Nine Feet Underground

At this point in the year, with only 4 days remaining before 2019 begins, it seems like the perfect place to look back on my favourite music of 2018.  The list is slightly complicated because, as I write this, I still have something like 11 albums from the year I've not listened to fully. Thank you, Santa.  Or rather thank you to my wonderful family who are happy to indulge my addiction. Soon - but not before I've listened to the 11 (or maybe more) albums from 2018 I've not fully heard - I'll do a favourite albums of 2018 (I am pretty certain I know what will be number one, unless there are surprises) but for now, I'm doing songs. Friendly warning: At this point, reader, you may wish to scroll forwards to my 2018 favourite song playlists, thus avoiding a load of waffle, or - if you want to know why there are two lists (and a whole lot more besides) - read on... There's another complication of my own making: it arises because of my r

Apparently not.  Not much more than that to say, other than I just discovered this album by BC Camplight, from earlier this year, and I'm liking it.  Also turns out a song I'd heard several times on the radio this year and liked - namely 'I'm Desperate' -  is from the same album as this (the album being 'Deportation Blues'). There's been good and bad as there always is, don't really feel the need to elaborate further. Jinx, and all that. All the shit there's been tends to consign rational thought to the bin. [Quote is from the poem 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvel]

[Sunday 16th December 2018] ♊ [Quote is the opening line of the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name]

[Saturday 15th December 2018] The underlying trend is still further into Robert Burton territory, though some distractions (amenable company, food, alcohol and live music) push those thoughts to the background temporarily. Effort diametrically in opposition to results.   [Quote is from the poem 'A woman's beauty is like a white' by W.B. Yeats]

[Friday 14th December 2018] 😞 [Quote is from Shakespeare Sonnet 147]

[Thursday 13th December 2018] "Oh, of all the wild places I love..."  She's back again in less than a fortnight, partly inspired by the fact that 'O Death' came on whilst I was driving and it occurred to me the song is about as anti-Christmas-spirit as you can get.  Maybe more in keeping with Saturnalia, death / rebirth...heavy themes.  Come live in my head for a day 😁 [Quote is a slight amendment of a section from the poem 'Anniversaries' by Douglas Dunn from the collection 'Elegies']

[Wednesday 12th December 2018] "I've lived that kind of day..." [Quote is from chapter 14 (aka 'Oxen of the Sun') of 'Ulysses' by James Joyce]

[Tuesday 11th December 2018] Pretty much sums it up. Hope. The darkest of angels. Futility. [Love Tei Shi's voice in this, know nothing about her but shall find out more. [[Late middle section is a bit limp, but picks up...]]] [Quote is the opening of the poem 'Transblucency' by Douglas Dunn from the collection titled 'Elegies']

[Monday 10th December 2018] Another fun-packed day on the roller-coaster ride that is inexplicably and inescapably life as it is actually experienced internally as opposed to externally portrayed. New path. [Quote is from chapter 3 (aka 'Proteus') of 'Ulysses' by James Joyce]

[Sunday 9th December 2018] What use words? [Quote is from poem 'Loss' by Charles Madge]

[Saturday 8th December 2018] Alcohol. Sleep. Oblivion. Damn the waking hours. [Quote is from the poem 'Transblucency' from the collection 'Elegies' by Douglas Dunn]

[Friday 7th December 2018] Post title says all. [Quote is the opening of the poem ' It was not Death, for I stood up ' by Emily Dickinson ]

[Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th December 2018] Adrift in pitch, nothing can shake it. [Quote is from page 457 in Book III episode 2 of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce]

[Tuesday 4th December 2018] Lousy day. Mood-deadening. Spirit-crushing. In contrast with... Inspiring evening; great company, great food, and brilliant, thought-provoking political talk. Pleasant distraction but cannot bridge the chasm. [Quote is from the poem 'Desert Places' by Robert Frost]

[Monday 3rd December 2018]   Not a great day.  Foolish action results in avoidable disappointment. Well, strictly some degree of disappointment was inevitable. Depth of disappointment was self-inflicted. Exuberance overrides sense and looking before leaping. Details are irrelevant, resulting impact is what counts. [Quote is from 'The Letters of Vincent van Gogh' by ... self-evident]

[Sunday 2nd December 2018] Written from the vantage point of Monday, I know that any optimism I felt yesterday was misplaced. To be fair, my optimistic nature often gets the better of me - show me a green shoot and I'll be expecting to see a forest the next day. I think the phrase is setting yourself up to fail. "I know nothing of the sort." [Quote is from Book I Chapter 6 of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce]

[Saturday 1st December 2018] [Strobe Warning - Have to say this ahead of anything else.]  Slow burning new discovery of 2018, Goat Girl: BBC Music's Jools Holland page describe them as "Brixton Punks" in their YouTube video for 'The Man', oddly. Maybe from a kind of basic sound sense there is a punky element, but I hadn't figured them as punks in any other way. Ultimately the label means nothing, I just like them and their album, from which this comes. Clutching at straws with some degree of positive vibes after the silence of Tuesday to Friday. False hope, most likely. [Quote is from the poem 'Hush' by Douglas Dunn from his collection 'Elegies']

[Tuesday 27th November to Friday 30th November 2018] After Monday's positive/negative (HTFSIK?), I descended into hell. Work has been in tents. Sorry, no that should be intense. Culminating in a marathon writing session on Friday that went well beyond a normal length working day (whatever one of those is).  Worse than that, I know I will have to make some changes to the document on Monday, which, in theory is a day's annual leave. The demands of work have kept other thoughts at bay, though I mustn't forget that that was how the descent began earlier this year. Short term. Temporary. Needs must and all that. In amongst all that I went and saw Dylan Moran at the Hexagon. The dark humour and misanthropic world view treading a fine line between comedy and my life. As-Is. As opposed to To-Be. {{{{{Architect Joke. Not}}}} [Title is quote from Canto 5 of 'Hell' in 'The Divine Comedy' by Dante (trans. Peter Dale)]

[Sunday 25th November to Monday 26th November 2018] Sister. Family. Uncle. Birthday. 89. Cousins. Past. Present. Future? Up. Down. Possibilities. Ignored. Upbeat. Downbeat. Roller coaster. Truth. Lie. Hope. No hope. Pointlessness of hope. Only now. Done. Cannot change. Doesn't exist. Wishful thinking. Stop. Let me off. [Quote is the opening of the poem 'Hush' from 'Elegies' by Douglas Dunn]

[Friday 23rd November 2018 and Saturday 24th November 2018] I can't make sense of it. Looking back on what seemed to be a positive sign at the time, but appears to have been an isolated event viewed from today. Was it less positive than it appeared, so the passage of time brings realism or does the passing of time tarnish reality? Ultimately it really makes no difference as I end up at the same place. [The title is a quote from book III episode 2 page 470 of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce, as if...]

[Thursday 22nd November 2018] Certainly got the timing wrong here! Story of my life 😃 Actually this is quite deliberate though the thinking is probably a little obscure. I am so far behind I can't be bothered to explain further. Oh. except...I love Kim Gordon's voice, I know she's not a great singer in the traditional sense, but there is something... [Title is from Book IV page 627 of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce]

[Monday 19th to Wednesday 21st November 2018] As suggested by the date range, spare time has been in short supply this week. Primarily this has been due to work, sadly. Anyway, the first half of the week started with a hint of possibility, so I guess the choice of song reflects that. More than that I cannot say. Yeah, I know it's an Al Green cover and yeah, I also know that David Byrne is no Al Green. But...I still love this version. First off I love the opening drum line and the bit where Tina Weymouth's bass kicks in - the pair of these underpin the whole song and give it an uplifting bounce.  Second, David Byrne's phrasing just works and builds to a great crescendo- words and music in the final minute. Soul indeed. [Blog title is a line from 'Sometimes I Forget Completely' by Rumi]

[Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th November 2018] Boards of Canada described this tune as  “ like your brain is starting to malfunction in the middle of the tune ”. I like that idea. I don't know if things are afoot. I can't ever tell. The brain always latches on to the merest hint of possibility and invents a whole story based on a ripple in the fabric, or should that be a tear in the curtain, of the desire/reality continuum. [Title is a quote from Episode 6 ('Hades') of 'Ulysses' by James Joyce]

[Normal service will be resumed...at some point] Friday's blog can only be about the gig - Caravan supported by Curved Air - even though there is so much more to write about. ULU is an interesting venue:  the main hall and a small balcony area above, with maybe 50 or 60 seats.  We went for the balcony for the view but also because I hadn't figured on dancing, leastwise not in the way other bands and musical genres might do. More than anything it reminded me of my student days going to gigs at Leeds University's legendary venue. Curved Air played first and did a surprisingly long set, given they were support.  I have to confess that I'm only really familiar with their hit single 'Back Street Luv' though I've probably heard other stuff of theirs but I guess it went in one ear and out the other without making any impression. Single aside, there were only a few things I knew about Curved Air before this night: Sonja Kristina - as a pubescent teenag

[Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th November 2018] It was inevitable that something from this album would appear here, I guess. 2018 seems to have been a bumper (heavy on the irony) year for albums which, by what can only be pure chance, seem to hold a mirror up to aspects of my life or the way I have been feeling for months.  Obvious choices that spring to mind are Low's 'Double Negative', Marianne Faithfull's 'Negative Capability' from which this comes and 'The Blue Hour' by Suede.   There are upbeat songs and albums from this year that I have loved and still love too, but ultimately you have to accept you cannot hold back the tide. Had I tried, I would have been a latter day Canute, or at the very least, something  phonetically similar. [Title of this post is a line from the play 'Exiles' by James Joyce]

[Tuesday 13th November 2018] One way or another this is the way it feels... [Blog title is a line from the poem 'Kaleidoscope' by Douglas Dunn]

[Monday 12th November 2018] Given the day, this song is the only possible choice. There are no words. [Blog title is a line from 'A Birthday' by Christina Rosetti]

[Sunday 11th November 2018] The day before...it is so hard to see reality fade in and out and memory become separated from personal experience. The fear in the eyes when facts are no longer certain and to ask is to dread the answer, not knowing things and risking exposure of how tenuous the grip on a life story has become. Oh, for the certainty..."Let's get out of this hopeless town"...if only it were possible [Blog title is a quote from the poem 'Second Opinion' by Douglas Dunn]

[Friday 9th and Saturday 10th November 2018] Friday, Saturday - every day - no matter how much it is willed, one positive cannot overcome one negative or at best indifferent.  No notice is taken... [Blog title is a quote from Book I Chapter 1 page 4 of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce]

[Tuesday 6th to Thursday 8th November 2018] Time has flown past this week...the end of 8 weeks of mindfulness classes, work, work, work, the usual trials and tribulations and my inability, in spite of the effort expended, to effect change in the ways I need to. [Blog title is a quote from 'The Good Morrow' by John Donne]

[Monday 5th November 2018] Between me, myself and I [Title is a quote from 'I Am' by John Clare]

[Sunday 4th November 2018] Of all the wild places I love, there is one that remains out of reach for reasons I cannot fathom. The darkness that surrounds that loss threatens to engulf and consume, extinguishing all hope. [Blog quote is from Book IV page 627 of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce]

[Saturday 3rd November 2018] Tough day following on from an equally challenging Friday. Sparsely littering the darkness have been little sparkling gems of joy and, perhaps, the merest hint of  sprouting possibility. The new Suede album, 'The Blue Hour', from which this track comes, is proving to be some kind of reflection of life currently. Even if it wasn't, it is one of the most coherent albums I've heard in a long time. It's an album that begs to be listened to in one sitting and, so far, is a strong contender for my album of 2018, and there have been some good ones, but unless my memory deceives me - maybe with the exception of The Internet's album 'Hive Mind' - not much else comes close. [The title quote is from Book I Episode 2 page 301 of  'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce ]

[Friday 2nd November 2018] Despite best efforts to resist the encroaching darkness it still find its way in through the cracks and spaces that cannot be filled.  [Post title is a quote from page 55 of 'Endgame' by Samuel Beckett]

[Thursday 1st November 2018]   It is amazing how the brain can turn the slightest positive event into a complete life-changing story, when in fact it just was one small isolated positive thing.  It leaks over from Wednesday into Thursday and then gradually the one event returns to being that:Outer Acid becomes Inner Acid.  [ Title is a quote from chapter 2 (aka 'Nestor') of 'Ulysses' by James Joyce ]

[Wednesday 31st October 2018 A glimmer of hope? [Title is a quote from Book I Chapter 3 line 57 of  'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce ]

[Tuesday 30th October 2018] [ For one more week, Tuesday is Mindfulness course day, as well as being the first day of work for me till the end of the year, at least.  I heard this song on the radio on this day and loved the energy and noise of it from the outset. This was also the first new thing I've heard in a week or two that really resonated with me. So, this seems to be the antithesis of meditation and is thus the perfect song for the day. [Title is a quote from chapter 9 (aka 'Scylla and Charybdis') of 'Ulysses' by James Joyce]

[Monday 29th October 2018] Not much to say, the music says it all... [Blog title is a quote from 'Sonnets to Idea' (20) by Michael Drayton]

[Sunday 28th October 2018] A day of non-stop domestic chores - the price for spending a large chunk of Saturday in silent meditation. Originally I was going to choose some rave / techno which seemed to embody the frenetic nature of the day. On reflection given that I also managed to do five meditations of varying duration (😊) I choose 'Food For My Soul'. First off I love it. I also love the alleged back story about the album from which it is taken.  It's also the right choice because this song, along with my original choice, came up randomly during my exercise bike death or glory ride. 😜 [Title quote is from 'Beauty Bathing' by Anthony Munday]

[Saturday 27th October 2018] A day spent in the service of the refreshing the mind and body and, in contrast, also in thrall to consumerism. I relish the contradiction but also recognise the one which is most important. After spending much of the day in the company of people in silent mediation (with a lot of conversation before and after) the evening was spent alone, which was a challenge. The song, 'Rise', is both melancholy and, at the same time, uplifting and most appropriately is from the album 'Lost Souls'. That says more than I can say. [There are two videos here - the original music video which appeals to me for various reasons (but has dropouts and ends abruptly - you have been warned) and a single image with the music so as not to be distracted by the flaws in the recording or by someone else's view of the song ('cos after all, all songs belong to us individually and their meaning is personal to us).] [Blog title is a li

[Tuesday 23rd October to Friday 26th October ] Four consecutive days travelling to and from central London, by train and tube, are more than enough to remind anyone why they don't ever want to commute into London again. Ever. Combined with all-consuming work and you have a recipe for...whatever the cure is. [The post title is a quote from the poem 'Alone' by Edgar Allan Poe]

[Sunday 21st October 2018] Hmmm. Sunday. Still wavering.  Exercised. Meditated.  Sunshine out, storm clouds within. Desire for change straining at the leash, but change realised measured in geological time.  [Post title is a quote from 'Go, Lovely Rose' by Edmund Waller]

[Saturday 20th October 2018] Another day of extreme contrasts: great meal out in evening celebrating the 21st birthday of my sons: an escape. Set against this the brightly sunlit day "indoors" was obscured by the darkest storm clouds. Refuge sought in meditation that just about managed to coexist with the cumulonimbus. [Post title is from 'I Am' by John Clare]

[Friday 19th October 2018] Do good company, laughter and shared tales serve to highlight what's missing? Or perhaps such times act like stepping stones across a barren lake as part of a seemingly unending quest for the safety of land and close companionship? [Post title is a quote from 'Ode to Melancholy' by John Keats]

[Thursday 18th October 2018] One of those days. Depths. Cannot fathom. Cannot surface. [Post title is a quote from 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce ]

[Wednesday 17th October 2018] A day of celebration. A day's holiday. Nothing more to be said. [Post title is a quote 'Ulysses by James Joyce ]

[Tuesday 16th October 2018] This moment is precious. If on a winter's night a traveller. House of Leaves. Weaving a Parachute. The Lost Art of Concentration. Cerebral Hemispheres. Radical Acceptance. Square Eyes. Eagles and Earwigs. Full Catastrophe Living. The Guest House. [Post title is a quote from 'Ode to the West Wind' by Percy Bysshe Shelley]

[Monday 15th October 2018] It just is, that's all. [Quote in post title is from 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley]

[14th October 2018] I chose this song in part because it's been going round my head for several weeks now. I also chose it because it serves two strands of thought, one more painful than the other: it's a reminder that not everything by Emerson, Lake and Palmer is about bombast and reworkings of classical music (TFFT!); it also serves to echo a sadness and a longing that cannot be tempered, painfully reminding me that choices have consequences, however unforeseen and unintended. [Post title is opening line of 'I would to heaven that I were so much clay' by Lord Byron]

[Saturday 13th October 2018] A day of contrasts: occupied by many tasks and activities and escaping through eating out in the company of my sisters. Internally the brain travels locally and finds cause for discomfort, sadness and loss.  That which, seemingly, cannot be regained, O cruel tormentor. The end of the end, indeed. 😧 [Post title is from "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan-Poe]

[Friday 12th October 2018] Pretty much self-explanatory... [Post title is quote from the final chapter of 'Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce]

[Thursday 11th October 2018] Past, present and future... [Quote in the title is from the poem 'The Dark Angel' by Lionel Johnson]

[Wednesday 10th October 2018] Getting up earlier and earlier for work as the reality of travel on the M4 hits home.  My getting up doesn't bear much resemblance to this ("much"!!!) but there is some allure in this approach, or at least given the right circumstances there could be 😈 [Quote is from 'Ode on Melancholy' by John Keats]

[Tuesday 9th October 2018] Why indeed? Disapppointments.. [Post title is a quote from 'Company' by Samuel Beckett]

[Monday 8th October 2018] Change, change, change... [Quote from 'Endgame' by Samuel Beckett]

[Sunday 7th October 2018] I like the marriage of darkness in the lyrics with the contrasting upbeat nature of the tune.  It could be the song for any of my days currently, not just yesterday, but as the tarot card "Death" signifies change so, perhaps, does this hint at something positive coming from the darkness. It is absolutely wonderful to have Sarah Nixey back after a seven year break and to have a new solo album.  I’ve been a fan since I first heard her sing with the criminally underrated band, Black Box Recorder (BBR).  She has a glacially cool speaking and singing voice – I say ‘speaking’ because she intones and sings thee words on BBR songs like ‘Child Psychology’ and ‘The Facts of Life’. This song encapsulates all of that, and more. There's an interview with Sarah on The Electricity Club site, just click here . [Post title from verse III of 'Mutability' by Percy Bysshe Shelley]

[Saturday 6th October 2018]  This song has been haunting me ever since I first heard it a few weeks ago. It feels right that yesterday is encapsulated in this song. Acceptance and recognition that it is time for change.  [The title of this post is from part IV of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge]

[This was prompted by an article in the Guardian on 5th October 2018 - see link at the end] First off, I confess: I am a fully paid up Spotify user. I do probably use it in a slightly unusual way – for me it’s mostly a “try before you buy” thing (If I like an album (or song) on Spotify I buy the CD or the digital download: I want the person who made the album I like to be paid for creating it), though, just to be clear I do have playlists as well, including my master random playlist of favourites optimistically titled “Dead”. Nevertheless, I know Spotify is evil. Or at least the beguiling handiwork of one of Satan’s demons. It unfairly favours those artists who sell albums by the (digital) shedload, worse, it practically shoves them down your throat. In most cases these are the artists whose work I loathe with a passion that is probably both unholy and unhealthy but loathe them I do. Spotify also claims to know your musical taste and, using its version of y