scaryblog

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts. 29/03/15 : Sonic Soul Surfer - Seasick Steve I REALLY don't understand the appeal of Seasick Steve - my overall view is "talentless racket". So what are the chances of this album changing my opinion? Slim to none, my friend... Hmmm. Actually, the album does actually slightly change my mind because I think there is a modicum of talent involved - there are some decent blues riffs on there, although I didn't get the impression there was a huge amount of variety on there. I stand by my opinion that it's a racket though - the songs are generally bang average and he just can't sing, so I really don't see the appeal. Having said that, I actually didn't mind the opening track, but then he had to go and make it last for over six minutes, so he lost whatever good will he might have earned - and a load of the other tracks are not as good and even longer. And I certainly didn't listen to the four bonus tra...

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts. 05/04/15 : The Day Is My Enemy - The Prodigy Our first visit with The Prodigy - I suspect it won't be our last, but it's taken us a fair bit of time to get round to them. I've listened to a few of their albums and found them to be pretty varied - the band have never seemed entirely sure what they want to sound like. And I've never heard this album, so I've no idea what to expect here. I'd say this is a pretty classic Prodigy album, which I don't mind when I'm in the mood for it (and fortunately I was when I listened to it). The opening and title track (featuring Martina Topley-Bird) is slightly different though and I particularly liked it. I would say that some of the tracks and the album as a whole could have done with some pruning - I just didn't need 56 minutes of it. However, I much preferred it to some of their other stuff I've heard and I do like the album cover. We're at #1 with a ...

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.   2010 : Love The Way You Lie  - Eminem Featuring Rihanna I'm a bit surprised this took the year, but I'm not complaining because it's a damn fine track with both of them using their experience with "difficult" relationships to deliver top emotional performances. The video works pretty well for me, featuring Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox although there were some complaints that it featured scenes of domestic violence - which does make me wonder exactly were they expecting to see in it. Fluffy bunnies? Either way, it's one of YouTube's most watched videos (and the most watched rap video) with over 2.5 billion views. Wikipedia tells us the song was written by Skylar Grey (along with Alex da Kid) and was originally about her relationship with the music industry. Unsurprisingly, it also tells us that "critics have commented on the message in the lyrics" with everyone having the...

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts. 12/04/15 : Future Hearts - All Time Low I've known of All Time Low's existence for some time, but had completely avoided them until I saw them at Reading a couple of years ago - where I really enjoyed them, so I'm quite looking forward to this.  Yeah, it's very much in the vein of what I heard - all relatively low-key verses leading into amped-up choruses, which is a sound I enjoy (particularly live). I liked "Something's Got To Give", "Missing You" and "Old Scars/Future Hearts" but it's all pretty decent - it's not a million miles away from The Wombats, but more American. Once again, there are far worse things the kids could be listening to. We're at a somewhat surprising #1 with a new entry in the chart this week on the start of a six week run - it's easily their most successful album chart-wise and I've no idea why because "Something's Got To Give...

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's  Top 50 TV Shows of 2023   #18 : Dreaming Whilst Black  Fresh, funny and unlike any other comedy on TV – this full series was created after it won a Bafta based on its pilot alone, and it was the year’s most unique sitcom debut. The tale of an aspiring film-maker Kwabena’s (Adjani Salmon, who also created the show) who struggles to be taken seriously by the rich, white denizens of the movie industry was packed with razor-sharp observational humour about casual racism, health inequality and the difficulties of succeeding while staying true to your community. There were white office workers making weird confessions about penis size, excruciating Busta Rhymes karaoke sessions involving the N-word and a bartender who assumes that all customers of colour must know each other (“Are you paying together?” “No, we’re just … Black”). A triumph. Another one I've never heard of - it feels a very worthy Guardian-esque kinda thing, which I suspect...

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts. 19/04/15 : Glitterbug - The Wombats Somewhat surprisingly this is our third visit with them Wombats - I've generally enjoyed their stuff so far and have absolutely no reason to assume I won't enjoy this. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with this, although it's surprisingly downbeat for a group that are generally relentless upbeat - I imagine some thought it was a nice change of pace and some wanted more of the same. I didn't mind it at all - I'd struggled to describe it as groundbreaking but it's definite a step above the average with decently put together songs with intelligent lyrics and there are certainly far worse things the kids could be listening to! I was also pleased to see that the deluxe edition came in a tight 45 minutes - no danger of track bloat here. We're at #5 with a new entry in the charts this week on the start of a mere three week run which feels like the lowest we've seen all yea...

Starting my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2023 #20 :     La Sociedad De La Nieve  (Society Of The Snow) Christmas. Such a jolly holiday, fun and festive and heart-warming. The perfect time, then, to release J.A. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow, a devastating film which clobbers you with trauma after trauma, ripping your nerves to pieces. But! This exceptionally bleak dramatisation of the aftermath of a horrendous plane crash actually is fantastically heart-warming. And there’s certainly a lot of snow. Perfect Christmas content, then. It is, though, a lot: in 1972, a plane transporting 45 people crashed in the Andes. Over the next 72 days, the survivors – stuck in an impossible situation, with little hope of getting through it – faced the most extreme physical and spiritual hardship imaginable. In portraying their ordeal, though, Bayona gives us a film that illustrates what human beings are truly capable of. It’s incredibly inspiring, and emotionally exhausting. And it may...

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts. 26/04/15 : Sound And Color - Alabama Shakes Spell Colour.  C - O - L - O - U -R That is INCORRECT! (© Speak & Spell) I remember Alabama Shakes did one decent single (which I liked), but can't for the life of me remember what it was - I suspect it will be on here otherwise we wouldn't be listening to it. But I've got no idea what the rest of it is going to be like. Nope, it's not on here but I can't help but feel people must have remembered it which is why this did so well - because there would have been no chance of this doing anything otherwise. It's actually quite an interesting album with a fair amount of variety and skill involved, but it's got some very odd noises on it - it's kinda like Kings Of Leon dialled up to weird with a female vocalist. I enjoyed it as something different from what we've seen but I'd struggle to say I'll be rushing back to it. We're are #7 in the char...

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 23/08/24 :  F-1 Trillion - Post Malone I'm aware of Mr Malone and am under the general impression I don't like him - but I actually don't think I know any of his stuff apart "Sunflower" which I quite like, so who knows what I'm going to think of this? Huh?!? You what?!? This is country - whatever I was expecting, I wasn't expecting that. It's not really my kinda thing but it is, as far as I can tell, done well - I can see it would be fun to sing along to in the car with the roof down. It doesn't feel like it's exactly pushing boundaries because it's all the usual stuff like booze, relationships, lurve, trouble with the law, etc but I guess that's what people wanted. I did like  the corniness of "M.E.X.I.C.O" though because it's a nice bit of fun - but the album as a whole is too long at 18 tracks and 57 minutes (unless you go for the "Long Bed" version w...

My final festival day of the year! Back at All Points East again, but I've upgraded myself this week to a VIP Garden ticket - oooh, fancy! And, once again, I'm not all that fussed on the headliners - in fact, I've only really come for one act. As with last week, I rocked up about 2:15, with the first act appearing about 2:30 - but unlike last week, it felt like it was me and three other people on the entire site at that point. It did get busier, but the contrast was marked - and the audience was also markedly different, with the piercings and tattoos of last week being replaced by hipster beards (as far as the eye could see!). So, who were all us hipsters there to see this week? Split The Dealer This felt very much like sixth form indie on a grown up stage - it was a  decent enough sound but it seemed like it was enjoyed by about 20 people. Luvcat A positively massive crowd of maybe a couple of hundred people turned up to watch this indie-pop/rock group with f ive members, ...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's   top 50 films of 2023 #29 :     Mi País Imaginario (My Imaginary Country) Patricio Guzmán’s staggering documentary examines popular protest that swept through Chile in 2019, when hundreds of thousands of people – chiefly young women – took to the streets of Santiago. I don't mind a decent documentary, but I do fear this is going to be a bit worthy in the way The Guardian can tend to be. Hmmm - yeah, it's definitely a bit worthy.  It's mostly talking head pieces by women who were in some way involved in the demonstrations and they're determined that things had to change and pretty uplifting with their hopes for the future.  It also has some amazing footage of the demonstrations, including both peaceful action (including a surprisingly impressive poem with accompanying actions) and rioting (of which there's quite a lot). H ow much of it was shot by Senor Guzmán is unclear, but it's been well strung together. The overall st...

Continuing my trip back through the 2015 album charts. 03/05/15 : Title - Meghan Trainor Yes, I know and don't mind her being all about that bass, but I can't help that a whole album of it will get very tiresome very quickly. Oh yes - this is very much not aimed at me. I'd struggle to say that any of the tracks taking on their own is terrible (although I'm not a fan of her voice and choice of harmonies) but it's just relentless as a whole album - it gave me a headache. To be fair to the lass though, there are a load of positive message scattered throughout the album - but that doesn't make it any more bearable. We're at #5 in the charts this week on her fourteenth week of a 53 week run, with it having debuted at #1, all of which seems incredibly generous. The rest of the top five are Blur (a new entry),  Taylor ,  James Bay  and Josh Groban (avoided because it's a collection of Broadway songs) with the next highest new entry being a somewhat unlikely Th...

Continuing my trip up Empire's   top 20 TV of 2023 #8 :    Slow Horses That this third season of Apple's Slow Horses begins with a Bond-worthy prologue in which Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù undertakes a frantic pursuit through the backstreets (and waterways) of Istanbul, in no way indicates that this deliberately understated spy series has sold out. Quite the contrary. Despite its luxurious budget and some artfully staged action set pieces, this brilliantly subversive take on the espionage milieu revels in its disheveled, ramshackle charm. A gravy-stained Gary Oldman (legendary) once again leads his team of misfits and rejects into battle as MI5 outcast Jackson Lamb, with a more personal story that sees one of their own (Saskia Reeves) snatched off the street in broad daylight. Where else can you see a game of chicken with an oil tanker and witness a grizzled spymaster attempt to foil a foot pursuit with the help of a (double) doner kebab? Skipping over Starstuck  (#9 here, #33 in T...