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...]