In Which charts go live

Following on from my mammoth review of albums I’ve now implemented an Albums chart - I will be adding a Singles chart and a Movies and TV chart to go alongside it in the future.

If you have anything you really like and want me to review, please leave a comment and I’ll give it a listen!

The charts can be found in the tabs at the top of the blog.

Oh God! Another Intermittent Fault

I have had a really good broadband service from BE Unlimited for a couple of years now. It’s been fast, reliable and consistent with no capping or slow downs or anything annoying like that. To top everything off the customer service is great. If you’re looking for a new provider I really couldn’t recommend them higher. Since I moved house however I have had a problem.

About a week after moving in we noticed that our internet connection would occasionally drop out, usually for a few minutes, sometimes for 10 or more. This tends to happen about three or four times a day.

BE were, as I expected, fantastic at helping me with this problem, they remotely checked connectivity, suggested swapping out elements, disconnecting phones etc. to no avail. Eventually, after doing various line tests we determined that there is intermittent noise on the phone line. Yavon, the ever helpful BE operator advised me to contact BT.

I picked up the phone and dialled 150 and explained the situation and that the engineer would need to come out and look at the problem (BT had sent someone round only two or three weeks prior to connect me). To my utter amazement I was then advised that if the engineer can’t find anything immediately wrong that they will then charge me over £100 for the privilege. Now, excuse me, but in my line of work you don’t charge for incompetence and if you provide a faulty service then you fix it. I explained, calmly to the BT rep that I as paying them to connect me and that they had obviously not done the job correctly. I was informed again that, should I be willing to pay for an engineer, that this would not be a problem. At this point the smoke began to pour from my ears.

I cannot fault the unfortunate woman who spoke to me from BT, she was very straight and advised me plainly that, as the fault is intermittent, it is highly unlikely that the engineer will find a problem and that it could cost me a lot of money. She then advised me to wait until the problem got worse!!

The incredulity of this situation was convincing me that I was actually in some kind of weird nightmare state; but no, BT is such a monopoly that it can actually operate in such a way. And the alternative would be Virgin. What can you do? I may hate watchdog, but I wonder what Mrs. Robinson would make of this one...

In Which I have far too many albums to review

It could be said that, at times, I can get a little obsessive. I’ve had this blog going for a few weeks now and, over the last six months I’ve built up a huge mental pile of stuff I would like to write about. Many of these things are album reviews so, in order to save myself any further mental anguish, I thought it easier just to go through them in one go. I’m also going to set up a ‘charts feed’ which I can update as I listen to new stuff.

So, this year I have listened to...

	BT - These Hopeful Machines: This is, in my opinion, the best album BT has put out yet, eclipsing even the classic ‘ESCM’ from ’97. It is presented as a 2 CD set, each of 6 tracks. Nobody seems to understand the capacity of sonic experience that you can achieve with modern music like this man does. If Mozart was alive today, I think he would sound like this. There is a very wide range of different styles of music, expertly woven together. The standout here is ‘Every Other Way’, a beautiful duet with Jes. This is my album of the year and a classic for many to come. This album is perfect. 10/10
	Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions: I’ve read many mixed reviews around this album from older fans but, as someone introduced to Biffy Clyro by this album, I find it both accessible and unique; it took a while to grow on me but now it’s one of my favourite records. Many Of Horror is the real stand out track for me. 8/10
	Ellie Goulding - Lights: This is, at the time of writing, my number three choice for the charts. I bought this album as a total shot in the dark and never looked back. This is a really great folk album with a really edgy production to it that turns tis girl from Hertford into a very promising artist. Diana Vickers can only look in awe and cry a lot. Talent like this is a rare gem and another classic. 9/10
	Hybrid - Disappear Here: I had been waiting for this album for many many months before it came out, ever since the ‘Formula of Fear’ single was released; the album did not disappoint. I don’t think there’s a bad track on the CD. Probably Hybrid’s best album to date, this manages to be packed full of hard floor fillers and deep emotional pieces that you have to listen to over and over again. 10/10
	The Chemical Brothers - Further: I bought this album because of the many reviews stating that this album was a ‘return to form’ and like the old style Chemical Brothers. This is utter codswalop! This album is dreary, repetitive and utterly dire. The only track that’s even mediocre is ‘Swoon’. If you want to listen to lo-fi influenced techno that makes you feel like you died last week and have started to smell then go right ahead, but this was by far my biggest disappointment of the year so far. 2/10
	Lissie - Catching A Tiger: Lissie has been around a while, providing vocals quite frequently for dance artist Morgan Page (Check out ‘The Longest Road’, one of my tracks of the year!). This is her debut album, containing the single ‘In Sleep’. I’ve only listened to this once so far and the album is unabashed Americana; I think it’s growing on me - I may report back on this one later. At the moment I think it’s OK, but I thought the same about ‘In Sleep’ until I listened to it a few times, now it’s one of my favourite tracks of the year. 7/10
	Pendulum - Immersion: This was a huge surprise. In their first album, ‘Hold Your Colour’, Pendulum made an album that had many great tracks on it, but lacked consistency. In their second album they made an album which was consistent, just consistently mediocre. Immersion takes the best elements of the previous two albums and winds them together. Standout tracks are ‘Watercolor’, ‘Self vs Self’ and ‘Set Me On Fire’. This is a great album and a huge step forward for Perth’s Drum & Bass Supremos. 8/10
	Sarah McLachlan - Laws Of Illusion: The brand new album from Sarah McLachlan is far far from a disappointment. This is silken honey and wondrous heartbreak wrapped together in a package of tears. Reminiscent of ‘Fumbling Towards Ecstasy’ and a huge improvement on ‘Afterglow’, this album was great on the first listen and will only grow on me further. 8/10
	Public Symphony - Inspire: This is not strictly a ‘new’ album, as Public Symphony have simply reworked their self titled 2008 album; the remixes are, all in all, huge improvements though on what was already a fantastic record. Sitting somewhere between Pink Floyd and Radiohead (read ‘The Bends’ era), Public Symphony are a couple of perfectionist producers who decided to make a record. This is what they came up with and it’s arguably one of the best records of the decade. It’s the kind of music you can see being lifted for adverts for years and years to come. 10/10

Batman is dead.. Long Live Batman!

There was a time when british comics were largely derided against their american counterparts. How amusing I find it now, looking at DC and Marvel comics productions today how they are so dominated by the writers and artists of those same british comics.

One such writer is Grant Morrison, a truly fantastic writer responsible for DC’s Animal Man & Doom Patrol and possibly one of the best X-Men runs in comics history. Over a year ago Grant Morrison took over writing Batman. He introduced us to young Damien Wayne, son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul (Daughter of Ra’s) and, eventually to the events of Batman RIP, shaking Bruce Wayne’s resolve to the core and lining him up for his demise at the hands of Darkseid in Final Crisis.

The death of Bruce Wayne left a gap and, following Tony Daniel’s Battle of the Cowl series, the new Batman was revealed as Dick Grayson, the first Robin. Dick took Damien Wayne as his Robin, with Tim Drake (the previous Robin) heading off elsewhere. The first book in the series, Reborn, is actually split into two stories. The first story introduces us to a new villain, Professor Pyg, a highly disturbed individual, in true Morrison style, who converts people into mind controlled dolls using chemical masks. One of these attempts fails, which leads to the creation of Scarlet, who appears as a major character in the second story; becoming the new sidekick of Jason Todd, The Red Hood.

Both of these stories are superbly well written, drawn and executed - The first drawn with care by Frank Quitely and the second by Phillip Tan. Frank Quitely’s work is always a joy and he seems to give expression to Morrisons fantasy like no other artist. Tan’s style reminds me of Jim Lee’s work, but far more grounded. The book’s central theme explores the dynamic between the new dynamic duo and Dick Grayson’s feelings on inadequacy as the new Batman.

The teaser at the end seems to lead nicely into Blackest Night, the next big DC crossover (I’m a massive Green Lantern fan, so I’m really looking forward to this one!). I’ll leave you with some words from the teaser...

“Zur-En-Arrh”

In Which I fell asleep and thought I saw the future...

Early this week I sat down and watched the final couple of episodes of FlashForward. I did this already well aware that the series had been cancelled by ABC in the states. Throughout the series though I have found the premise of the series very interesting and I really wanted to see how they left it. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself for those reading this article who may not have seen FlashForward.

FlashForward is a TV series, based upon a novel by Robert J. Sawyer, following a premise that at a given time everyone in the world passes out and sees the future (about six months on, I think - handy for a TV series). Of course, this passing out event also leads to lots of crashes, explosions, lanes falling out of the sky etc. After the event the series follows a group of FBI agents that set up a web site so that people can share information about their visions of the future or ‘FlashForwards’ as they become known. We are introduced to agents Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri Noh (John Cho - Sulu from the new Star Trek movie), who start investigating the dark, shadowy figures that seem to be behind the blackout.

It quickly becomes apparent that Agent Noh hasn’t had a FlashForward and, as such will die at some point before FlashForward day occurs. This starts many many weeks of listening to Noh winge on and on about how he’s going to die but repeatedly failing to do things to stop it, which gets tired very quickly. By about the fourth episode the characters are starting to tire us a bit and the plot is thinning slightly - this, I think, is where the audience started to drop off. It’s a shame because after the mid-season break, around episode 11, the series really started to pick up again (at this point I don’t want to say too much ‘cause I’ll give too much away). What I will say is that when we sat down to watch the last episode, knowing the series had been cancelled, I was hoping it would wrap up nicely, but no.

To summarise then, a good premise, and a generally enjoyable series, that, I think either needed a second season, or should have been wrapped up at the end of the first series. Worth watching? I would say yes; worth watching again? Nah, probably not.

In Which I get around to a Way Out West review

I first got my hands on the new Way Out West album, We Love Machine, about four or five months ago. This review comes after picking up the remixes album too, so I thought I’d get in a 2 for 1.

Way Out West are, in my opinion, a hugely overlooked group in the local music scene; consistently turning out extremely good breakbeat and trance music with a very distinctive edge to it that just never seems to get old. This latest endeavour, the fourth album from the local duo of Jody Wisternoff and Nick Warren, has more of an electro style flavour than some of their earlier works.

The album flows through a wonderfully constructed journey of ethereal yet pounding tracks, from the toe tapping title track to the haunting closing number of Tierra Del Fuego. Highlights for me include the extremely catchy single ‘Only Love’, the rhythms and pads of ‘Future Perfect’, with it’s echoes of Jeff Wayne’s War of The Worlds and ‘Ultra Violet’; a track with so many catch rhythms and trick beats that it just wants to drag you onto the dance floor, kicking and screaming if needs be.

This was an important album for me as a first review, as it opened the door to a string of great dance releases that followed over the first half of 2010 (some of which I hope to get around to reviewing) including BT’s ‘These Hopeful Machines’, Hybrid’s ‘Disappear Here’ and, even more recently, new releases from Faithless and Pendulum.

Onto ‘The Remixes’ which, by the way, you can pick up on iTunes for £6.99 including the original album (which is £7.99 - go figure). In the 90’s remix albums and collections like this were far less common and, some would say directly, the quality was much higher than you tend to find these days. I tend to treat collections like this with scepticism to say the least; I am reminded of the disaster that was the Hybrid ‘Re-Mixed’ album, which was atrocious. I find it a pleasure then to exult the success of this attempt. The remixes are quite varied in style and give interesting alternatives for some of the tracks. It would be good value for money even without the original album included. Highlights for me include the Seb Dhajje remix of ‘Bodymotion’, not a track that I enjoyed too much from the new album, this remix gives it a really nice spooky air that, for me, fits it far better than the original, which always seemed just a little camp to me. Following this is the equally excellent Tom Glass remix of ‘Surrender’. By far my favourite remix here though would have to be the Paul Keeley remix of ‘Tierra Del Fuego’. I love the original tune and Paul Keeley has taken a wonderfully haunting melody and made it a wonderful sun soaked floor filler.

To summarise - what can I say - for £6.99, pump up the stereo system and treat yourself to 3 hours of fantastic tunes.

And This was going to be a Way Out West review...

This was going to be a rather balanced review of the Way Out West album which came out about six months ago, as I’ve just been listening to the new ‘Remixes’ version. This will, however, have to wait as I ‘m now more than a little irate.

My fiance was unfortunately made redundant not too long ago and given pay in lieu of notice. After two weeks she phoned up the Jobseekers Allowance people to talk to them about signing on once her notice in lieu period had expired. Having been through the endless pain of enduring this most ridiculous of processes myself several times about 10 years ago, I truly feel her pain. I digress; anyway, she was informed that she could claim from the day she was made redundant and her claim was submitted. Today the claim letter has come back advising her that she can have Jobseekers from when she phoned them, but the backdated two weeks has been rejected because she didn’t give them a good enough reason. SInce when is ‘You just told me’ not a good reason!

This follows on from other conversations where, after advising them that she has now found a job, but doesn’t start for a few weeks yet, she has been told that she needs to continue to provide evidence that she is continuing to look for a job! Apparently, having now found one also does not count.

I would really like to know what these people think a good reason is - There is no clear information about what to do in these situations at all for most people. Why do we have a benefits system that has become so convoluted and complex that the only people that can actually use it properly are the people who deign to live off it and abuse it?

And I'm Changing it again already...

It seems to happen on a regular basis with me. I’m never satisfied with anything. I feel a bit better about it now though - If you saw this site before this post then you’ll have seen the hideous black monolith that I had created.

I felt that something a little lighter was in order, so I went for a more subtle theme. I’ve also re-uploaded my Bristol Cityscape photos from the old temporal-net site. I managed to convert my Mum & Dad from Google over to MobileMe this evening so the old temporal-net site has now been bought down. If (for some odd nostalgic reason) you want to check it out it’s still hanging around at http://old.temporal-net.co.uk.

In Which Introductions are Made

For well over a year I’ve been meaning to get around to writing a personal blog. I read a lot, I watch a lot of great TV and Movies and Jenni and I like to go to a lot of places.

We had a good friend of ours over to see our new place earlier in the week (thanks Rick!) and he mentioned another friend of ours, who’s a budding writer, who had started trying to write something every day; now I’m not quite that adventurous, but if I can post something up once a week I’ll be happy so expect a real eclectic mix of reviews, rants and comments over the next few weeks.