December 2007 Archives

My top artists chart of 2007

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My Last.fm top artists chart of 2007 proves that I'm officially an old codger now. Where are the new bands and artists? Do I still care? I do, but my loyalty to and infatuation with older performers gets in the way. Amy Winehouse is the only 'young' act in the top 5 and while her music may be timeless, it's not exactly innovative. Still, reactionary as my chart may be, it's still eclectic as fuck and I love to see Fatima Mansions sitting quite comfortably next to Take That, and Robbie rubbing shoulders with Nick Cave.

The Church stand out in the top spot with a staggering lead on Winehouse. I 'rediscovered' them when I saw them live early in the year and then went a bit obsessive. Their 'oldie' Destination is my most played track, but it was the rather more recent song Block (listen) that I wanted to hear the most and played over and over again on my non-Last.fm-scrobbling Archos mp3-player.

The chart's a little skewed, in that the prominence of some of the acts is mainly due to a somewhat limited, and totally different, selection of music on my work computer. (The old one, I'm not playing a lot of music in my new job. Too busy.) Bowie, Almond and Peter Gabriel benefited from this fact, but I don't really begrudge them their place in this year chart. Gustavo Santaolalla looks the odd one out in the list, but he composed and sequenced the score and soundtrack of the film Babel, easily my favourite film and soundtrack of the year, featuring the sounds of David Sylvian and Sakamoto as well as Santaolalla's own mesmerising ventures into the Arabic soundscape. The medley Bibo no Aozora/Endless Flight/Babel was another track that I put on repeat on my Archos.
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I haven't really been listening to albums as such in a long time, blame the shuffle switch for that. So I hesitate to draw up a 'best album' list. Maria McKee's Late December was one of her stronger releases and Marc Almond's Stardom Road was nothing less than heartwarming. I enjoyed LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver, but the shuffle feature mostly ignored its presence.

M.I.A. caught my eye and ears and I need to spend some time with her Kala. Rufus Wainwright's Release the Stars was the first album of his I could actually sit through playing in its entirety, while Arcade Fire's Neon Bible had quite the opposite effect and I can't quite get Win Butler's basketballgate out of my head.

I'll have to mention Bruce Springsteen. Yes, I'm ending my reflection on my year in music with another seasoned artist. I've only just heard his new album 'Magic' and while I never have been a fan of the man, it impressed me throughout. Twelve catchy, uplifting tunes that could well all be singles and easily wipe contenders like The Killers think they are off the table. And while we're touching on Americana, I'll have to mention to U2's The Joshua Tree, magnificently re-released this year. Musically never really my favourite album of the band, its Corbijn-shaped imagery haunted my student years. I hope their newest effort, co-written with Lanois and Eno  and set for release in 2008 will be equally defining.

links for 2007-12-31

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links for 2007-12-30

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The female of the species

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Amy Winehouse

My Amy Winehouse pictures get favourited a lot on Flickr. Mostly by women. Does Amy, like Sinead, scare the hell out of most boys?

links for 2007-12-29

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links for 2007-12-27

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links for 2007-12-26

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The five best gigs of 2007

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As the first couple of tickets for shows in 2008 are coming in, it's time to look back and recognise the best of 2007. Where possible, I'll quote from my earlier reviews.

1. Marc Almond - Paradiso, Amsterdam, October 27

marc_almond2.jpg"Even before he's sung a note, he's welcomed with a thunderous applause and the crowd's enthusiasm doesn't wane over the full two hour show. They sing along, the hands go up, the tears run rings and hearts swell. We're close to a conga-line here, it's that kind of atmosphere."This show in Amsterdam was nothing less than triumphant, so good in fact, that I've got to see it twice. That's why I've booked to see him in Dublin in February.

2. The Church - Paradiso, Amsterdam, April 20
the_church2.jpg"I go see bands full of expectations and come away disappointed a lot of the time. So when I went to see The Church I expected them well past their heyday, coasting on past glory. Instead I watched four guys soldiering on with more fire in the belly than a lot of the new 'The'-bands put together. Overcoming ridiculous technical problems, they played blistering versions of songs from their vast repertoire." When I'm willing to travel to Hengelo to see a band a second time, you know I'm on to something good. The Church quite simply blew me away and they've since climbed to the #1 spot in my Last.fm chart for 2007 with 527 songs scrobbled.

3. Amy Winehouse - Paradiso, Amsterdam, February 8
amy_winehouse2.jpgAfter The Church, Amy Winehouse was my most played artist this year (342 songs) eventhough I didn't listen to her much in the second half of the year. Amy played a late night show at the Paradiso. I suppose we were 'lucky' for her to show up at all, let alone play a fantastic set. She isn't much of a performer, but with pipes like that, she doesn't need to be. I'm glad I got to see her at her best. And I hope someone, family or friends, will look after her and help her deal with whatever it is needs dealing with.

4. R.E.M. - Vicar Street, Dublin, July 3 and 4
rem.jpg'This is not a show,' we were told plenty of times. R.E.M. used five nights in front of a real audience in Dublin's beautiful Olympia theatre, to 'rehearse' songs for their upcoming album, which, by the sound of the songs played at these shows, will sound a little more like the R.E.M. we knew before they - briefly - went mega. Well, I enjoyed these 'rehearsals' very much. Stipe really doesn't have to do much to entertain, doesn't have to work for it, he is just naturally charismatic. I can never figure out whether he's a nice bloke or not, but I'm told he is. Good for him.

5. Cathal Coughlan - Sugar Club, Dublin, March 25.
cathal_coughlan2.jpgThere are a couple of artists on my list that don't tour that much or at all, which means I have to travel to go see them. Cathal Coughlan is one of them. I'll happily jump on a flight to see him in London or Dublin. It's an easy choice to make when you know someone's going to deliver. And deliver he did at the intimate Sugar Club, playing a short solo set before a full run through his grand opus, Flannery's Mounted Head, also known as Foburg. I really wish he'd play more often.

Also seen:

Jarvis Cocker - not quite as good as hoped for, but he's adorable.
Brett Anderson - better than expected
Camera Obscura - really not my thing
Moke - derivative and calculated
Interpol - not great
Justin Timberlake - shite seats, crap sound
The Bravery - good energy
INXS - J.D. was better on TV.
The Police - I shouldn't have gone.
Luka Bloom - I have seen him do better
Arcade Fire - fantastic show falls flat in large venue.
Sinead O'Connor - can do no wrong
The National - impressive show marred by abrupt end.

And then of course there were the eight Nothing Like The Sun shows, in Stratford, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham and Gent. So totally different from everything else mentioned here I decided to leave them out.

All the photos are copyright © 2007, cvodb.

A Cubicle Carol, ho ho ho

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Mr Alpha Tone, a member of Whedonesque, has many talents.

links for 2007-12-25

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Dutch Twitterati are using Twitter to support the One Laptop Per Child project, brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte. All tweets that mention the words OLPC are counted by the Twitter stats application Twitstat:

With each tweet with 'olpc' in it you semi-voluntarily raise 1 euro for the One Laptop Per Child project. Each laptop is 140 euro. Please make sure @twitstat follows you before tweeting 'olpc'. And twitstat doesn't count you if you have locked your account.
The fundraiser was started by Dutch journalist Francisco van Jole ( @2525) who sponsored the first few laptops before other people started chipping in as well.

The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child.


(watch the New York Times review of OLPC's laptop)

The charity drive runs till midnight on Christmas Eve.

Final tally: A total of 2883,50 euro was raised, enough to buy 21 laptops. Full story (in Dutch). Happy Christmas!

links for 2007-12-24

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links for 2007-12-23

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LOLrus lawyers up

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funny pictures

The one meme this year I haven't got tired of: icanhascheeseburger.com.

links for 2007-12-22

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links for 2007-12-21

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links for 2007-12-20

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Our new intern has mad skillz

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Yush recently joined the team at DAG Media.

BBC beta homepage

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I hadn't visited the BBC homepage for a while and when I had a look this morning a largish button said: 'Try out our new, customisable homepage'. So I went and did just that. On first glance, it certainly improves on the current, unimpressive (the international one in particular, which is just a series of links grouped together) home.

This beta page is quite simple, with a few visual flourishes allowed in the larger image top right. Clicking the coloured buttons underneath it will change both the image and the rest of the page's supportive colours, and the image itself might go over its own set border (the top of the woman's head sticks out in this picture, as does a tree in the frosty blue Garderner's World picture and the locks of David Tennant's cartoon head in the orange 'Pilot the Tardis' option. You can make some, but not too many, changes to the content.

There's a choice of various headlines and an option to localise your page, sadly not to anywhere outside of the U.K., so I'm stuck with London weather. Not everything works as it should yet (duh, beta) as dragging blocks into different columns will not always align properly. But I appreciate the return to larger images and the effort to make BBC's home more appealing. Now can it stay ad-free, please? And will the underlying content also take on this new look?

links for 2007-12-19

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links for 2007-12-18

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Gent memories

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Gent, kermis
I could tell you about the time I spent in Gent, but then I'd have to... you know how it goes. One lasting memory? Perhaps the very honourable Mr B, composer, Northener, keeling over as he gets up from his seat in Café des Arts. Says he: 'The chair is drunk. Not me.'

As for the city, the little I've seen of it: small, tidy, quaint here and there and a little posh in places. And absolutely lovely service and kindness everywhere we went. Yuji, at Café des Arts, especially, put up with our whims with a smile and once he got the go ahead from above, was generous with the bottles of local spirits. Please, my Flemish friends, never let yourself be annexed or even influenced by your Northern neighbours.

I'd recommend Hotel den Yzer to both budget and more upmarket travellers, if you can give up on luxury for a minute. Almost monastic in its simplicity, its authenticity will warm you. Old world charm beats the creepy vinyl seats in the nearby Ibis hotel any day.

The music was poignant, the temperature icy. The sun shone brightly, the company was dear. Bring on Christmas.
More details at Hydragenic.com

links for 2007-12-16

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Objects on wood

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There are things in life that you want, but think you'll never going to be able or willing to afford. I've seen and been bowled over (it's a pun, but I'm serious) the artist Guggi's work in galleries, always wishing I could take one home with me. This week, I took one home with me. A wonderful Christmas gift from G.

links for 2007-12-15

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links for 2007-12-12

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links for 2007-12-11

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First March of the Mutant Enemy

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Fan-made docu of Mutant Enemy Strike Day. Great little interviews with fans, writers and actors.

links for 2007-12-10

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I used to have a handful of Belgian readers. Wonder if they're still around.

Next week I'll be travelling to Gent (Ghent? I never know whether or not to slot an 'h' in in English) for a two-day stay (we'll be going to this event, do come too if you like Shakespeare and don't mind listening to some utterly depressing music) and I've been trying to research good places to eat, but personal recommendations are always best.

The last time I was in Gent was November 27, 1995. I can't remember where I ate that time, but it may have been the café at Vooruit. So... if anyone can recommend a good eatery in Gent, perhaps Italian, perhaps not, let's hear it!

Oh, and if you happen to have a copy of this week's Focus Knack magazine... check out the four-page interview with the man and a full page photograph + smaller one both taken by me. I haven't seen it yet myself. You can see a preview on the Focus Knack website, but I don't have access to the larger pdf files.

Focus Knack


links for 2007-12-09

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So. In Rainbows. Boring. Discuss.

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Is it blasphemy to admit you like Radiohead's media strategies more than the music they're hoping you'll download?

I chose to pay 15 pounds for In Rainbows, supporting the band's choice to do it this way more than anything else. If I'd listened to the album before I let them charge my credit card, I probably wouldn't have bought it, because it's all sounding a little samish to me. And the weedy voice is starting to grate.

But then I've never been keen on Radiohead's albums. I think they're a great live band, but it's been a long time since one of their songs actually meant anything to me. (If you must know, that would have been 'How to disappear completely') I don't really understand where Yorke's coming from and whether what he's on about has any relevance to my life at all.

We're eight tracks into the album (House of Cards) before I hear something that suggests something more than a soundscape, something almost a song, sung in a slightly (very slightly) lower register than Yorke's trademark falsetto. Then, as if their confidence is growing, Jigsaw Falling Into Place packs a stronger punch than all of the rest of the album put together. Unfortunately, the closing track Videotape fails to impress with its rather repetitive piano drone.

Tell me how I'm wrong.


links for 2007-12-08

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Epi 19 in the Speechless video series.

links for 2007-12-06

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It's the story, stupid

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Buffy and BSG writer Jane Espenson says:

"First off, is life in Jane Austen's England any less exotic and strange than life on Galactica or Serenity? But the real parallel is a set of characters who seem completely fresh and real and identifiable no matter how alien the world they're inhabiting.

You know what current show I also see as having this quality? Friday Night Lights. It's a gorgeous show that consistently reminds me of Battlestar Galactica and Firefly -- it creates/reflects a real world filled with lots of real and complex characters with consistent but constantly-changing relationships, shot as if the camera just happened to be catching slices of real lives... the fact that FNL is set in small-town Texas instead of on a spaceship doesn't matter one bit to me. Both worlds are a little bit strange to me -- what does it matter that one requires artificial gravity and other artificial turf?"

That's for every person I've met in my life who told me 'Ugh, I don't like SciFi, it's not real.' And for every person who isn't watching Friday Night Lights or Battlestar Galactica, and should.

Red dwarf

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If you're in the neighbourhood... tomorrow morning, Thursday December 6, I will be handing out DAG newspapers at Amstel Station in Amsterdam between 7 and 9am.

You can't miss me, I'll be the dwarf running around in a bright red jacket and matching pants.

links for 2007-12-05

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