Ska punk - two great standalone genres, but also two that should never be forged together. This is bloody horrid. It’s cheap and nasty. I’m surprised I managed to last until the end of track two. I moved to listen to some folk electronica instead. Far more rewarding.
⭐
I’ve always struggled with Kraftwerk. I’m not sure why. I know it’s ultra-cool to like them and almost impossible to criticise them but there’s something of the coldness which leaves me empty. I know that’s the appeal for many. Computerwelt, however, got my attention. It’s a lot more poppy than some of the other landscape barren albums I’ve tried and failed with. I could find myself dancing to this.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
One of the benefits I have with my lack of podcast listening is catching up on some true gems that are still buried away on my phone.
My podcast listening these days is pretty much dominated by Forest. I thought this would change during pre-season and I could focus elsewhere, but nope. The Forest onslaught of blokes talking to each other when not a lot is really happening is mildly addictive.
I made the brave move today to scroll down a little further beyond Forest. Oh boy, what an absolute BEAUT. I forgot I had these buried away: there’s around half a dozen or so of Andy Kershaw Plays Some Bloody Good Records to catch up with.
I almost didn’t want to dive into these, saving them for as long as I could. They are the true gems in musical podcasting. Sadly we now know that there will be no more to follow.
It’s really quite heartbreaking hearing Kershaw collating his superb musical knowledge alongside his personal stories. The final podcast that I’ve got from this series is June of 2025. He sounded in good health, but didn’t hold back with his own financial situation.
The joy of the music he plays was often balanced very finely against his own personal downfall. I know he’s had his personal troubles, haven’t we all, but he was certainly no failure when it came to continuing what he loved doing, which, as the title of the podcast suggests, is to play some bloody good records.
The format never changes. He plays three songs and then backtracks and tells a little story about them. I doubt anywhere else you’d hear Neil Young going into Prince Far-I and then a recording from his own kitchen table from a northern folk group.
He was also possibly the rudest man in music but that made him all the more appealing. Truly one of a kind and a legend of broadcasting and podcasting. I might hold back on these podcasts and limit myself to perhaps just one per month.
Paul Simon is at his best when he’s stripped back. The title track for Hearts and Bones demonstrates this at its best. He’s a storyteller and not a musician. Putting his vocals front and centre allows you to focus on the stories he’s trying to tell. There’s something really quite sweet about the album. It’s a nice warm up ahead of Graceland and all the experimentation that followed. When it comes down to it he knows how to pen a half decent tune and then to strum you along in a very understated way
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What a load of hairy old bollocks. This album was recorded the same year in which the Pistols started to break through. It’s the sound of how and why punk had to happen. The music is so staccato, so soulless, it’s impossible to dance to. It left me feeling very grim.
⭐
To the Sailing Club on Monday evening for the weekly table tennis social.
But wait! What’s this?
It seemed like there was some kind of lockout down at the Sailing Club. The scene resembled a mid-70s industrial strife situation with no entry.
No worries. It was just that our usual holder of the key wasn’t available for this session. A few messages back and forth and soon we had their magic numbers to gain entry to the indoor table of dreams.
The first obstacle to overcome wasn’t any opponent but where to position the table to avoid the scrutiny of the sun. It’s a very delicate - and also moving - situation. It involves a table gradually retreating further and further towards the estuary as the sun sets throughout our session.
I played so so. I had one particularly memorable match with an opponent who I can pretty much match shot for shot. We had some epic rallies and tracked each other’s scores all the way through until I finally got over the line.
GEDDIN
What then followed was the Great Sailing Club table tennis wiff waff bat mix up. One of my opponents realised halfway through that she was using someone else’s bat. That someone else wasn’t around this evening but it seemed that a bat switch had taken place the week before.
What could possibly go wrong?
Some very strict measurement rules were applied. It seemed that the replacement bat was marginally smaller than the usual standard bat we are used to. My opponent cried foul play and attempted to abandon the game through her own lack of equipment planning. I was having none of it, natch.
In it to win it, etc.
Bad light eventually did for us.
To the Sunny Colch Odeon! …on Monday lunchtime. On my agenda for the Cheap as Chips Monday Grubby Fiver Club was the new Spider-Man movie Brand New Day.
I don’t think I’m really the target audience for any Marvel film. I remember the kids at school being completely engrossed in the Marvel universe in a way that perhaps I thought they might be with Star Wars. Marvel is where all the action is for the cool kids, Natch.
I did try and educate myself ahead of the screening. I noticed that the iPlayer has all nine previous Marvel Spider-Man films available to watch. That’s an awful lot of screen time. I managed to get through the first one before realising that I’ve actually seen it before.
I’m sure I must have missed plenty in films two to eight but I didn’t let this put me off getting in the way of my Monday afternoon booking. My rate of viewing, especially when the football and the cricket seasons are colliding, means that it is unlikely I would get through all the past efforts sometime before Christmas.
I could just about follow the plot. The trick with all of these franchise films is to be accessible at the basic entry level for the likes of me, as well as having plenty of in depth Easter eggs for all the nerds to follow.
It’s a film about a bloke who can spin webs and fly from buildings. That’s about it yeah?
I confess to being rather drawn in and spending another half hour or so back at base, googling all the various characters and how they all fit into the current film. It’s no spoiler alert to say that the Hulk stole the show.
There’s also a fairly deep romantic plot, which I wasn’t expecting.
Brand New Day is supposed to be something of a reboot of the franchise. In the end it felt like it was trying to get all the characters in a place where they feel comfortable ahead of what may come next in the series.
As ever with the Cheap as Chips Monday Grubby Fiver Club, there was some constant chatter from the back row. Four pesky school kids took it upon themselves not only to hold some chat shit conversation, but also to shout out abuse at all the characters.
Thankfully the sound in the Sunny Colch Odeon was pretty deafening and it drowned the dickheads out.
They did join in with a round of applause at the end however. Such communal nonsense is not for me.
A box fresh new pair of Sports Banger trackies as part of the recent adidas collab drop. I don’t think you can actually buy these via House De Bang Bang. For memory there was a limited edition raffle with the winners getting the swag.
The original winner apparently didn’t want the swag. More fool them.
These appeared online at a fairly reasonable price. A little back and forth online bargaining was attempted but I didn’t get anywhere. In the end if you want something then you just go for it.
Having gone through a very tarted up period, maybe around a decade or so ago, I’m very much now a dress down type of guy. I reserve the right for this to all change and to return to my Cravat Ponce period once again.
Trackies seem to be the order of the day, but not any old trackies. I need something with a little bit of style. I do enjoy a good slob around.
