Nine Feet Underground

So, without further fannying about here are my top 10 (plus 3) favourite albums of 2018...and, for the avoidance of doubt (!), they are in no particular order... Suede 'The Blue Hour'  - An album that demands to be listened to in one sitting - a rarity these days - and one that deserves that attention.  It has been the soundtrack to my darkest days. Love. Bill Ryder-Jones 'Yawn'  - A latecomer to the list, but fuck me, what an album.  At times, listening to the words and how he sings them, I fear for him. It has an emotional intensity in the rawness of some of the lyrics that, well, I'm at a loss.  I don't believe I've got to the bottom of this album yet. May even supplant the Suede album. The track below is probably not the one I'd have chosen from the album, but it is amongst my favourites, so here is 'Don't be Scared, I Love You'... Hollie Cook 'Vessel of Love'  - This album came out at the start ...

This has been a long time in the making, but finally, almost a month into 2019, I've almost listened to all the albums I have from 2018.  If I don't complete this look back soon it'll be overtaken by the new albums from 2019 - and there already are some great albums from January and even more promised in February. (I should also add that albums I missed in 2018 are still being brought to my attention, this includes albums by Jonathan Wilson ('Rare Birds'), Steve Gunn ('The Unseen In Between') and Rezzett ('Rezzett LP')). Before I get into the top ten list I ought to say something about the albums that haven't made the list.  That's the subject of this post. Honourable mentions I guess you'd call these.  There were a lot of good albums in 2018, many of which contain 4 or 5 great songs or tunes, often including a smattering of other good tracks but, ultimately not enough to make the top 10. (Many of those songs do appear on my...

I'm trying to stay off social media as much as possible.  Unless it's on my own terms, as here. At the very least I am minimising the amount of time I spend looking through it. For one reason or another it feels like every second spent there is a wasted second. More often than not, a toxic wasted second. I f I see something that amuses me, I may share it. I'll also post these blogs there too. That, however, will be it. I've spent three days writing this and still I cannot find words to express how I am feeling or what I want to say. I just get stuck at this point. Constantly searching. Failing to find. Descend again. Back up. Seek again. Fail. Descend further. Back up for more. Try again. Fail again. Round and round. Up and down. Not finding peace. Just more of the same. I have been through so many songs in the three days it's taken me to articulate the almost nothing you read here. I find myself back at an old song. A song that has been with me ever since I...

There is a war going on. I can't seem to find a way to write about it in language that I feel comfortable with. It either comes out as a load of (ultimately meaningless) metaphors, cliches and over worn phrases or else it's just way too personal.  Stuff there is no one i can talk to about. At the moment. Or maybe ever could be. This has prevented me writing a post for several days. Day to day it can be a struggle: I have worked out that except when I am asleep or I am so overwhelmed with work that it consumes every spare cycle my brain has at its disposal (and even then "it" manages, on occasion, to hijack a thread that's not fully utilised)... only at those times can I be assured of any kind of peace. And I don't want work to have that power. Been there. Done that. Have no desire to go back there again. So it is with music that freedom comes. Not always. Sometimes music doesn't have the power to take over rather it just ends up reflecting or r...

It's another day. The sun is shining, even in NineFeetUnderground-land.  Outside the sun may be shining but inside storm clouds are visible in the distance: People are a mystery to me at times. Well, when I say people I really mean one specific half (approximately) of the population.  As the day has worn on the sun outside has been replaced by first cloud, then latterly snow, along with a sharp drop in temperature. It's nice when weather and mood are aligned. Not. I don't think I'll be delving further into either of the topics above today, so onto the music. And no this still isn't the long-promised best albums of 2018 - still have albums to hear and I do have a day job, and this ain't it! The latest album from Sharon Van Etten came out on the 18th January.  Early listens suggest it's rather good. This is from it.  Nothing more to say.

According to some in the media, today is Blue Monday. The day when a bunch of things (weather, time since Christmas, debt etc etc) are meant to reach an overwhelming nadir. (There's even an email in my inbox with the subject "How to beat Blue Monday"). Meanwhile, in the real world where life is lived hour by hour, and day by day, today is just another Monday, no more nor less depressing than any other day - be it January or June, Monday or Friday. That is reality. Out here in NineFeetUnderground-land we keep on searching, keep on going around and around the unremitting cycle of day follows night follows day follows night in search of something better, something that will still the rage and harness the fire that burns within.  The emptiness at the centre cannot last, the vacuum will inevitably collapse, implosion the unavoidable consequence.  Lingua Ignota gives voice to this turmoil. A recent discovery with a bleakness of vision which prefigures the company of th...

Here we are in 2019, more than half way through January and I've not managed to write a word. Not a single, solitary, one.  Well, not here at least, and not until now. I've written a lot elsewhere but that is 'out of scope' (ha!) of this blog as per the comments you'll read further on. January is a depressing month, I find. After the usual euphoria and positivity about the new year, the changes that will come, and 'it's gonna be better than last year (thinks: it can't be worse...surely?)' the reality sets in. The downturn in mood is not helped by it being dark, gloomy, cold and so on - some wag will doubtless say 'the days are getting longer, do you know it was still light at (insert whatever time you think sounds plausible) last night'. My answer to them is "fuck off". On a positive note (yes, he does have something positive to say, OK?), I have made some changes - which I need to establish as habits - such as twice-daily s...