lol ur 2 funni

It seems as if the English language is slowly decaying.

I know, I sound like an old man, remarking about "kids these days", reminiscing about how things used to be. Sadly, this is just how an average person who has an articulate mind and knows how to spell will be perceived. However, the only times I hear older people complaining about the way in which young people speak, is when they talk about "that rap music", because they have a problem with swearing (and obviously hip hop is the cause of swearing). This is not the case with me though; I have no problem with swearing, although of course there is a time and a place. My problem however does lie with younger people, because a lot of my problem has to do with the Internet generation.

I know, how ironic, posting a rant on a blog, about how the Internet is destroying language skills.

However, I blame the people, not the Internet. While the Internet surely gives people the means (blogs, forums, IM services) with which to defecate all over the English language, it is the people in the end who choose what to say, and more importantly, how to say it.

All of these "lol-isms" such as "wtf", "brb" and "g2g" may be helpful in some way; expressing a universal idea, and communicating on the simplest terms, in order to be transparent. Though this probably isn't the thought behind it all. Such abbreviations arose from IM and text messaging, in order to save time/keep messages short to save money. But how does typing "roflmao" instead of "haha" save any time?

Well it saves me time in figuring out that you are a fucking moron.

What's worse though, is the spelling. Using numbers and saying "u" and "r" might have been cool when you were 15 but come on, is it really that hard to type "you"? Even worse still, is intentionally incorrect spelling for words, when it has the same amount of letters... "KEWL" IS NOT FUCKING COOL.

Sure, I would have said "lol" and "gtfo" back in the day, but I was 13. Are you 13, sad and lonely Internet-dwelling man? Well, you probably say you are in the chat rooms, but that's besides the point.

Omitting punctuation is something I am guilty of, along with a lack of capital letters, but does that even come close to "lololololol dat iz a pissa bro, ur 2 funni"?

The problem doesn't just lie with the language of the Internet though, as more and more in real life conversations am I noticing the intellectual inferiority of people in their speech. Although, this is probably because of the bogan customer base of the place which I work at, and the inherent unintelligible dribble that those people are known for.

This even extends to our perception of people though. As you have just noticed, I have made a sweeping generalisation about an entire class of people, deeming them inferior. But I don't care. My focus is on the perception of people who exercise a larger vocabulary; people who's verbose speech patterns see them labeled as "pretentious" or "nerds". This is especially prominent in politics, with many politicians being heralded for "speaking to the common man" or being "plainly spoken". It's as if we value the dumbing down of our leaders, accounting for the lowest common denominator in every respect. When a politician, especially a world leader, speaks at the intellectual level which is expected of somebody in such a high position, who has presumably been educated very well, they are called "too smart" or "pretentious". Sure it's great for a leader to unify his people by being speaking at the lowest level, so as to account for stupid people not being able to understand words with three syllables, but how is it seen as fair to disparage someone like that - even mock them - for being intelligent? If we don't value intelligence in the position of a world leader, where else would we value it? If we are electing these people to run our countries, shouldn't we place more emphasis on "this guy is sharp, he knows what he is doing" as opposed to "I understand what he just said"? I just feel like you can be clear and concise without having to limit your vocabulary.



Who knows what will happen with language in the next 50 years? Maybe Internet memes will take over the world, reducing all conversations to abbreviation filled, slang infested "expressions". Or maybe we will learn from the horrible downturn in school results. I can't say.


tl;dr, right? yeah well fuck you because it took me ages to find out what that even meant.

The Gaslight Anthem

What happens when a bunch of washed up punks from New Jersey, who love Bruce Springsteen, start playing songs about heartbreak, Miles Davis, and nostalgia?

Some fucking awesome tunes get made, that's what.

Their latest was a bit of a disappointment, but that's only because 2008's The '59 Sound was so damn good.


American Slang
The '59 Sound

Women

This isn't a rant or something about girls. It's even better.

Women are an all male band from Canada, playing a lo-fi, sometimes noisy, sometimes catchy, mostly awesome form of indie. Their new album Public Strain is officially due out in the next month, but has leaked and is well worth the listen, because I can see this one being quite high in the end of year lists. Specifically mine.

Their self titled debut is good also, and happens to have the song "Shaking Hand", which is quite amazing.


Public Strain
Women

The Tallest Man on Earth

The Tallest Man On Earth is Kristian Matsson.

He is Swedish.

He gets compared to Bob Dylan a lot. He is like Bob Dylan. If Bob Dylan could play his instrument/sing well.


The Wild Hunt is an AOTY contender.

Get it already.


The Wild Hunt
Shallow Grave

Charles Mingus

A masterful double bassist and composer, but also a little crazy, Charles Mingus was a great band leader who left a lasting impression on jazz. Mostly he drew on elements of hard-bop, with a great deal of soulful melodies, but also mixing in the classical inclinations of third-stream jazz in his composition style, along with the uh... freedom of free jazz.

In the liner notes to The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, Mingus praises Miles Davis and John Coltrane for moving past the "bedamnable fourth cycles" (standard chord progressions in nearly all of bebop), and speaks of keeping things simpler with the composition to leave room for the soloists. This kind of idea reminds me very much of many of the avant-garde/free jazz players at the time (Coltrane being one of them), and although Mingus implemented these ideas that seemed unbearable to some, he always remains very listenable; a testament to his compositional prowess I suppose.


The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Mingus Ah Um
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Let My Children Hear Music

Gorillaz

This is one of the very few bands I have liked for a long time, and has stood up to maturing music tastes.

The video for their first big single "Clint Eastwood" really caught my eye because, I mean, cmon they're fucking cartoon characters. An animated band? How much dope was Damon Albarn smoking when he left Blur?

Anyways, their new album Plastic Beach is kind of average really, unless you love the 80's, but Demon Days is where it's at.


Plastic Beach
Demon Days
Gorillaz

Algernon Cadwallader

From their myspace:

"They have one weird fuckin’ name. Whenever I think of Algernon Cadwallader, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that that is something I might name my turtle, if I had one. But they’re just one band I can’t stop talking about & recommending. One half of Peter And Craig, Peter [duh], who toured with Towers & I Would Set Myself on Fire for You during Summer ‘06, shares a frontman & bassist with Algernon. You can definitely tell that there is some kinsella influence, it’s like American Football meets SOMETHING FUCKIN’ COOL THAT I CANNOT EXPLAIN AT ALL. The scratchy, raw vocals compliment the twinkly guitars. The drums are just… I don’t know. They add this variable to the music, it’s just so like… encouraging. When you listen to Algernon Cadwallader, take for example, the track with the extremely long name, “Look Down (Because the Ground Is Easier to Understand and Doesn’t Take So Much Work to Figure Out But I’d Rather Not Know Where I’m Standing and Have An Idea of What Life Is All About)” (TLDR, I KNOW RIGHT), you feel this overwhelming optimistic feeling, like “HEY, LETS GET OUT THERE & GET SOME SHIT DONE! CLEAN MY KITCHEN? NO FUCKIN’ PROBLEM, HELL YEAH! I HAVE TO SEW MY CURTAINS? I FUCKING LOVE SEWING!” It’s great. You just have to experience it for yourself. Can’t find it anywhere? Check out their Myspace. I seeked for my soul until I couldn’t seek any longer, and nothing came up. Eventually I worked up the balls to send them an email saying “GIVE ME YR FECKIN’ DEMO ASSHOLE” in a much more polite manner, and man, thats the best thing I’ve done is ‘07 so far (I’m lying), it’s a really good demo. Full length anytime soon? God, I hope so. —Random Internet Dweller"




...so yeah. Don't really have anything else to add, this crazy guy pretty much hit the nail on the head. Their 7" demo is amazing, but it's all good.




Some Kind Of Cadwallader
Hot Green
Demo

Cap'n Jazz

Seminal emo band Cap'n Jazz came out of the midwest, with a story all too familiar: started doing something fresh, influenced a bunch of people, released a bit of a material and broke up... then of course, became increasingly popular and started being referred to as "seminal" by douchey bloggers everywhere.

These guys really are something special though. At a time when emo was becoming more and more indie influenced, Cap'n Jazz came along with a healthy dose of youthful exuberance (see: pop punk),  and basically wrote the book on midwest emo. Then of course, after they broke up, the members played in at least 37 other bands.

Jangly guitars, twinkly cleans, and a singer with a lot of heart but not much talent...  it's all there.

This is their discography, in one lovely double album. Enjoy.


Analphabetapolothology (disc 1)
Analphabetapolothology (disc 2)


Their cover of Take On Me fucking rocks.

Defeated Sanity

Brutal death metal...?

Yes, I was once a hater, as I saw very little in the way of redeeming features when it came to this tautological sub-genre.

However, one album has slowly worked it's way under my skin, the album with the tagline "The. Most. Brutal. Release. Of. 2010"; Defeated Sanity's Chapters of Repugnance.

After a few listens, I started to see why this bunch of Germans have been so hyped over the last few years, and actually started to enjoy myself some brutal dm - slams and all. Their second full length, Psalms of the Moribund, was hailed as an instant classic, and although I really didn't like it at first, I don't mind it now. Having said that, the vocals are more groo-ier and it's a bit more all over the shop than their latest effort. Either way, these guys are pretty sweet, and if you are looking for something really brutal and... German, then look no further.


Chapters of Repugnance
Psalms of the Moribund
Prelude to the Tragedy

Burial

Burial is a one-man dubstep project by Englishman Will Bevan. There isn't a whole lot known about him really, and he keeps himself pretty low key - so much so that Burial was an anonymous project until 2008, a full year after the release of second album Untrue. This kind of subdued and reclusive nature is reflected in the music, which is quite dark and eerily ambient. It's a very interesting style for electronic music; an emphasis on beats of course, but of a much more lo-fi aesthetic, and also a great deal of ambient melodies. The atmosphere he creates is biggest draw card for me though.

These are the two full lengths:


Untrue
Burial

Weekend Nachos - Bleed EP

Powerviolent stompers Weekend Nachos have a new EP out, and yeah... some shitty pun about making you bleed and stuff... ha  ha man.

Anyways, this is one hell of a stomping, but slower and sludgier than their other material - not much pace in sight.


Bleed

On That Note...

And by that note, I mean my recent post on A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Here we have a just released, free live album. Yep, free, so you don't have to feel bad about stealing music.


Check it out

Pig Destroyer

...nuff said.



Phantom Limb
Terrifyer
Prowler In The Yard

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus, has released a new album, and yeah, it's pretty trippy.

Mashing instrumental hip hop with glitchy electronica and the sample-heavy sounds of trip hop, along with some jazz and basically a mixed bag of other random stuff, this is one hell of a ride. A must for anybody who appreciates the more experimental side of hip hop.

Expect to see this at the top end of many best of '10 lists.


Cosmogramma

Doom Cult

So you checked out Ulcerate, and thought "Wow, this is from New Zealand?!"

Yes, apparently so. But they aren't the only extreme metal practitioners to come from the land of sheep...



Doom Cult is a group of NZ bands playing death metal, blackened death metal, and black metal. Pretty decent stuff really. Diocletian seems to be the leading band, and their members actually play in the other groups too (namely the other two groups here). Michael Hoggard of Ulcerate also plays guitar for Vassafor live.

Diocletian - Doom Cult

Diocletian - Decimator

Witchrist - Curses of Annihilation

Vassafor - Vassafor EP

Unfortunately the Doom Cult website is down at the moment for some reason, not sure what's going on there, but you can find some of this stuff at Invictus Productions.

Moar Posts

Time to get on with this shit, got to make up for not posting much lately.

And what better way to get back into the swing of things, with some more albums by the greatest musician to have ever lived?

John Coltrane

Interstellar Space
Stellar Regions
My Favourite Things
Olé Coltrane


More of Trane's awesomeness is back in my previous post.

The Return

I have returned from the sunny lands of northern Queensland, and I am happy to be back in the cold. I brought some sunny stuff back with me though...

A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Ashes Grammar

What's That?

...A double post?

Make it a triple.


Tomorrow I will be migrating north for some much needed sunshine, so I thought as I won't be posting for a week and a bit, I might as well leave you with some fresh tunes to make up for it.


Ciao.

Wolf Parade - Expo 86

New album from Krug + Boeckner and co.

Those eccentric Canadians have hit their stride as far as coming together in a unified fashion song writing-wise, but still Expo 86 doesn't have the same kind of high points as their debut. It's a very solid listen, but it kind of just sits at the same level for too long.

Regardless, it's enjoyable.


Expo 86

Japandroids - Post-Nothing

Yet another album I for some reason or another put off listening to in '09.

2-piece band from Vancouver, trying to sound like a 5-piece, and they do pretty well. Quite a noisy, almost shoegazing sound sometimes, based around guitar and drums, with both of them singing.

Some good stuff; noisy indie rock with plenty of energy.


Post-Nothing