Nine Feet Underground

[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

It's been more than 14 months since I last wrote a blog. Admittedly this was hardly the Piccadilly Circus of blogs, but this is probably the longest gap in it's history.  There is an explanation, of course there is, but that'll have to wait for another day.  This wouldn't have been the place for the explanation but I'm gradually going to change what I write here. In the past it was just about music, what I liked and why, along with my attempts to capture in words the experience of seeing bands I like perform live. There will still be room for that and the focus on music will not have changed entirely either. Books and life might creep in a bit more but music will still be at the heart of it... At the very least I plan to use this blog as a diary, with my entries inextricably linked with a piece of music that encapsulates or relates to the day in question. If the entries are to be daily, then they will be short - so little time and too much to do! Let