A list

Rather than spend ages writing a convoluted mess about the uninteresting goings-on in my life, I present you with a comprehensive list of relevant bullet points instead.

• Today was my first day back at university for about a month and a half (why the fuck is it so expensive, I'm never there)
• So far I have lost 7.5lbs/half a stone on Weightwatchers, and am starting to get something resembling a shape back
• Yesterday I started an internship with Campaign to Protect Rural England as one of my course modules, working on a project about light pollution (being able to see stars at night ftw), and everyone seemed nice
• I saw Jeremiah Marques and the Blues Aces at Ain't Nothin' But on Satuday and it was fucking sweeeeeeeet
• Am barely working at the zoo as they've cut my hours to 2 days this month, as nobody goes to the zoo in January. Thought I was being made redundant though so it's better than nothing I suppose. Have taken on another piano pupil, but I'm still barely making any money, this is definitely not a sustainable level of income. Especially as I am going out loads more because I have so much free time, haha.

I think that pretty much summarises most of the notable activities in my life at the moment. Goodbye.

Blossoms of days to come part 2.

See below for part 1.

Continuing my favourite artists and albums of 2009:

4. J. J. Cale


I think Last.fm recommended J. J. Cale to me originally, and thank God it did. I was really surprised to find out that some great songs I knew from other artists were originally by him, like Call Me The Breeze (covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd), After Midnight and Cocaine (both covered by Clapton). Typically his songs are technically pretty simple but so effective, and I reeeeeeally love his laid-back guitar playing style. Finding him was pretty refreshing, hearing a bluesy/cajuny/swamp-rocky artist playing pretty stripped down music, which is still catchy as fuck and retains clear individuality. A nice reminder that music doesn't need to be technically or melodically complicated to be awesome.

5. B. B. King


I don't care if it makes me look like a massive noob to say how good B. B. King is. My dad played me one of his songs when I was about 12, and I really liked it but never took my enjoyment any further by listening to him again until I got into blues. Another artist on the list with a really clear style; B. B. alternates between playing licks and singing- his playing isn't particularly hard; but his ear for melody, with those perfectly executed bends and powerful voice (I personally prefer his voice and general sound when he was younger; I think there can be a bit too much going on in later recordings) make him someone who I enjoy immensely.

6. The Allman Brothers Band


I never stop going on about it, but I fucking love slide guitar. I also love southern rock. Both are perfectly exemplified by Duane Allman and co. I got a slide for Christmas and have been messing about with Statesboro Blues with it, and it is really fun to play, but a lot harder than it sounds. When I listen to them, it always sounds like they're having a great time, which makes me enjoy them even more. Shamefully enough my introduction to The Allman Brothers Band came from Midnight Rider at the start of The Devil's Rejects, and Ramblin' Man on Guitar Hero, haha. Whenever I listen to the latter on public transport I get the urge to stand up on my seat and start dancing whilst singing "rolling down Highway 41" and wailing along with the slide guitar at the very end. One of these days I will actually do it.

7. John Mayer- Where the Light Is


I saw this fine fellow at Hammersmith Apollo on Monday, and he was seriously good. He might be perceived as a bit mainstream and poppy compared to the rest of his list, and literally all of his licks are stoled from Stevie Ray Vaughan and B. B. King, but introducing blues rock to a new generation is not something to be sniffed at, and who am I kidding, he is a great guitarist, and I secretly love his cheesy stuff too.
This album is his finest by a country mile, as far as I'm concerned he should play with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino all the time- they reaaaaally pull off the funky blues sound well, as exemplified by Come When I Call, Vultures, Out Of My Mind, and I Don't Need No Doctor. On Monday he really surprised me as I hadn't previously enjoyed his new album, but he's such a good live player that I suddenly loved all the songs I previously just though were okay. Well done Mayer.

8. Guthrie Govan


This guy isn't such a prominent artist as all the others I have mentioned, but he is one of the best guitarists in the world (people bandy that term around all the time, but it is definitely appropriate here), technically brilliant in so many different styles. I've seen him a few times over the past year as he lives near me and plays a regular slot in a local bar when not doing world tours as a session guitarist or tuition weekends and stuff. I'm completely blown away every time I see him, it takes me a few minutes to stop staring at his hands completely gobsmacked before I can fully appreciate the music. It's not a particular style of playing or genre of music that he excels in, which makes him such an interesting chap. He's got incredible speed but doesn't waste it playing shred; he uses his ridiculous speed to churn out amazing rock, prog and jazz licks without compromising on musicality, still utilising powerful slow licks and stunning rhythms. His band, Erotic Cakes, are probably best described as jazz-fusion, and I would highly recommend seeing him if you ever get the opportunity as he is even more amazing live than on record.


This concludes my run-down of a selection of my favourite artists in 2009; there are others who have been thoroughly rinsed over the past year, but I couldn't write about them all. I hope you have enjoyed my rambling adorations, and well done if you actually read this far.

Blossoms of days to come.

Hello again.

I will try to keep this brief as really I am wasting time that should be spent writing a mock research proposal for university. The existing dataset that I am discussing and statistically analysing is from Lake Baikal in Siberia, which is a very interesting lake. It is the deepest, oldest and second most voluminous lake in the world. The study in which the dataset I'm using was published measured biogenic silicate preserved in lake sediments, which is deposited when diatoms (generally unicellular phytoplankton) die and become embedded in silt layers at the bottom of the lake. The record spans between 1,850,000-11,000 years before the present, which is most of the Pleistocene epoch. The study then goes on to study the correlation between the abundance of these diatoms and Milankovitch cycles, which I really can't be bothered to explain. Suffice to say that they are three types of variations to the orientation and characteristics of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, which affect the amount of sunlight and therefore warmth that we receieve. These three changes take 100,000 years, 41,000 years and 26,000 years for each cycle to be completed. I don't know about you, but I find Milankovitch cycles pretty fucking interesting. I really like this interactive animation, which helps to explain what each of the orbital changes are: http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter16/graphics/71_Orbital_Fluctuations/A_71.swf

Anyway, basically, my piece of work is to discuss and statistically analyse that dataset about the silicates preserved in the lake sediment, and then propose how I could improve upon existing knowledge in this area if I had 6 months and £10,000. Quite exciting stuff, innit? I should really stop fantasising about what I would really do if I had £10,000 though.

[/science]

I had a great time this weekend, went to Ain't Nothin' But blues bar in Soho, which is probably my favourite bar ever. It was the third time I've been, and I've had an amazing night each time. We were supposed to see Jeremiah Marques and the Blues Aces (who are seriously good), but they couldn't make it up from Brighton because of the snow, so the Niall Kelly Blues Band saved the day, and they were great. We were up on the chairs dancing for most of the night. Hopefully going to get to see Jeremiah Marques next Saturday instead. I can't wait.

Whilst on the subject of awesome bands, I thought I might list a few favourite artists and albums of the past year. Not releases from 2009; just stuff I have discovered and fallen in love with.

1. Bonobo

I absolutely love Bonobo. I could listen to his albums on rotation all bloody day. Especially Animal Magic and Dial 'M' for Monkey. I first heard the track Scuba whilst sitting in Phil's smokey room at university whilst four of us watched the iTunes visualisations for about half an hour. Good times. My love for Animal Magic was solidly reinforced by one or two particularly enjoyable mind-bending evenings, and listening to it now takes me to a very mellow place. It reminds me of summer, and amazingly chilled out evenings with awesome friends.

2. Tommy Emmanuel



I don't really feel as though I need to explain myself on this one, if you have ever heard him play. One of the absolute best fingerstyle guitar players in the world, saw him live in December and he was fucking brilliant, and what a showman. Massive inspiration to me guitar-wise and I can't wait to see him again.

3. Erykah Badu- Baduizm


Another reminder of quality times with quality company. I like this album the best, New Amerykah is also pretty good but nothing on this. 'Otherside of the Game' takes me away a little bit. Towards the end of university, my mate Tom would always put this on after we got home from a party or whatever, and it was getting light outside.

I think I will do the rest of this list in a separate post, as it is so annoying pasting images in and having to drag them down to the bottom of the text in little steps.