. Watching the performances tonight it's struck me that there are at least three albums I'm going to have to be purchasing in the near future. Forget the more rocky bands on the line-up like Maximo Park, The Magic Numbers and Hard-Fi they're OK in there own right but I can't help feel, well a bit... meh about them all.

Anyway, back to tonights show - first up: Polar Bear, a jazz band with two saxophone players, and an amazing drummer who deserved an award just for his hair. The solo between the drummer and someone using a gamepad to control samples made me prick my ears up.

The Go! Team also impressed me with there amazing energy and cheerleader routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've been meaning to pick up there album for far too long.

And finally, Anthony and the Johnsons... What a voice! I've heard him before on a leaked track from the new Coco Rosie album which sounds pretty amazing, but that performance really hit me, just stunning...

...and what do you know! He won - OK, the credit card is primed, I'm going in.

Went to Portsmouth this weekend for my friend Claire's birthday, and very good it was too. Had a very nice meal, drank lots of wine and went to a cool little club that appeared to be in someones basement - rather enjoyed myself.

Went to see The Pixies last night. Very good it was too, they played most of the classics and a few obscure numbers I didn't recognise. I'm happy to report that Frank Black (or Black Francis) has still got that scream, and Kim Deal still makes my knees go all wobbly when she sings. Enjoyable night out.

Back to today, you may have heard of the release of something called a Playstation Portable here in Blighty. Well as an early-ish adopter of the Japanese system I thought I'd give a little buying advice...

1. Buy a screen protector - even though I'm very careful with my PSP I've managed to get a couple of tiny dents on my screen. To be honest you don't notice them when the system is on, but I still find it naggingly annoying that they are there

2. If you want a game to show off the PSP get Ridge Racer, it's blindingly fast and looks like the dog's proverbials. It's also quite good fun to play even though the first few races are far too easy.

3. If you want a game to last get WipEout Pure. It's satisfyingly hard and the downloadable content for this game is a blinding move, just when I start getting a bit bored it seems that Sony telepathically reads my mind and releases a new content pack.

4. You'll want a bigger memory card if you get Wipeout Pure, the 32MB is pretty much useless.

5. If you appreciate simple elegant game design, interesting visuals and a decent soundtrack and/or you like Tetris you'll want Lumines. If you don't agree with any of those pre-requisites then why the hell are you buying a PSP?

6. Steer clear of Ape Academy, the loading times are longer than some of the mini-games in the Japanese version, I doubt they are any quicker in the European version, and even once they do load the games are all a bit shit.

I'd like you to say hello to Sam...

He's a bit tired now as he's had a busy day. Two strenuous walks, some general frolicking, learning how to sit and winning a gold cup in a Frisbee catching competition has taken it out of him a bit, and it is past 11 o'clock which is far too late for a young puppy.

Before I get too carried away let me explain, this is Nintendo's new attempt at a non-game, called Nintendogs. In it you interact with a puppy using the Nintendo DS touch screen and microphone with the general aim to keep him or her happy and to try to train the puppy to be a good and obedient young dog.

Frankly it terrifies me, partly from the lifelike behavior and animation of the dogs, but mainly because I'm scared of being investigated by the RSPCA if I forget to turn my DS on at least twice a day to feed the damn thing.

Makes a bit of a change from shooting things in the face...

just noticed I've had this drafted in Blogger but didn't post it for some reason, posting this Monday night...

I may have been a bit premature about the Doom film, a new trailer has been released which is starting to sway my opinion. Don't get me wrong, the film still looks like it will mainly suck, but this new trailer shows quite a few of the First Person Scenes (ie the bits that look just like the game) and you know, they look great! The part at the end of the trailer involving a pinky demon and (/takes a moment to compose himself) a chainsaw (eek!) is especially pleasing.

To compensate for the previous crappy post here's a link to a game that should take your mind off it...

The most exciting thing that has happened to me this week is I got home last night to find that someone has dug up the hedge that was outside the front of my house. OK, it was dead - and had been dead for about a year - just seems a bit odd that someone suddenly decided it had to go. Must be some sort of portent...

Another weekend, another step closer to some sort of mental breakdown I reckon...

Anyway, can't be bothered to write anything - just thought I'd point you in the direction of the page for my new phone. Just a few pictures of people in pubs, some mild vandalism on a train and a few pictures of The Streets at the Brixton Academy from Friday (verdict: they were OK I guess).

That is all.

End of an era, here are the last pictures from my old phone, as expected they are of drunk people - very very drunk people.

So, the new phone - the fancy pants Walkman Phone. How's it gone so far? Very well indeed, the music player works very well: let's you mess around with equaliser levels and create playlists on the fly and since it seems to be separated to the phone's main applications you can leave the music playing and mess around with the rest of the phones features without worrying about it. The camera is really good, quite like the panorama shooting mode that let's you join three pictures together, anyway here's a few average quality pictures to show off what it can do:

dicking around with effects
standard picture
even the box is cool
panorama at work
playing with the macro
panorama at home

Any bad points? Well, the games are shite considering this thing should be able to handle Java 3D applications - and I'm damned if I can get it to connect to my laptop via bluetooth (although that is more likely my laptops fault), those are the only ones I'm having problems with.

That's enough attempting to inject some meaning into my life with inanimate objects, back to the site. Anyone interested in videogame soundtracks? I've brought a few recently, samples and opinions over here...

Videogame soundtracks...

Killer7 Original Soundtrack
I haven't exactly hidden the fact that I love this game, I've mentioned the amazing visuals and the fact that it has a really deep storyline several times. Another thing that makes this game is the soundtrack, it really left an impression. It's pretty much all over the place, it has a strange dubby country soundtrack during the Cloudman levels, just before boss levels it leaps into Euro Disco of all things, and there is another level which uses cheesy music from a kids power ranger-esque show. My favorite bits though are the dark brooding cinematic moments though. This song is played whenever you enter a 'TV-room', this is Killer 7's equivalent of a save game menu; A dark room illuminated only by a TV set where you can talk to Iwazaru the friendly ethereal gimp and get Samantha the nurse to save your game (if she is feeling nice that is). This song really does make the atmosphere all the more creepy and dreamlike...

MP3: Multiple Personality

Lumines Remixes
So hands up who is getting a PSP next month, or hands up who has been impatient and already got one. Either way, one game you will want in your collection is Lumines - the PSP's Tetris if you will. It's a simple looking puzzle game where you arrange blocks of 4 squares into different patterns of 4 squares which are cleared from the level by a bar which constantly sweeps across the screen. The music plays quite an important part in this as the speed of the bar is directly linked to the tempo of the song playing for that level. It's not a game to show off the graphic capabilities of the machine, but it's easily one of the most additive games available for the PSP. Anyway, have a listen to this to see what you think. I have to admit the soundtrack is a bit empty on it's own, when playing the game you are constantly adding extra ambient noises by your actions, and some of the best songs aren't on this CD due to licensing restrictions (boo!), still someone may like this tune.

MP3: WORKING IN THE HOLE

Gamer's Guide To Rez
Rez was a fantastic game originally released for the Sega Dreamcast console. Essentially it's an on rails shooter, but the makers made a real point of synthesizing music and imagery with the gameplay. As you progressed through the level the scenery grew and the soundtrack became richer, when it came out on the Playstation 2 they introduced a further physical component with something called a 'Trance Vibrator' (ahem!), a rumble pack which you were meant to sit on to further immerse yourself in the game. And no, I didn't get one! The music was very much influenced by modern techno and electronica with artists such as Ken Ishii, Adam Freeland and Oval (they had a really odd level, it had no end and you couldn't die, the only aim was seemingly to induce a stroke or something) contributing. Mainly what you got was bounding beats as evidenced by this track:

MP3: Rock Is Sponge (Area04)

So, I just phoned up Vodafone to check when I'm allowed to upgrade my mobile phone. Trouble is I phoned up to check on exactly the same day that the fancy pants Sony Ericsson W800i walkman phone is being released, complete coincidence - honestly!

Anyway, to cut a long story short: mines arriving on Monday and yes I did have to pay a bit for the upgrade, but like pr0n if you want quality it's better to pay that little bit extra...

Got a link to a game for you, it's called Golf?

It's a golf game (quelle surprise) with Dali-esque wireframe artwork, it has a golf cart that handles like the buggy in HalfLife 2, and for some reason: alcoholic floating caddies.

I quite like it, doesn't run on my lap top very well, but my work PC seems to handle it - not that I'm playing games at work - no sirree, that would be wrong...

I don't think we need to dwell on the football this weekend do we? I'm talking of the Leicester result of course. *sigh*

I spent a lot of this weekend finishing off Killer 7 so I thought I'd post a few comments as it's quite an important game IMHO. Gameplay wise I'm in two minds, part of me is impressed with the bold decisions they made by stripping the usual action adventure controls to a uniquely minimal set (you move by pressing one button to run - the only other control you have over the character is when you get to a junction and get to choose a direction to move), however I think the first person shooting bits could have been better. You are rooted to the spot when shooting, so the usual circle strafing associated with first person shooting games is thrown out of the window, in fact these bits play more like an old lightgun game - which begs the question why not throw in lightgun support?

As for design you can't help but admire it. From the strange graphics engine with it's unique cel-shading, the way enemies explode in a shower of blood droplets, the bold colours and minimal texturing to the manga sequence which intercut each level - you can see a lot of thought has been put into the visual presentation of the game. The soundtrack is just as well thought out, I'll write about that later though as I've ordered the CD soundtrack from Play-Asia, and I think it warrants consideration on it's own.

Then there is the story, intriguing and clever are two words that come to mind. On the surface it's a surreal tale about an assassin with 7 personalities (each of which can take on a physical form) hunting down a cult of terrorists called Heaven's Smile. But it's so much more than that, there is a whole subtle and clever critique of Japanese American relations since the end of World War II (made even more poignant with the anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima) lurking in cut scenes , conversations and symbolism buried within the game. It's the sort of thing that I'm not capable of analysis by myself, luckily someone else already has over here - makes a very interesting read if you have completed the game.

Don't think I'll play a game like that for sometime - next one on the list: Nintendogs... It's a puppy simulator *gulp*

The picture of Kinga is troubling me a bit (a whole wine bottle?!), so here's a picture of the new Kid606 album which is less scary:

more details and an mp3 over here...

for his mum...

Kid606 - Resilience
Hurrah! A new Kid606 album, I've been hearing rumours of this album for quite some time, a Kid606 album with proper tunes? Surely not? Well, it's true! This album (dedicated to his Mum - all together now: ahhh!) is full of cute little tunes which sort of swing between selected ambient works era Aphex Twin and modern RnB. There's still plenty of 'Kid606'-ness in here, but it's much less abrasive than some of the things he's done, and it has strings! Strings I tell you! Never thought I'd here anything like that on one of his albums. Anyway, very nice CD - completely pain in the ass to get hold of so it will be criminally ignored as usual. *sigh*

MP3: Spanish Song

Well... it's a hobby I guess. What next? A spot of light fisting maybe?

Something different to the normal "I watched/played/read product x today, it's really good/shit, I think you should buy/avoid it"-post I think.

If you only know me from this site you may not know that I've got a maths degree - I don't mention it too much, what with the games, comic books and career in IT I'm geeky enough I think!

Not wanting to sound too big headed but when I was at school doing my GCSE's, and later on at college during my painfully metal phase when I was doing my A-Levels, I found Maths to be something I was pretty good at. I ended up with two Maths A-Levels at grade A, so naturally I chose a straight Maths degree at university - the trouble is degree level Mathematics is pretty dull: mainly learning very dry fundamental theorems that don't seem to have much practical application. It wasn't until my third year when things got interesting: fractal geometry, fluid dynamics, topology and (the fashionable at the time) chaos theory - all sorts of fun filled stuff which I had great fun teasing philosophy students with. Anyway, after three years I ended up with a fairly mediocre level degree (mainly down to learning how to drink very hard), but I still find I have the odd moment when I have an interest in the subject.

So where's this going? Well I have a couple of links for you. First one is the most unfortunately named mathematical theorem ever (fnar fnar), and the second is this flash game based on an idea by a maths graduate - it's driving me insane!

I got an album today by a band who look like this:

Now let's take a moment to examine the scene...

He appears to be playing a guitar with a broken hand whilst flicking his middle finger at the world in general and with what could quite possibly be a mains lead in his mouth. The band are called Wolf Eyes and they could very well be responsible for the noisiest CD I've bought this year.

For that feat alone they should be congratulated.

*edit* Plus that picture sums up my current attitude to Mondays, work, Microsoft Sharepoint, Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself Cup-a-Soups, and anyone who dares invade my personal space very nicely indeed...

cry wolf...

Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind
I've been holding off buying this album for quite some time as frankly it scares me a bit: it's got a drawing of a crow pecking at a couple of decapitated heads on the front cover, and from what I gathered from various reviews it was meant to be pretty unlistenable. Well, I say unlistenable, but it still got very good reviews in things like The Wire and Pitchfork - so I thought its about time I gave it a go. Well, I quite like it! It's definitely not for a lot of people, but if you like the really (and I mean REALLY) noisy bits in some Sonic Youth songs, have a bit of a soft spot for Grindcore and can have a chuckle along to most of Kid 606's Down with the scene album then I think you'll like this too.

MP3: Village Oblivia

Just watched a film called Steamboy, it's the latest anime by Katsuhiro Ôtomo (better known for Akira). It's an enjoyable little adventure film about giant steam powered weapons kicking off during the Great Exhibition in Victorian Britain. The ending is far too long, but that seems to be a common problem with Japanese animation. I had to smile at the cheeky little nod to Coronation Street at the start - the first part of the story is set in Manchester - guess which pub is featured...

Finally it's Friday, this month has been far too long. Just the small matter of the working day to get through (I'm not counting the weekend as I normally don't register the passing of time at the weekend). To help out I've updated my CD collecting page, there are 4 highly illegal mp3 for you to listen to over here. Some rock, a bit of arabic dance music, and more from El Rezzo.

end of what seems like the longest month ever...

Part Chimp - I Am Come
Part Chimp are a band on Mogwai's record label Rock Action. Whereas Mogwai are famous for songs that can be both extremely quiet and extremely noisy, Part Chimp never seem to stray from the ear bleeding end of the audio spectrum. And for that they should be congratulated, there's something quite admirable about there unabashed pleasure in banging out a completely over the top noisy rock song. Have a listen to the tune, if you like it you'll like the whole album.

MP3: War Machine

Mutamassik - Masri Mokkassar - Definitive Works
I've been waiting for a Mutamassik album for ages after hearing her stuff on many a DJ /rupture mix. I believe she's of Egyptian origin, although I might be wrong there, but where ever she is from there is a heavy North African/Arabic sound to all her work, but mixed with some vicious hip-hop and hardstep beats. It's noisy, angry sounding music which I love. Unfortunatly I haven't been paying this album enough attention (mainly because of the next one), I'll have to do something about that.

MP3: Sa'aidi Hardcore

Autolux - Future Perfect
Oh this is good! Very very good! I've picked up on this band as they are one of Trent Reznor's favourites (and obviously as a mildly obsessive 'NINternaut' I must follow our glorious leader), so glad I did. They sound in places like Sonic Youth but without the pretensious bits, there's a song that could be descibed as psychedelic era Beatles and they have a singing drummer. I think there one of the best bands I've heard in ages, I hope someone else out there does too...

MP3: Here Comes Everybody

Nine Inch Nails - Only
Speaking of Nine Inch Nails, here's there new single. Hands up who has been listening to LCD Soundsystem - alot!

MP3: Only

Just watched the trailer to the Doom film. It is my highly considered opinion that this film will be 'fucking appalling', they can put that on the poster if they like.

Just finished reading Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, yeah yeah I know. It's a kid book. So what? It's a fairly entertaining (however, I'm not sure if I liked the story as much this time) and reasonably well written kid's book that, if all goes well, will get plenty of the young whippersnappers into the Occult. This is inherently a good thing.

Although as far as kid's books go the His Dark Materials trilogy is better.

Anyway, back to the far more grown up comic books now...

In other news darthphil.com is now available in Japanese, for no better reasons than "because I can", "it look's cool" and "it's sort of a tribute to the spiritual home of half of the things keeping me occupied and off the streets".

Dear Internet,

Does anyone know where I can get hold of the new Kid 606 album and the new album by Dalek's DJ Still? All the big uk sites like play, amazon or tower records don't seem to think either CD exists.

It's beginning to bug me a bit...

Braved the exploding transport network and trigger happy police on Saturday to go to the Cricket in the Park organized by the English Cricket Board. Quite a good idea really, they set up a big screen to show the cricket, provided plenty of bars and gave away these groovy drinking glove thingies. As usual with these sort of sporting events it soon descended into some serious binge drinking, as evidenced by the gazebo stealing antics shown here, which me and John carried on with in Woking (my memory is a bit hazy about what happened here...). And I met an old friend who I haven't seen for far too long, which was nice and a bit random. Pretty good day really.

Today was spent trying to sober up whilst watching the new episode of Battlestar Galactica from one of those naughty torrent sites. I'm happy to report that the second series is just as fracking awesome as the first one.

Been to see War of the Worlds tonight, my one sentence description of it would be: Tom Cruise runs around shitting himself for two hours, and it has a bit of a crappy ending.

However thats a bit of a disservice to the film makers. The invasion is seen purely from the point of view of Cruise's family so there are no stereotypical scenes of Presidents leading jet fighter attacks, or Scientists toiling away in secret laboratories to find a last-ditch solution to the alien invasion - which I thought made for a very refreshing take on the story. The effects are very good conveying some memorable scenes of complete and utter destruction, one of those films that really needs to be seen at the cinema. And it's completely terrifying!

If there is a bad point it's with the ending. I know the story in the book ends without any sort of final confrontation, but I could have done without the schmaltzy family ending - especially since the previous couple of hours were pretty good...

As an ex-professional barman, and as a borderline alcoholic I think this could be one of the greatest inventions I have ever seen... TurboTap.

Bow down before the new God of War! Mwah Ha Ha!

*Ahem* Anyway, I've finished my latest Playstation 2 game, God of War. Now enjoying all the unlockable documentaries on the game disc; the deleted scenes is especially interesting being able to watch an early tech demo from 3 years ago really makes it clear how much work goes into modern videogames. Now I just have to beat God Mode, which looks like it could take some time as I've just had my ass handed to me on a plate by the first lot of bad guys.

Maybe that can wait until I've finished my next game Killer 7. Now this is a weird one, on a basic level it's third person action adventure with first person shooting elements - however from another point of view you could be dealing with an almost art-house videogame. For a start take a look at the graphics:

Just reeks of style doesn't it? Then there are the characters, the 'hero' is a wheelchair bound schizophrenic called Harman Smith - he has 7 alternate personalities which can take on a physical presence, you are given hints by this strange ghost gimp character who has a habit of going on about 'tight situations' a bit too much, you save the game through a nurse called Samantha (well, you can save if she feels like letting you) and the bad guys are essentially weird day-glow zombie suicide bombers called Heaven's Smiles.

I've only just completed the first level so I'm at a bit of a loss to explain what's really going on yet - The dialog is what can best be described as unhinged. From what I've read it gets quite political later on. Surprised it hasn't picked up too much controversy really, what with the whole disabled, mentally disturbed assassin hunting down suicide bombers theme going on...

Anyway, enough about videogames (I've realized the amount of time I spend going on about games on this website isn't really in proportion to the amount of time I spend playing them - in case you are wondering why they have been mentioned a bit more here recently). Here's some pictures from Friday night.

<fan sex="female" age="15" frameofmind="hysterical">OMG!! OMG!! I'VE TOUCHED TRENT REZNOR</fan>

Ahem, that's enough of that. An explanation I think - OK, tonight I've been to see Nine Inch Nails... Twice! So how did I do that? Well as a fully paid up member of the 'please Trent, let me be your bitch'-club aka The Spiral, I received an email asking me if I would like to go to a meet and greet before tonight's show.

Would I? Fuck Yes!

Anyway to cut a long and slightly tedious story short, myself and maybe about 30 other fans were herded into the venue via the stage door, before the venue opened, into a very much empty Brixton Academy. We got to watch the band sound check, which basically involved them running through about half a dozen songs, then after they finished we lined up at the front of the stage and got introduced to the band one by one... Think 'British Royal Family' but more Goth. I can't remember exactly what I said to everyone, something along the lines of "Oh Man! I'm so happy to meet you", and got my With Teeth CD signed *cough* *cough*

Although I can't remember exactly what was said, I was struck by the way that they are all ridiculously nice people, and if you were to take one rock band to meet your mum I'd recommend them hightly. Anyway, it was officially awesome! Although sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures during this.

This finished just after 6pm, which left me time to have a couple of pints before returning to the venue. The special treatment didn't end there, rather than joining the normal queue we got to enter via the stage door without having to queue at all - again, totally awesome (you'll have to excuse the overuse of the word 'awesome', I'm still in awe slightly)

Anyway, what about the show? Amazing! I spent the whole time having the time of my life in the mosh pit: every bone aches and I can tell already I will spend tomorrow in agony, at one point I lost a shoe only to have it returned 5 minutes later by some kind soul, and I did my good samaritan bit by launching a girl who wanted to crowd surf over the crowd. They played all the classics, not only getting heavy and emotional with the now famous-ish 'Hurt', but also the song that I swear I am subconsciously living my life by: 'Something I can never have'. Those were the only quiet bits really, the rest of it was wall to wall moshing, fucking great! I feel 15 years younger! Oh, and before the came on I swear they played a Great Annhilator era Swans track just before coming onto stage, which went down well with the more mature Goths in the audience - like yours truly.

Anyway, crap pictures are here, excuse the quality but as mentioned before I wasn't in the calmest place in the world at the time.

hip hop, basically...

RJD2 - In Rare Form
A collection of instrumentals from RJD2, not too bad, but I can't shake the feeling that this isn't a proper album and one or two of the tunes could do with some vocals. Anyway, if you are in the mood for some heavy funk or strangely some Vangelis this will do the job.

MP3: The Takeoff

Prefuse 73 - Prefuse 73 Reads The Books
Once again Prefuse 73 does his best work when being inspired by another group/artist. This EP is a collaboration with a band called The Books, I must confess to being ignorant of there work, but they seem to get lots of good reviews on Pitchfork. As far as I can work out they provide plenty of strange plucked guitar lead tunes, and Scott Heron aka Prefuse 73 rips them apart to produce an overall effect that could be described as 'glitch folk', if I was in the mood for labels. Nice EP overall.

MP3: Pagino Dos

As I was standing outside my flat not having a cigarette tonight it struck me that anyone passing by has been hearing some very disturbing noises coming from my open windows. Ghostly choirs and unearthly creatures screaming and gurgling as they are sent very firmly back to the depths of hell have been the soundtrack to the last few nights.

Basically I've been playing this God of War game pretty much all of my spare time and I just wanted to reiterate how superb it is. I think I did it a bit of an injustice in my last post by homing in on the fact that the female characters are somewhat underdressed. What I should have done is spent more time describing how satisfying the combat feels, every hack and slash feels bang on and it never gets boring with mini-set pieces such as mashing the circle button as your character rams his sword down a minotaurs throat to keep your interest from waning. And when you start feeling a bit worried by the fact that you're enjoying what is effectively an incredibly violent experience the game will throw a puzzle that actually manages to engage more than the usual fetch key from place A, open door at place B situation. I have a nasty feeling though that it will be ignored by the majority of the game playing public - shame.

Anyway, enough games - couple of new CDs. Kind of nice, you can read about them here and even listen to a couple of tunes. Oooh, aren't I generous?

Right, big day tomorrow - might actually have something worth posting...