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NOTE: In discussion with Pet Sounds about a possible Beatles' thread, stay tuned :)

The Music Banter Members' Journals Update Thread, January 2018
 

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Over the last few months, and further back, things have been rather quiet here. That's not in any way to take from the people (you know who you are) who have worked so long and so hard on really good journals. Your efforts are appreciated. But overall, the pickings have been a little slim and there hasn't been that much to write about recently. That has changed this month, as a new year dawns, and we have journals all over the place – new ones, old ones, and some serious updates too. So give yourselves a pat on the back; the journal section looks to be on the way back to the former glory it held several years ago. Keep it up guys!

As this is the first journal update of 2018, and we have some relatively new members here, to say nothing of new journal authors, who may not be familiar with this thread, let me quickly* tell you what it is meant to do, and perhaps more importantly, what it isn't.

* = :rofl:


So, with all that in mind, let's get to the latest crop of entries, the first, as I say, for the new year.

The weird trip that is http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-pleases.html continues with a lot of, well, weirdness. Also wrestling matches, and he's reviewing 2017, with artists such as Token and Melanie Martinez. Yeah. Enter at your own risk. Welcome to the Creepshow.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html continues with Elder, Floating Point and Ex Eye, among others and

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...obably-dl.html, Goofle says check out Dua Lipa.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...seur-cave.html is open again, and kicking off 2018 is an article on Mississippi John Hurt.

Where can you find a new website for searching for music, Brian Eno and ECM Jazz as well as a touch of home decor? Ah, you know by now. There's only one place: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html.

Kiii is back, and has a new journal. http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-whenever.html with so far Slay the Spire, They Are Billions and Dead Cells getting awards. More to come, no doubt.

When http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-listens.html you can expect some weird stuff. Alva Noto, dotsjapan, goreshit, Devils Elbow, the awful CupcaKKE, Venetian Snares ...

Well, he finally gone and went and done it, he did! http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html contains all the conspiracy/truther/hollow earth material you've never wanted to read. So if you want to read about A Journey Through the Multiverse, learn Martial Arts or How to Hide Files Inside of Images, you know where to go. Oh, and there's also music. And gun porn. What are you waiting for? Why are you still here?

Okay then: apology time. I slagged off Mindfulness for his attempt at a journal last year, and boy has he stepped up! I mean, we're talking nine new pages this month. No, not nine new entries: nine new PAGES! I don't even want to think how many entries that encompasses! And there's no way I can get through all his stuff here, so I'll just mention Portugal the Man, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Macklemore and leave you to check through http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-spotify.html where it really is all happening. I offer a full and frank and sincere apology, man: you have certainly improved in leaps and bounds, and to reflect that, see further below.
:clap: :bowdown:

There's a lot happening in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ong-picks.html with Marianne Cressaba, Billy Childs (that one's marked for the Album Club round five), Chtonic, more Cristina Branco, Arkona, Dress the Dead, Helion Prime and so much more!

Not satisfied with breaking new ground musically, Mondo is now running a http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...018-bitch.html in which he will, obviously, talk and write about the books he's reading. So far it's House of Leaves, The Bone Clock, Plague Ship and Alan Moore's Jerusalem, among others. A well-read guy as well as a very talented musician and writer.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...antiquity.html returns for 2018 with Skara Brae and The Bothy Band

The sounds of Durban, Migos, Mary Halvorson Octet, Luke Howard, Monolake and Jimmy Wopo feature in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...p-lighter.html. There's more, of course, much more, and he's looking back to 2016. But you'll have to go check out his journal to see what else there is.

One of Plankton's albums is reviewed in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html

And finally, another new journal as a relatively new member takes the plunge and introduces us to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...55-2017-a.html. Here you'll find 1955 (Bill Haley a highlight), 1956 (Moondog), 1957 (Sony Rollins and I think he refers to the classic movie The Seventh Seal?) and more from 1958-1962. Am ambitious project, to be sure, but aren't all the best ones?

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There's no doubt that it's hard to whittle this down to one entry when there are so many people updating so many journals – an embarrassment of riches, you might say. And of course, I haven't read every single post in every single journal, nothing like it. However, for sheer oddness this one I think wins it. Other than Funny Post of the Month, I don't think I've ever before awarded this to a member who posted in someone else's journal, but that's just what Machine did when he wrote this review of It's a Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot by Teen Suicide in Occulthawk's journal. Even the Hawk approved of it! Sure, it could have done with, oh I don't know, some page breaks or formatting, and makes one of my traditional walls of text look like a small country stile, but hey, we're not going to be that pedantic, are we? Are we? Great review, and a well deserved shared award, you two guys. But mostly Machine, of course.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1916807


Funny Post
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of the Month
The winner of this fought off stiff competition, because by Jiminy, there were some funny posts made this month!
We had this one from Merit, in response to a question (not sure whether serious or just trolling) from Occult: (Note the last line in Merit's response!)
Speaking of Occult, he wasn't short of the odd funny quote himself. Check this out!

Mindfulness of course has a shot with this:

But in the end, the award had to go to
Rubber Soul, for this unintentional but hilarious mistake in his journal! And special shout-out to Akai, who spotted it, because I never would have otherwise. Thanks man!

Hard, for once, to figure out who to award
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to. There are really four nominees, these being Rubber Soul, Mindfulness, Machine and Merit. But in the end, I think I have to go with Mindfulness, because of the huge improvement in his journal and also the amount of work he's put into it this month. Take a bow!

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There's only one possible recipient of this award, and it has to be the return of the Ki(ng) with his new video games awards journal. Kind of thought he might be gone for good, but no, he's back and firing on all cylinders. Welcome back, man.

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Just to show that there's still a decent mix of the old and the young* here, we have new journals from
Rubber Soul
Mindfulness
Merit
Exo
Machine

and continuing brilliance from
Occulthawk
Neapolitan
Goofle
Innerspaceboy
MicShazam
Mondo
and of course Blank

* both of which refer to journals, not members. If you've had a journal before then you're considered old, if you're starting one this year, you're young, so rejoice!

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I mentioned this last month, and now it's time to kick it into gear. Basically, it's pretty simple. Last one vertical wins the award! Nah, seriously: this year I'll be doing my best to read more of your journals, get into them more, and make a determination as to which is the best of the year. It's for 2018, but I will be taking into account previous work input. I'll be looking for basically four things:
a) Good, insightful writing
b) Reasonably regular updates
c) evidence of passion for what you write
d) Decent knowledge of what you're writing about

I'll explain those a bit more shortly. I want to make it clear that I will NOT be taking into account views, as this is not necessarily any indication of quality, and that's what I'm looking for. If your intention is to appeal to the lowest common denominator by, say, posting your most outrageous YouTube videos or all your albums, fine, do that. But don't expect to be considered. For a journal to win the uncoveted Journal of the Year award its author will have to do more than just slap a bunch of videos or images together.

So what will you have to do, if you want to win? Well, as I said above, you need to fulfil certain criteria I've established, and I'll take them in order now.

Good, insightful writing: Nobody is expecting you to write a novel or a treatise on anything (though of course some members here have that capability and talent, should they wish to utilise it) but use proper grammar, spelling and have some sort of, if not theme flowing through your journal, then at least ensure it makes sense. Make sure I can follow it, understand what it's about, what you're trying to say, what your plan is, if you have one, what you want to achieve with it. Try not to just quote articles or link to them; write your own interpretations of them if you use them, but better yet, just use them (if at all) as a source for your own words. Use humour by all means, but don't become Norg. Nuff said.

Reasonably regular updates: Not everyone can update every week, nor do I expect it. You do what you can, when you can. But for a journal to be considered for this award, I need to see some sort of effort to keep it regular, keep it current. If you haven't updated for six months, well, don't expect to be considered, unless you up your game this year. And even if you do kick up the regularity, don't do it sporadically. A journal that is well written and updated twice a month or more will receive more attention from me than one which is well written, updated in February, then not again till September, and so on.

Passion: Who the hell writes unless they care about what they're writing? Unless they're getting paid to write dry old copy, of course. But here, if you have bothered to begin a journal, you surely enjoy or have an interest in what you're writing about. That should come through in your writing. If it doesn't look like you're really that bothered, or you're not putting in the effort, that will be a mark against you. You can do that, obviously – nobody is stopping you – but you will hurt your chances of being considered for any awards.

Knowledge: Anyone can blag their way through a journal, cribbing information from Wiki, RYM, Discogs or any other source. But if you really don't know your subject that will show, and will go against you. Besides, why would you bother to or want to write about something of which you have no experience or knowledge? The old writer's adage, “write what you know” has never been so true and appropriate. Of course, you can research and gain knowledge, but you shouldn't write about something before or until you know what you're writing about.

What's the prize? What do you mean, what's the prize? An award of course.
Oh all right, if you insist.
The winner will receive a download file containing his or her choice of five complete discographies (or as much as I can find available) of his or her favourite artist(s).
Second prize will be three discographies
Third prize will be one discography.

Prizes can be delivered by whatever method you wish, though file sharing sites are probably the best option. That can be discussed with the winners.

So, if you want to be in with a chance of winning, either keep up the good work you're doing now, step it up if you're not exactly pushing yourself, or improve what you are doing. Results will be announced just before Christmas, so you might have yourself a nice little Christmas present.

I will allow people to vote if they want, but I tried this before and nobody bothered, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was no interest. At any rate, even if you do vote, it's my choice so I'll only use your votes as a basic guide, maybe a tie-break in the event I can't choose. For your information, and to either spur you on or make you grin with pride, the following are at the moment all in the running:

(These are in alphabetical order by member name)
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-listens.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ong-picks.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-spotify.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...018-bitch.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...p-lighter.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...55-2017-a.html

If your journal is not here, don't despair. This is merely a basic list of the ones that have impressed me so far, and there's almost a year to go. Some journals are as yet too early to be considered, but do show promise. Others may not be here simply because I haven't had the time to read through them and see what they're like. Potentially, everyone has a chance to be in this list, but you should also know that journals can drop out of the list. If someone updates furiously for three months and then stops doing so for six, for example, that journal is going to be in danger of no longer being considered for any awards. Of course, if you've previously had a journal but let it slide, and want to have it considered for an award, you can do that: just get working on that shit.

I should also add, I know some people have an aversion to these sort of friendly competitions and prefer not to be included, so if that's you let me know and I'll remove your journal from the list under consideration. All rights and preferences will be observed and adhered to.

Oh, and no sabotaging anyone else's journal! ;)

So that's it for this first update of 2018.
See you all in a month.
Toodles!

I want to try and start doing a bit more with my journal, maybe make it a bit more substantial. I'm just not sure in what way. I do kind of like the simplicity of the way I recommend music by just suggesting that people take a listen if they're curious - with little to no writing.

I could even start a new thread about other stuff than music, but I don't know.

I'll probably be experimenting a bit in the coming month.

Actually, it was for the last album from Zoetrope. I was just a fly on the wall.

Actually, my Marilyn Manson line was intentional. My news headlines are, shall we say, a little fractured? :D

Oh sorry: didn't check the link.
Still damn funny even if it was intentional.
"Er um, I thought this was supposed to be a broad? Where's my broad dammit? I want answers!" :laughing:

The Music Banter Members' Journals Update Thread, February 2018
 

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Sad news to begin with. Looks like we lost two journals as this month ended. Rubber Soul decided the banter here was too much for him and pussyed out, I'm sure the guys would say – you might also say he was hounded out (how's that for a mixed metaphor?) - but whichever way you look at it, I have to assume his journal will not now be completed, which is a pity as it was shaping up to be quite interesting. And the manner of his departure, or rather, the circumstances under which it took place seem to have upset our old young friend Pet_Sounds, who has announced that he, too, is leaving. We'll be sad to see them gone. Well, I know I will anyway.

But life goes on. Does it? Yes, it does. Here's what's been happening while all that was happening.

The prophecy has been fulfilled! What? Oh, something about Future Sound of London. What? Look, just check it out here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html has gun porn (again) and an article on software to make you think someone is someone else, which is damn scary.

Not quite so scary, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ong-picks.html has Sivan Arbell, Karen Beth, Chris Potter, Dir En Grey, A Perfect Circle, Barren Earth, Faun Fables and tons more. Mind you, though that's a lot of work, he's not satisfied with that and so has also opened up http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...not-music.html, in which he'll be reviewing and discussing everything he's interested in that isn't music. This includes his own personally-created computer game, Pan's Labyrinth, Snow White and the Huntsman, Cold Mountain and yes, Beautiful Dreamer, Ori: the needling finally paid off.

Michael Marshall, Brett Easton Ellis, Sarah Waters, David Mitchell ... just some of the authors Mondo is pursuing in his http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...018-bitch.html

and in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-spotify.html it's El-P, Hundred Waters, White Stripes, ASAP Ferg and more under the Mindfulness microscope.

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...p-lighter.html continues with such diverse topics as Black History Week, Benoit Pioulard, the chamber works of Kaija Sarriaho, art and science and, um, the genitals of female hyenas.

As mentioned in the intro, sadly, and for various reasons, Pet_Sounds has decided to leave us entirely. Not just close his journal but leave the actual forum. I can't deny that recent unrest surely contributed to that decision (he refers to it himself) but it's a sad day. Therefore there will be no more entries in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...crap-heap.html, but you are of course free and indeed encouraged to check out what will now be an archive of his music and thoughts on same. We wish you fair winds, Spencer, and success in all you do. You will be missed.

Zoetrope is again the subject of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html

And so too farewell and all the best to Rubber Soul. He threatened to leave once before, I talked him out of it, but to be frank I'm not here to smooth ruffled feathers. My own have been disturbed in the past; sometimes I've ****ed off for a while (but always came back, sorry about that), sometimes I've gotten into huge pointless rows and sometimes I've just ignored it and let it slide. These days, the latter is what I try to do if at all possible. Life is too short (although in fairness, life is by definition the longest thing you will ever experience!) and people can be ****s. You don't have to let them get to you.

Some people enjoy being superior and arrogant, some like hurting others – it's the eternal struggle of the weak and the strong. Quite honestly, people here are very unlikely ever to change, so if you can't accept the bad with the good (if there is any good for you) then you're probably better off doing what Rubber Soul did, which was to leave. In a huff. Wouldn't quite recommend that last part; leaving with dignity, if possible, beats throwing your toys out of the pram and stalking off, though I recognise RS had just undergone a deep family bereavement. Still, people in general here don't care about that, and the sooner you realise that, the better really.

All of which means that we have to say goodbye to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...55-2017-a.html long before it even got out of the sixties. Here's hoping we'll hear from him again some time in the future, but for now it's
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No
Funny Post
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of the Month
this time around. As you may have gathered from, well, the whole article really, the tone of this update is pretty downbeat and sad. It's never easy to lose members, much less longtime ones, and it's sad too when one of them has lost a parent while this is happening. So I'm really not in the mood for picking out funny posts this month and therefore this section is being skipped this time.

Can't ignore all the hard work though put in by MicShazam on his new journal, and that wins this month's
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Other than that, not a lot more to say. I'm not personally depressed (not like last time) but for me at least, there's a pall hanging over the whole journal section at the moment, which hopefully will be dispelled, or at least will have retreated by the time I do March's update. Till then,
Toodles.

Maybe Rubber Soul is back on his writing forum writing about writing about his writing forum on a music forum.

Or

Maybe he's on another music forum, writing about this music forum where he wrote about his writing forum, before having to leave that music forum, to go back to his writing forum, and end up on another music forum, where he wrote about the music forum that wasn't the music forum he's now on.

Or maybe not.

Do the new one

No.

The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread For March/April 2018
 

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With the dearth of entries for March it seemed pointless to bother doing an update last month, so instead I've combined this month and last into the one update, which I here present for your perusal.

The return of Blank brings us more of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-pleases.html, and what does he damn well please this month? Um, go quietly (or not so quietly) mad, it would seem, with pictures by OccultHawk. Ohhhhh-kaaayyyy.... Moving on ...

A little more sanity in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ravaganza.html where he's looking at The Black Angels and Skinshape while

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...obably-dl.html include the likes of Charli XCX, The Beach Boys and The Knocks. Goofle's also kicking his http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...63-2017-a.html thread back into life, with a list of his top ten for 2017. No doubt more to come in due course.

Always eclectic, always interesting, almost always something to make me say “wtf? Never heard of that/them/him/her?” http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html has Read the Music by Beth Winegarner and the music of Harold Budd and John Foxx. Hey! I know who he is! Foxx, that is...

Ki appears to be back. Again. And he's updating http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...iii-story.html with some typically existential writing, as well as looking at Divinity Original Sin II, The Witcher 3 and others in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-whenever.html.

MicShazam is putting (again) so much work into http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ong-picks.html that I'm just going to have to skim lightly over the plethora of music and entries here. Most importantly, of course, there are two reviews by yours truly, my first for some time, on both Helloween's Better Than Raw and The Frail Tide by Be'lakor. I did try Tori Amos but it's not really a review and it just pissed me off. Mix himself dives into the discography of Britney, and there's the usual from Dire Straits, sorry Dir En Grey, as well as Waltari, The Agonist, Infernal Rain, Kylie, Tori, Jinjer, Medina and so very much more, but I simply have not the time or energy to go through everything here. I mean, this guy is writing in terms of double-figure pages! What a workhorse! Definitely check it out: there should be something there for just about anyone. And if that isn't enough Mix for ya, look into http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...not-music.html for comic books, DVDs and games and, you know, stuff that isn't music.

Not reviewing http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...p-lighter.html this time round. See further for why.

Finally, we have an interesting new journal from an interesting, not new member but one who doesn't seem to post perhaps as much as she should. Yeah, it's http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...g-odyssey.html and it is well worth a look. Weezer feature heavily of course, as does, well, nothing else yet, but I'm sure she'll be expanding her repertoire soon.

Funny Post
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of the Month
Goes to Occulthawk for this attempt to understand, explore, or at least laugh at the crazy pathways of the brain of the guy we know as Blank.
I can't honestly award
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to anyone else this month. I mean, who else but Mix has written almost twenty pages in one month in his journal? Seriously: the man's a machine!

And now, before Hawk starts checking flights to Dublin and makes sure he has a full box of ammo, I've decided to bring this back:
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Many of you weren't around when this was a thing, and those of you that were probably don't care, but just to let anyone who does care know, here's what it is. I selected a journal I believed to be a classic one, one into which there was a lot of work put and which, over the course of the updates, didn't get the in-depth review that it deserved. I would then go through it, week on week, month on month (and in some cases even year on year) and give a detailed (or relatively detailed anyway) description of what was in it). I'll be doing this with other journals this year too, and depending on how old they are (or how much work has been put into them) each will run over several entries. For the larger ones, these reviews will run in tandem with, but not necessarily at the same time as, the monthly update. Some of the larger, more detailed journals may end up being posted about weekly or even, who knows, daily.

So the first one up, perhaps unsurprisingly, as I think I've been leading up to this, is
OccultHawk's
From Freak Fighter to Lamp Lighter
which has been running now since July 2017, making it almost a year old.

After presenting what I personally felt was a pretty poor journal which featured just about nothing but links to experimental music, Hawk dug in and set about creating what I would call a proper journal. I have no idea what the title means, what, if any, theme or direction this is meant to follow, but he certainly keeps it updated and knows his stuff, so maybe that doesn't matter.

The journal began without fanfare and inauspicously enough. No explantion of what he was doing, no long convoluted Trollheartesque introduction, no mission statement, no quotes or images and no logo. The first words he wrote in this journal were lines from the song he would post as his first entry, by the English metal band Fen, the song being “Winter II: Penance.” July 2 2017 and the fight had begun!

Keeping it British for now, next up was Scottish field recording ambient musician Peter James, thsn it was off to link the music of The Caretaker with the movies The Shining and The Exorcist, via Memories From a Haunted Ballroom (which is kind of interesting, as one of my favourite vocalists, Tim Bowness, has an album called Abandoned Dancehall Dreams: no, they're not the same but there is some crossover there, though the music is wildly different) and then “mellow indie folk” from Hollow Coves. A quick moment to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Dalek's debut album and it was on to Alexander Scriabi, a Russian composer whom Hawk regards as “one of the most important composers of all time”.

Nearly two weeks into his journal, Hawk gave us this tantalising bit of info as to the future direction, or partial direction anyway, he'd be going in: One thing thing I want to try to do in this journal is explore the careers of certain musicians who managed to play on a surprisingly large number of great recordings. I know that people who start up ideas often bite off more than they can chew. This is one I'll just have to take my time about because naturally there's more writing to do if the musician is prolific.

Recognising that this is/was a pretty big undertaking is an interesting take from the man with an ego even bigger than Batty's and kind of Saturn to Frownland's Jupiter, but there it is. The first artist he focussed on was Philly Joe Jones, who used to drum with Miles Davis. Then it was on to Thelonius Monk (and his mother) and stopping in 1927, cos Hawk thought this was a very significant year. Who am I to argue with him?

Another typical quote from the uncompromising Hawk was this: “If you don't like this you should kill yourself, cos life ain't worth living.” Normally I'd roll my eyes at him, but hey, he was talking about "Old Man River", and who doesn't love that song? So yeah, maybe he's right in this instance. The reference to that song was of course to let us know that Show Boat premiered that year, and there was also some pilot who flew across the channel and had his baby kidnapped and killed: you may have heard of him? Edgar Varese, too, apparently the grandfather of electronic music. Also Albert Ayler and Joe Meek. Page one completed, three weeks in.

As July came to a close Hawk started on 2 Live Crew, who apparently formed something of the soundtrack to his youth, and proceeded to regale us with a story about some party or others, which showed how deeply flawed and warped an individual he is, with references like “she got passed around a lot and I don't like any other dick going into it, but a book ain't no worse just cos you got it at the library”! Yeah, man. This. This is why we love you. Sometimes. Top ten reggae songs, Page and Plant and back to Philly Jones, and July was done.

Done? Bitch, he just gettin' started! :laughing:

And that's where we leave Hawk and his journal for now, but August will be posted pretty soon. It's also where we leave the update so until next month, toodles!

tl;dr

I'm going mad? It's not my fault that you don't understand my brilliant avant-garde approach to journals.

Hey, you called him, you can catch him and return him to his pen! I'm not going out in the dark after him again.
http://www.trollheart.com/Tealdeer.gif
Perhaps we're both going mad. Or the world is.

Classic Journals I Have Read: A Trollheart Production
 

On we go then with part two of Hawk's journal:

August opened with a harrowing comment on the murder of an entire village in Algeria, paired with music from Souad Massi before moving on to, um, “Seven Degrees to Kevin Bacon”?? Music from The Doors, Butthole Surfers and Satanic Circle. Then an emergency call for recognition for Kurt Bauer, whom you don't know and I don't know (and that's what makes Hawk so mad in this entry).

Much of the problem with Hawk's journal, as I see it anyway, is a lot of the time I do not have a scooby what the hell he is saying. Look at this quote: What the blue living ****? :laughing: And I thought Blank's journal was off-the-wall!

Well, on we went with some sort of stunt by a band he never named (something to do with Trump and Comey) and then Marian Anderson, Henry Rollins and The Domestics, followed by Carl Ruggles. Time to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the launch of the Voyager probe through the music of Clifford Brown, Steve Roach and Constance Demby. August then ended with Sister Rosetta Tharpe and a hilarious exchange, already featured in one of the previous updates as Funny Post of the Week, where Hawk lambasted the inability of the system to capitalise state abbreviations.

And so on to September, where we had Nirvana (not that one), Plurals and then an interview with Frownland about his Andaman album. This pretty much brought us close to the end of the month, and in the last week of same Hawk decided to look back at 2008, for no particular reason that I can discern, or that he could come up with, other than the traditional “why the **** not?” Starting off in typical Hawk style, he remarked on the war in the Congo, where ”You couldn't swing a dead child without hitting a freshly raped corpse.” Real turn of phrase, this man! Music included the Magnetic Fields, Max Corbacho, Agalloch, Thom Brennan and then some pretty graphic pictures (surprised the Google SS didn't get those) and a mention of I think Fritzl, the monster of Austria. On to school shootings with music from Opeth and then Alpha Wave Movement, and what he said was a “contender” for AOTY for 2008, As Soon As Possible by Vincent Courtois, Sylvie Courvoisier and Ellery Eskelin. Misery Index, Cliteater and Girl talk wrapped up September, with words on famine and Obama. More music before we headed into October, this time from Alio Die, Fennesz, Mathias Grassow & Jiří Mazánek, and a final karate chop to the neck of Pitchfork couped with a kick in Goofle's balls. More to come!

The Point Counter Point thing was supposed to clue you into that was trying to imitate Huxley

https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/66....326767610.jpg

The title connects his philosophy to 20th C music.

It is considered an early 20th C classic. Has anyone else read it?

It’s a bitch to wade through quite frankly

Okay but that's something you'd have to know, in order to get it. It's kind of specific or selective knowledge. It's like if I said "oh it's thirteen o'clock" and you hadn't read Nineteen Eighty-Four, you'd be like, wtf? You can't or shouldn't assume everyone has read what you've read. I've only read BNW; didn't much like it.

I’m busy getting this entire website laid and now on top of that I have to bow down to others illiteracy?

I can’t go for that can’t go for that can’t go for that

Your cup truly runneth over. :beer:

I still don't know what I'm doing with the "Not Music" thread. I guess it's just a dumping ground for whatever I'm interested in at the moment, but it makes for crappy reading. I should have made it just a movie journal or something.

Nah, I don't know: it's different, which is good. And you're obviously finding your feet with it. Movies have been done, games have been done, comic books have been done - hard to think of something original. So I'd stick with what you're doing, and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it.

Hey, look at it this way: you've already more views for it than Rubber Soul had when he quit his journal, and he had put a lot of work into that. Don't be discouraged: just keep plugging away.

I must be doing something right if I'm beating a journal that actually had thought put into it :laughing:

I guess I'll just ramble on and see if it starts coagulating into something less... shapeless blob-like.

I see my journals influence is being felt.

Review Not Music.

Yes, my master.
Where you lead, I follow.

I just updated my ****posting journal with a review of AIC's masterpiece, Dirt. And I started a new journal for rock music with pop hooks.

Also, I'm a guy. The pregnant thing was a joke. Thanks for the shoutout, btw!

Just updated mine as well. Decided to go out on a limb and be adventurous and wrote about The KLF for a change. :) Actually, it's a review of a book I've just read written during the golden age of sample culture which makes countless references to the duo, so I couldn't resist!

https://www.aware.ie/images/uploads/...ion_Banner.png

I just want to apologise for the lack of update this month. Things are not going well at home and I just don't have the heart for it. I've half-written the update but I can't get in the frame of mind to care about finishing it, and I don't want to slap up a half-assed attempt. So when things are a little better here and I feel happier I'll organise to get it done. Till then, please just bear with me. Life kinda sucks at the moment. :(

Sorry to hear. I can only speculate on whats going on, but I sincerely hope things get better for you.

Hope things get better for you soon. Don't worry about this thing Trollheart. You do more than enough work to keep this site active. Take care of yourself first.

Sending thoughts your way. Hope things improve.

Thanks to you all for your thoughts (especially Hawk: I'm touched, man, really I am) - things are starting to look a little better now, so hopefully the clouds'll clear away and I can get back to being the annoying twat you all love. :D

I miss this.

Stay tuned; I'm on it.