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As with the gigs my number one musical discovery this year was the beautiful Peter Broderick. The diversity of his music is astounding but I especially like the quiet pieces that really do quite profoundly touch me in a way that very little does these days. My favourite album is “Music for Falling from Trees,” but I think my favourite individual tune is “Games Again,” although you don’t get the full impact unless you see him perform live.
Peter Broderick Live at Bush Hall
Second favourite discovery is Beirut. I was actually obsessed with him in the middle of this year but I’ve calmed down now and now am just strongly interested. Best album is Gulag Orkestar but they are all quite captivating in their own way.
Little blog interlude: I just heard a big popping/explosion sound followed by an intense smell of burning. When I started this post (around 45 minutes ago) I put an egg on to boil. It has now boiled. And perhaps a bit too much. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Third: Burial. It’s just nice isn’t it? (sorry I’m a bit distracted by the egg now). Seriously though – I’m definitely behind the trend on this one – but I really like the mixture of stripped-down beats mixed with snippets of haunting vocals. It’s especially good for long walks on the Heath.
And then…
Hauschka AKA Volker Bertelmann. A German (of course) experimental pianist. I actually heard him first supporting Max Richter a couple of years ago but I was reintroduced by way of this amazing animation at a OneDotZero night at the BFI
This, as with all my lists, is in no particular order.
1. Peter Broderick (with Efterklang + Nils Frahm as support), Bush Hall. In fact, although I said it was in no particular order, this remains my most memorable gig of the year. I heard Peter Broderick for the first time at the Green Man festival this summer and was totally captivated. Since then I have bought every piece of music he has recorded and his musical diversity and talent is seriously unbelievable. He’s also sickeningly young, and at 22 is bound to reach some level of amazingness unheard of before. I especially love his cathartic wailing and the emotional intensity of his music.
2. First Aid Kit and Blue Roses at the Lexington. These were two young and ridiculously talented all-female groups. The evening was marred slightly by the oddness of my date who drank 10 pints over the course of the night and kept asking me very loud and inappropriate questions such as whether I preferred pickled cucumbers to gherkins. However the beautiful voices of both these bands could not be undone and this was a perfect gig.
3. The Dirty Three at the Green Man festival. This set was lifted into the Top Ten by the frontman Warren Ellis who punctuated their powerfully intense violin-led set with hilarious commentary and was the culmination of the most perfect music festival I’ve ever been to.
4. Brad Mehldau Trio at the Barbican. I’ve seen Mehldau twice live this year but I wasn’t overly keen on him with Joshua Redman, however the trio was pure New York jazz-club perfection.
5. Toumani Diabate at Field Day, Hackney. This set was indescribably perfect. I had shivers up and down my spine the whole way through it.
6. The Field at the Queen of Hoxton. I wrote about this for Londonist: although someone seems to have added the word “barnstorming” at the end which pisses me off as A. I don’t know what it means and B. I don’t think it’s something I’d say even if I did know what it meant. Also Axel Willner is tonk.
7. Max Richter at the Union Chapel. Also reviewed here.
8. Sunday Jam Sessions at Passing Clouds. Probably some of the best music I’ve heard all year and it’s all a result of a spontaneous mixture of jamming from local musicians. Add Passing Clouds’ special vodka mixers and you can’t go wrong.
9. Roots Manuva at the Alma Street Festival, Kentish Town. There’s nothing better than lazily getting out of bed on a Midsummer’s Sunday and wandering down the street to find Roots Manuva headlining a block party a few roads away.
10. Pet Shop Boys at Latitude Festival. This was the most jubilant I’ve been all year I think. I cried and jumped up and down like a maniac for the entire set. It was pure joy.
1. Artic or Antarctic exploration. I’ve always been fascinated with books and films on the subject and would absolutely love to do a proper trek or mission one day. I’m bringing home a penguin too.
2. Travel around India on a train.
3. Climb Everest: this is probably unrealistic. Maybe Kiliminjaro or something slightly more achievable.
4. Trek the Appalchian Trail in the US
5. Travel around California in a van and take lots of acid (in the 60s)
6. Learn how to play the violin
7. Do the European cycle trail – 6000km of it.
8. Go to all of Berlin’s clubs in one night
9. Run a marathon
10. Write a movie and star in it.
Today I had one of those perfect moments – cycling through the deserted streets of Bloomsbury at about 8pm, listening to the sublime sounds of the Detroit Escalator Company, my mind empty apart from the pulsating melodies sweeping through it.
In the intermission I’d just like to say a big F*&K YOU to the Mercedes driver who was beeping me the entire way up Haverstock Hill last night. I tell you what – why don’t you get out of your big, petrol guzzling machine and try it yourself? Or how about overtaking me – it’s not that hard…
I was so close to getting off my bike and standing in the middle of the road but then I remembered I’m really not that hard.
In fact the only time I have managed to successfully avert being mugged is when I was in my typical walking-along-the-road daydream state.These little monkey boys (I call them that because they look like monkeys and walk like monkeys, and even converse like monkeys) asked me for my wallet and me, not thinking, just said “Errr, no, I need it.” Thankfully they left me alone.
Other than that I am a pathetic mugging victim. I’ve been kicked and called a “dirty yid,” which was the least fun but did gain the most sympathy, had my bag snatched in Barcelona, again in Bristol, and was once accosted in Camberwell where I handed everything over with no further questions asked.
Okay, back to the books……
The news reports coming from Kenya today are pretty distressing. There are words about ethnic cleansing and mass murders of women and children in churches. All too reminiscent of Rwanda. On New Year’s Day when most people, me included, are nursing hangovers and indulging ourselves with fry-ups and movies, there are people having the most horrendous day of their life.
The UN peace keeping troop goes into Darfur this week – still not sure of their mandate (need to check this out) – it is the biggest peace-keeping mission in history. Let’s hope it does some good.
1. Men who work in bike shops are approximately 496% more attractive than the average of the remainder of the male population.
2. While riding my bike I need to choose another Damian Marley song to sing along to “Out in the streets they call it murder!” is not the best thing to be shouting whilst riding in the dark through Regents Park. Sorry pedestrian, I didn’t mean to scare you.
Looking back on it with some perspective this has been quite a year.
I have almost certainly “grown” as a person - gaining structure to my thoughts, my ideas and my goals for my life.
New things in 2007:
1. Visiting Mumbai and working on the Urban Age project: some of my thoughts are in the following post in my most recent essay for my sociology class
2. Buying a bike and cycling in London: this has brought me a great deal of happiness and is really not as scary as I thought. In fact cycling is the most liberating form of transport and the only exercise I have truly enjoyed to date.
3. Deciding on a career path in urban regeneration/urban renewal and pursuing it.
4. Gaining the confidence to speak to people I would have previously shyed away from i.e. Suketu Mehta in Mumbai.
5. Starting to appreciate and love classical music in particular Gidon Kremer, Arvo Part, Shostakovich and Bach – I hope a this new world will continue to open its doors to me in 2008
6. Starting to believe I am intelligent and capable of success. Winning the LSE prize went some way towards this but also I think I’ve started to stop comparing myself to other people so much and accepting that I’ve chosen a different path and this path is good.
7. Stopping trying to gain the acceptance or friendship of people who clearly have no interest in me. With some there is just no point and it is a waste of my energy.
Things for 2008:
1. Be more proactive in all aspects of my life
2. Try to do a mitzvah every day. I have been thinking about this for a while – I would like to be more in touch with my religion – not just through a cultural basis with Limmud and the JCC – but to try to observe a bit more of the traditions. I’m not sure if I want to do kashrut or observe Shabbat fully but I think I will start with this and see where it takes me.
3. Stop procrastinating. I don’t do this as much as I used to but I still do it enough to annoy myself on a regular basis. A lesson I heard this year from the Principal of the Woodrow Wilson School whom I met in Singapore was to always be doing something – that way you can’t be procrastinating. It is pointless making endless lists which I will never complete but if I always am doing things I need to then I can’t be putting anything off for too long.
4. Go back to India and travel there for a few months. This is something I really want to do. I loved my time there this October and I have a huge desire to go back there and properly explore some of the country.
5. Make the most of being free and have lots of adventures
Not much to post at the moment as I’m still in the middle of hellish exam period but I am very excited about going to see Gonzales next weekend.
He’s a Canadian Jewish electronica artist who lived in East Berlin and now lives in Paris – his work ranges from “Jew-funk” (I got this from the Kitty Yo website) to blissed-out minimalist piano music and next weekend he’s playing from his “Solo Piano” album that has accompanied me through many journeys to uni, late nights in my room and generally lovely, calming times.
He’s also playing with Mocky who is a bit rubbish, so I hope that Mocky just fiddles around in the background and doesn’t detract from the music too much.
I’m also excited about reading the new Michael Chabon book after I’ve finished my exams. Seeing as Kavalier and Clay is my favourite book ever I have high hopes for his new one. The last one “The Final Solution” was great but not an epic like K&C.
And of course GLASTONBURY!! Can’t wait for the stinky, fantastical playground experience again…!
I’ve always wanted to say that.
Since I’m in procrastination mode I thought I may as well write on this thing. It’s not like I have any real friends to go out with. I just have my computer *strokes screen lovingly*
Interesting things that have happened to me in the past few days:
A man rubbed his crotch at me today. At first I thought it was a woman, then I did a double-take, then I looked at my flies to make sure they weren’t undone incase I had mistrued his gesture. I hadn’t. This was in the junction between Camden Town and Mornington Crescent – otherwise known as the twilight zone. For some reason the stretch of pavement leading up from Camden Town just until KOKO is only inhabited by very ugly, wizened people of all ages, sexes and skin colours. It’s very odd but I walk through there every day and not once have I seen anyone even approaching attractiveness.
Jesus – is that it? Something must have happened that was more interesting than that?
I had dinner with my Mum last night. Does that count? It was very nice. We went to Frascati in Hampstead and had artichokes with vinagraitte (one word I have absolutely no idea how to spell) and then I had a Salad Nicoise (I’m being healthy).
That doesn’t count as interesting though. It’s still just food. Hmmmm. I’ll come up with something else and tell you about it later. Maybe I’ll just make something up. But now you know I’m going to make something up so I’m going to have to cleverly conceal it into another piece of babbled writing so you can’t tell. When I say “you” I mean me as I am the only person who actually reads this thing apart from the Jew-Hater who posted a while ago *Waves to Jew-Hater – Hi there!*
