My Top 10 Albums Of 2012

10. Beach House - Bloom (Sub Pop)

9. Godspeed You! Black Emporer - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (Constellation)

8. Coasting - You're Never Going Back (M'lady's)

 

7. Dan Deacon - America (Domino)

 



6. The Lovely Eggs - Wildlife (Egg Records)

5. Patrick Wolf - Sundark & Riverlight (Bloody Chamber Music)

 

4. Akira The Don - ATD28: The Unkillable Thunderchrist (www.akirathedon.com)

 

 



3. Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra - Theatre Is Evil (8ft Records)

2. Teeth - The Strain (bandcamp)

RIP John Grabski III. Rock vs Cancer. Rock Wins.

 

1. Dinosaur Jr - I Bet On Sky (Jagjaguwar)

 

 

Goodbye Mr Brubeck

I like Jazz but I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, Dave Brubeck is one of the artists I like most though, so I was saddened to hear of his death yesterday. Here's a fantastic video of the Dave Brubeck Quartet from 1964, it's half an hour long so get a cup of tea (or coffee if you're so inclined) and settle in.

RIP Dave Brubeck 6 Dec 1920- 5 Dec 2012

Me & My Mo'

 

 Finally this year (after 2 years of wanting to but not having an internet connection at our flat) I signed up for Movember - the annual moustache growing event to raise money & awareness for men’s health issues such as Prostate & Testicular cancer, Depression and other issues. When you sign up you are asked for your motivations for doing it, which made me stop and think. Why did I want to do this?

 

Well primarily because it’s an excellent cause and it always sounded like FUN to me. But also because my mum suffers from depression so raising money for depression, albeit male depression, is a cause close to my heart especially as at the time she was in hospital due to mental health issues. And lastly in memory of my Dad who died 2 years ago on 9th November of a heart attack, I didn’t know him very well as he left when I was 7 and moved to Germany, but in the image in my memory he will forever have a moustache.

 

 

Undoubtedly when starting Movember every man dreams of growing an Abe van de Ban or a General Melchett, but Mo’s as in life often fall short of our ambitions. And so it was a week and a half into Movember I found myself starring into the mirror wondering if I would ever get past the Michael Cera stage. Now I’m never normally cleanshaven (and haven’t been for several years), usually residing somewhere between stubble and a short beard, so it had slipped my mind how long it takes me to grow from scratch. Presumably this is why Movember also raises money for depression, for those of us that are not as follicly endowed as we would like.

 

The Michael Cera Period

 

 

 Look, No Zoom!

 

As we entered the last week of the month I finally acheived respectability ie. the ‘tash finally shows up in photographs without the need for the zoom or the macro function. Which was just in time for Debra & I to host our Movember Party at the flat, which was definately the highlight of my ‘tash enhanced November, although I did nearly have to throw out one guest for having a better Mo than me despite having one and a half weeks LESS growth. The MoQuiz went well despite my fiendishly hard questions and was won at a canter by team Hairy Poppins aka Tash for Questions, and Debra’s Mo themed Cookies & Cupcakes helped raise another £35 and put me over the £100 target I secretly had in my head. Having lived with my Mo’ for a month now I can confirm that the average moustachioed man touching his upper lip foliage 760 times a day isn’t unrealistic.

 

 Debra's Moustache Cookies

 

One of the biggest thrills of Movember is getting a sponsorship donation, especially an unexpected one and with just over 24 hours left I’m very pleased to say I’ve managed to raise £125, and I’d like to thank everyone who has sponsored me. I’ve really enjoyed my Mo’ month and would recommend anyone do it, there’s even talk of a few of us doing it as a team next year. But there’s still time to sponsor me this year, whether it’s £1 or £10 all contributions are greatly appreciated, just click here > http://uk.movember.com/mospace/3349233

 

 

 

Knowledge Is Power, Moustache Is King!

Our ‘lympic Summer

Note: I originally wrote this blog about a month ago, and intended to include comments from Debra in it but because of other events that never happened. I forgot all about it until I received my London 2012 dvd through the post yesterday, and figured better late than never.

 

I hadn’t really thought about it before but looking back I guess the Olympics always seemed like something that happened far, far away, another world almost. It wasn’t until we saw the torch come through little ol’ Rayleigh, that it was really brought home to me that the Olympics really were going to be just up the road. I guess I’ve always thought of the torch relay as just part of Olympic furniture, but it really did make London 2012 seem more tangible and it was amazing to see what felt like the whole town out together. Although I will admit I did find the corporate buses nauseating.

 

 The Olympic Torch in Rayleigh High St, just 30 seconds from our flat.

 

 

Once the Olympics were underway, I almost instantly regretted not trying for more tickets, this was once in a lifetime stuff. I’ve always loved watching the Olympics on tv, but the BBC’s wall to wall coverage - 24 extra channels! - quickly got me addicted like never before. So like many others I bought tickets for the Paralympics, not as a runner up prize but as a way of grabbing my own piece of the experience. In the meantime I continued to watch all that I could until the the last weekend of the Olympics came around and our trip to the Hadleigh Mountain Biking event.

 

 Looking back up the hill at Hadleigh Farm.
 

In this case the Olympics really were on our doorstep, just 3 miles from out flat to Hadleigh Farm and the specially constructed course. The excitement of the day was tempered a bit by the fact we were taking my mum aswell, and because of her ill health we’d hired a wheelchair for the day. We needn’t have worried, from the moment our taxi dropped us at the drop-off point we were taken care of, ferried first by another taxi down the country lanes to the Salvation Army buildings, then the Gamesmakers took us down onto the site in disabled friendly golf buggy’s. We were then able to take her onto a viewing platform and took it in turns to stay with her then explore the venue. The weather was glorious and the track quite spectacular with steep climbs, sheer drops and rocky sections. Sadly Britain’s Liam Killeen crashed out on the 2nd lap, but the atmosphere was fantastic with fans from all over the world. The race was eventually won by Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy, who overtook Nino Schurter of Switzerland on the very last bend of the very last lap, a moment I somehow managed to capture on camera.

Jaroslav Kulhavy (blue) overtaking Nino Schurter to win Gold.

 

After an agonising two week wait the Paralympics finally started, and once again we became just as addicted, this time to Channel4’s superb coverage. I have to admit I hadn’t really watched much, if any, coverage of previous paralympics and was unsure how into it I would get - I ended up spending just as much time watching the Paralympics as I had the Olympics. But again we had to wait until the games were almost over before we had our adventure.

 

 

The Aquatics Centre.

 

The swimming heats began at 9.30am which meant we needed to get the train by 7.30 at the latest, happily none of the transport problems we were worried about materialised. Extra trains were still being laid on and when we arrived at the Olympic Park we were in & through security in no time at all, with plenty of time to get our bearings and some breakfast. The Aquatics Centre was a very impressive structure, sleek and modern, when we arrived it was probably only a third full but filled up throughout the early part of the morning. The noise whenever a British athlete raced was quite incredible (and I’ve been to plenty of football matches), and rocketed to another level when Josef Craig broke the World Record in his S7 400m freestyle heat. We also got to see legendary South African Natalie Du Toit win the heat of her last ever event.

 

The green blur about to win is Natalie Du Toit.

 

 

Our day was not over though as we also had tickets to go up the Anish Kapoor designed Orbit which towers over the Olympic Park. The views from the top were superb, as we were able to see over the whole park, london, and beyond. We would have liked to explore the park more, but it was incredibly crowded so we headed home.

 

Orbit.

 

Debra & I outside the Olympic Stadium.

 

The next morning we were still shattered from the day before but got ourselves up anyway, today we were going to the Stadium itself! Thankfully it started an hour later than the previous day so we had a bit of extra time. After another breakfast stop in the park we headed into the Stadium to find our tickets were in the third row which gave us a great view, just a shame we were on the bend of the track and most of the heats were 100 & 200m over the other side of the stadium! We did have a great view of the morning’s two Javelin finals though, and even though the Brits never really challenged, all the athletes got fantastic support. We did get a Gold Medal moment though when Great Britain’s Josie Pearson came first in the F51 Discus, something I was able to see even though it was at the other end thanks to Debra’s inspired decision to take her binoculars! And that was that, our ‘lympic adventures were sadly over, like many we wished they could have continued forever.
 

　

　

 

 

During the Paralympics closing ceremony Debra looked at me and said "Let’s go to Rio in four years..."

 

Watched #2: On The Road Special

I'm not normally one that criticises film adaptations for not sticking exactly to the book, they are completely different mediums afterall. However I was nervous to see what Walter Salles had done with a book I know so well, having read it at least 5 times. And knowing it so well I couldn't help but notice what was missing, things like Sal's time as a security guard with Remi near the start of the book, and much reduced sections with Terri, and the ride on the back of the farmers truck. On The Road is such a dense book with so many events that to include them all would have been impossible. So the screenplay sensibly concentrates on the story concerning Dean Moriarty.

  One thing that did bug me was the amount of sex in the film, not in a prudish way but it did make it seem like a much higher concentration of sex than the book (ie.all the sex is kept in when other parts are left out). The other aspect of this is the gay sex, something that in the film is right there wheras in the book is more subtley suggested or alluded to.

  These are relatively minor criticisms though when they got so much right. Particularly the feel and themes of the book, it's not a non-stop party like many seem to think, Sal & Dean are slowly drifting apart almost from the moment they meet and becoming more desperate as they go. The environments look authentic, not the usual pristine, neat, polished world of so many 1950's period pieces - it's dirty, sweaty and real. The cinematography is beautiful, filmed I have since discovered by Eric Gautier who also filmed Into The wild, the use of handheld camera's for when sal is hitchhiking is a good touch
and there's a warm, nostalgic graininess to the whole movie.

  Importantly I felt the cast was very good, Salles chose very well picking young up & coming actors for the key roles. Sam Riley is very good as Sal Paradise, pitching him perfectly as the quiet observer & confidant to the stronger characters. Kristen Stewart was quite a revelation as Marylou, an amplified version of the character on the page, more energetic, sexier & more sympathetic. Garrett Hedlund however, is stunning as Dean, he doesn't start the movie all maniacal energy, rather building his madness through the film after each little setback or argument, a feat all the more impressive when you consider that it wouldn't have been filmed in order.

  It was a joy to see this book brought vividly to life before my eyes after years imagining it. Nervous? I needn't have been, now I can't wait to watch it again without those nerves.

Listening #3

James Yorkston I was a Cat from a Book (2012)

Domino Records www.jamesyorkston.co.uk

James Yorkston is another one of those artists I’ve always intended to listen to but not got round to, well I’m glad I did at last. Yorkston, for the uninitiated is a singer-songwriter hailing from Fife in Scotland, as well as his own songs he also sings & records traditional folk songs. I was a Cat from a Book comprises all his own compositions, for the most part beautiful lilting ballads and simple charming folky songs with pretty harmonies, which are a delight to listen to. Which make the two more upbeat, driving songs ‘Just as Scared’ and ‘I Can Take All This’ stand out all the more, the latter of which provides a stirring conclusion to a fine album.

Highlights: Catch, Border Song, Just as Scared, I Can Take All This

Liars WIXIW (2012)

Mute www.liarsliarsliars.com

For some reason I missed Liars 5th album Sisterworld, so I’ve missed a step in this constantly evolving band’s development. Perhaps that explains why I haven’t managed to connect with or find a way into this album yet, because if you had told me "Liars experiment more with electronica" I’d have thought YES! this sounds like it’s going to be right up my alley. For once it feels like Liars sounding like other music that already exists. It’s when they create that otherworldly sound that the album really comes alive as on ‘Flood To Flood’ which sounds simultaneously new AND like Liars, ‘Brats’ is a totally unexpected off-kilter dancefloor filler that puts everything else on this album in the shade.

Highlights: A Ring On Every Finger, WIXIW, Flood To Flood, Brats

Dan Deacon America (2012)

Domino Records www.dandeacon.com

Dan Deacon’s America, as an idea doesn’t sound like it should work, an artist known for bonkers techno, creating a concept album. The first 5 tracks a reaction against the economic crisis, and polarisation of US politics, the 2nd half one long paen (split into 4 parts) to the landscapes of North America. But work it does, gloriously well, what you get is a far more joyful outcome than some of the more topographical electronica out there. Deacon takes you on an adrenaline fuelled tour of America with fizzes and crashes sitting perfectly on top of grandiose orchestral arrangements that create a feeling of wind in your hair whether you’re in a convertible flying down US-50, or not.

Highlights: True Thrush, Crash Jam, Is A Monster, Manifest

 

Animal Collective Centipede Hz (2012)

Domino Records www.myanimalhome.net

I’ve been a fan of Animal Collective’s awkward avant-garde noise-pop since 2007’s Strawberry Jam. Their throw everything at it and see what emerges approach can make for exciting listening as it balances on a tightrope with everything trying to make the songs fall off into unlistenable noise. Unfortunately all too often this album seems to fall off that tightrope, it’s so densely layered that it turns into a musical mush where nothing can come to the fore and drag the song forward. Infact my main problem with this record is that it all sounds too similar, too formulaic, just well, dull.

Highlights: Moonjock, Applesauce

 

Dinosaur Jr. I Bet On Sky (2012)

[PIAS] www.dinosaurjr.com

I’ve seen it mentioned somewhere else, but it’s true, there’s something very comforting about Dinosaur Jr. Not in a retro, nostalgic way, they haven’t changed - they don’t need too, in J Mascis hands a guitar solo is always necessary, never over wrought. Watch the Corners isn’t just one of the best rock songs of 2012, but would stand up as one of the best at the height of gr*nge, and Almost Fare just makes me happy. Hell this whole album makes me happy, Dinosaur Jr break all the rules - reformed bands aren’t supposed to be this good.

Highlights: Watch the Corners, Almost Fare, Rude, Pierce The Morning Rain

Get Off Jack's Back

In just a few weeks the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’ will be released in UK cinemas, I’m currently re-reading the book in anticipation. As you would expect there have been alot of articles & blogs written about Jack Kerouac as the film approaches, many looking to make a name for themselves by accusing Kerouac sexism, racism, homophobia, being anti-semitic & a reactionary conservative - that’s not to mention the legions of comments sections frequented by people who have read the book once in school & read a few ill-informed articles.

 UK Release 12th October 2012

One such example I saw used the following quote "Several times I went to San Francisco with my gun and when a queer approached me in a bar john I took out the gun and said ‘Eh? Eh? What’s that you say?". Which of course to anyone reading it would look homophobic, but is comletely out of context, missing the remorse that follows and what could even be considered a comment on the effect guns have on people - "I’ve never understood why I did that; I knew queers all over the country. It was just the loneliness of San Francisco and the fact that I had a gun. I had to show it to someone."

This also sums up the conflict at the heart of Kerouac for me, you can look at his writing through modern eyes and see words like ‘queer’ or ‘negro’ (or worse) and be offended or you can place yourself in the time. Writers like Keroauc were born in the 1920’s, and were young men in the 1940’s when sexism, racism & homophobia were not only the social norm but in the case of racial segregation, the law.

Virtually every one of our relations alive in the same era would have used similar expressions, held similar opinions that appear wrong to our modern viewpoint. Does that make everyone else bad people aswell? Or are we just picking on him because he wrote about things the way they were? How do we know that in 70 years time there will not be people looking at us judging our society as unenlightened?

Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg

One article that I thought hit alot of nails on the head comes from a suprising source, theamericanconservative website. It doesn’t try to claim Kerouac as a conservative, but points out that as a young man all of his actions show him to be non-conservative, non-conformist, infact very unpolitical in any way. He is a young writer who wants to see, hear & experience all that he can, he does not write of his gay friends like Ginsburg, Orlovsky and others with disgust but with love, respect and affection. It is only after he becomes famous, and his inablity to cope with that, when he has sought refuge in drink that he returns to the familiar, conservative reactionary roots that surrounded him as he grew up. Read the article here.

I once heard Andy Warhol say something along the lines of "As a shy person you desperately want attention, but when you get it you don’t know what to do with it". This sums up Jack perfectly, he wanted to be a famous writer but when fame arrived he couldn’t cope with the attention, couldn’t cope with the criticism, couldn’t cope with the way people politicised his writing for their own ends, couldn’t cope with the constant stream of people who would turn up at his mothers house expecting him to party with them. So he retreated from the world into alcoholism, travelled less, prefering to stay in the safety of his mother’s home and reacted against what people wanted him to be by turning to the familiarity of his conservative catholic upbringing.

The 'On The Road' Scroll

Then of course there’s the did he, didn’t he write it in 3 weeks debate. To say either is far too simplistic. Jack made copious notes about his travels and tried to write the book a couple of times, binning them as he couldn’t realise what was in his head. Then he was inspired by one of Neal Cassady’s stream of concsiousness letters, and realised that if he combined this style with his own prose-poetry he might get what he was looking for. He then wrote the infamous scroll in 3 weeks as the legend tells us, before reworking this into the book that was finally published. Can we leave the discussion behind now?

I wasn’t really intending the first blog I wrote on my passion for Kerouac’s books to be a defense, I had thought I’d write about what I love about his work, but that’s not how things have worked out I guess. I am excited to see the On The Road film which is released in just a few weeks, and to see the original scroll which I learnt a few days ago will be on display at the British Library until Christmas. Hopefully I can combine a trip to see both in one day, and I’ll doubtless write a blog about that.

Listening #2

Dirty Projectors Swing Lo Magellan (2012)

Domino Records www.dirtyprojectors.net

Pretentious is a word that is thrown about alot around bands whose music doesn’t conform to easy to pin down preconceived ideas of genre. I approached this record not knowing much about Dirty Projectors, and I found plenty to like, it’s not all easy to listen to, but that can make the moments of sweet harmonies or guitar wigouts stand out all the more. There is a willingness to try things out, whether they work or not is up to the listener, pretty alt-country harmonies are underpinned by awkward back words sounding drums, and almost chaotic plucked guitar.

Highlights: ‘Offspring Are Blank’, ‘Swing Lo Magellan’, ‘Impregnable Question’.

The Flaming Lips ...And Heady Fwends (2012)

Bella Union www.flaminglips.com

The Flaming Lips have been experimenting with psychedelic alt-rock for almost 30 years now, and this collaboration record is no different with guests as diverse as Ke$ha, Bon Iver, Yoko Ono and Nick Cave. ‘2012 (You Must be Upgraded)’ kicks the album off with psychotic shrill dial-up tone white noise before the more sombre & beautiful ‘Helping The Retarded To Know God’. In places this is one of the Lips hardest rocking albums such as the Jim James collab ‘That Ain’t My Trip’, which is followed by the similarly gnarled ‘You, Man? Human???’ with Nick Cave. ‘I’m Working At NASA On Acid’ is a fairly anonymous Lips by numbers track until Lightning Bolt explodes all over it before it floating back off into space again, the band’s cover of ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ is something to behold, turning it into a strangely beautiful 10 minute space-dub epic. The Flaming Lips are still vital.

Highlights: ‘Helping The Retarded To Know God’, ‘That Ain’t My Trip’, ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, ‘Tasered And Maced’

International Alternative Press Festival 2012

The IAPFestival was held at Conway Hall, for the second year, on the weekend of 4-5th August, and I went along with my friends Mark & Tilly on the Sunday. I had heard of the event on twitter a couple of months ago and wanted to go as soon as I heard of it as I have been interested in independant publishing for a long time. At university I wrote my dissertation on fanzines & underground culture and later wrote a music fanzine with a group of friends.

We arrived at the Conway Hall, just as the doors were opening and the stall holders were finishing setting up, which was good as it meant it was easy to move around the aisles of tressle tables. On the otherhand for a shy person like myself, it meant the zine-makers attention was on me, making me selfconcious. There was lots of interesting literature on show from obviously handmade comics and art zines to comic anthologies and books, lots of creativity on show, sometimes it's difficult to know where to start in a situation like that. I didn't find much in the way of what I would call fanzines, that is to say self produced writing about a person's passions, like music, films, books, work or hobbies. There were alot of self published comics though, which made up all of my purchases, which I'll talk about shortly. The festival was alot of fun, and allowed me to indulge in something I don't always get time to. I'm already looking forward to going again next year, and hopefully have more time to spend there, to got to some of the workshops and talks.

As I mentioned before in my Harvey Pekar blog, I'm a newcomer really to the world of comics, so these reviews shoulldn't be given too much weight. With that cautionary warning out of the way let's take a look at my purchases...

New British Comics #3
This is an anthology of short comic strips, between 1 and 10 pages long, there are plenty of different sorts of comics here from the humourous to social commentaries, science fiction to artistic. 'Ink vs Paper' by John Miers is an interesting art-comic that makes use of monochrome black and white to clever effect. 'Here Comes The Neighbourhood' by Matthew Craig & Richard Johnson takes mainstream tv's obsession with reality tv and talent contests to the next level with neighbours competing to move to a better home. My favourite strips in this anthology are Lawrence Elwick & Paul O'Connell's 'Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense' and 'Charlie Parker Handyman', all of three of which are short, and more playful and fun.
80 Pages b&w / £4 / website  / Jon's Rating: 3.5/5

ink + PAPER #2
Ink & Paper is another anthology, this time in full colour which does push the price up, it also written articles. These include a spread reviewing comic books/graphic novels, an analysis of Jinty overs,and interviews with a screenprinter & a fashion illustrator. Again I loved the variety of styles of art and of subject matter, from the existentialism of AJ Poyiadgi's 'On Reflection' to Sean Wilson & Carl Thomson's strip about violence in American/British culture compared to Japan, or Rick Eades simple & cute 'Darth Vader Buried In The Sand' about his childhood caravan holidays, the addition of colour in this book really adds an extra dimension and makes the extra cost worth it. My favourite strips were Jon Riordon's retro sci-fi tale 'The Inventor of Colour' which is about exactly what the title suggests, and Andrew Waugh's series 'Old Lady vs...' which like 'Charlie Parker Handyman' in New British Comics is short simple & fun, in each strip the Old Lady takes on a fictional monster (Nosferatu, A Werewolf, Seamonster) and domesticates them.
96 Pages full colour / £8 / website  / Jon's Rating: 4.5/5

Browner Knowle #6
Browner Knowle is a one man affair, written and drawn by Paul Ashley Brown, it is a more artistic maybe existential work. A series of one or two pages pieces that feel like illustrated poems on subjects like watching birds, watching people, break-ups, arguments. There is an overall feeling of loss, sadness that is quite beautiful. There is one longer piece entitled 'Two Years Later'an artist endures the opening night of his exhibition haunted by the meory of his ex, when she appears at the show, it leaves you wondering if it is autobiographical or not.
22 Pages b&w / £3 / email  / Jon's rating 3/5

Spandex #1-6
What can you say about Martin Eden's Spandex? At turn's daft, funny, sad, rude & action packed, his gay superhero gang never fail to entertain. I bought the collected issues #1-6 on the spur of the moment and certainly don't regret it, colourful with short adventures and an overall story arc that builds over the issues it is no wonder it was nominated for a best british comic award. For a newbie like me, it reads like a homage to the well known superhero comics whilst reminding me also of 'Beyond Palomar' which I recently read and (oddly) Kill Bill. I'll definately be waiting for the
seventh and final isssue to complete the story.
26 Pages each Full Colour / £15 issues 1-6 / website / Jon's Rating: 4.5/5

Drawings

I've always enjoyed drawing since I was a kid, going on to study art & graphic design at college and university. But over the years with work and other distractions I didn't really create art, so a couple of years ago I resolved to start drawing more, but then with my mum becoming more unwell I stopped doing it again - now I want to try and draw more again. These are all drawings that I've done in the last couple of years and I'm posting them as much as motivation for myself as for anyone else to see them.

 

House on Hill 11/2/10

The Lighthouse 4/3/10

 

Kerouac at Desolation 9/3-21/3/10

Old Joy 25/3-7/4/10

 

Coast 9/4/-11/4/10

Mountain#2 18/4/10

 

California Coast 27/4/10

Coast#2 13/5/10

Lake 10/7/10

Our Garden 8/8/10

Mountain#3 11/9/10

Harvey Pekar 19/2/11

Hullbridge 21/7/12

Harvey Pekar. Our Man in Cleveland.

Two years ago today, Harvey Pekar died, he was 70 years old and there's a fair chance you haven't heard of him. I hadn't until I picked up the 'American Splendor' dvd in my local blockbuster in 2004.

My drawing of Harvey Pekar

So who was he, and why did he get a film made about him? Harvey was a working class intellectual from Cleveland, Ohio, who in his younger life was unable to hold down a job until he got a job as a file clerk in the Veteran hospital, a job he kept until he retired. He came from a jewish background, was a socialist, a jazz critic in his spare time, suffered from lymphoma, appeared on the Letterman Show, oh yeah, and he wrote comics too.

Pekar became friends with budding comic artist Robert Crumb in the 1960's and as Crumb & the underground comic scene took off and moved away from the traditional superheroes, he realised "comics are words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures". He couldn't see a voice like his in the comic-world, so he decided to write a comic about his own life, experiences and views, the first issue was published in 1976. Harvey couldn't draw himself so would write the stories and lay them out with stick figures to show illustrators like Crumb what to draw, which added to the appeal of American Splendor, different issues would often be drawn by different artists.

So why do I like Harvey Pekar & his work? His comics document the ordinary, the everyday banality, the frustrations, and the absurdity of life - American Splendor had a cynical, world weary humour. Despite his intellect, his temperament & skills meant he was unlikely to advance in the world of work, or perhaps he didn't want too, so he looked for a creative outlet, a means of leaving his mark on the world. Which is why I identify with him I suppose, I share a similar frustration at the world for not being the way I thought it would be or indeed should be. That desire or need to leave a mark, to be creative is the reason I'm writing a blog at all.

Harvey is also the reason I've become interested in graphic novels relatively late in life, before I watched American Splendor I hadn't read a comic since the Beano when I was in junior school. Now I've read graphic novels by Daniel Clowes, Alan Moore and Art Spiegelman amongst others, and he's inspired me to want to write & draw my own graphic novels. Which is why when the opportunity came along to donate to his wife, Joyce Brabner's kickstarter campaign to create a memorial for Harvey I jumped at the chance - you can read about that here it's a pretty amazing idea, one day I hope to visit it at Cleveland library.

This is just a short tribute to an endlessly interetsing man, that barely scratches the surface of what he was about, I hope that just one person somewhere reads this and discovers what I did. Why not start with the excellent movie starring Paul Giamatti, like I did?

PS. You can take a quick look at one of Harvey's last ventures, the Pekar Project webcomic, over at smithmag.net

Listening #1

Many years ago I used to write a music fanzine & website with friends, it was called To Hell With... and I haven't written any music reviews since it ended in 2006 so these are my first attempt. Just a few short views on some of my recent purchases.

Beach House Bloom (2012)

Bella Union www.beachhousebaltimore.com
I’d seen this album mentioned alot on the internet, so listened to a couple of songs on youtube before taking the plunge, Beach House are boy/girl duo from Baltimore, described as dream-pop and Bloom is their fourth album. That dreamlike quality is certainly evident, as the guitar & keyboard combine to create delicate webs of melody that feel like they could break with the slightest breeze. Victoria Legrand’s vocals are seductive yet detached, the lyrics suitably mysterious, suggesting rather than telling. Bloom is one of my favourite albums of the year so far, and a record that could equally soundtrack a gloomy wet day as a sunkissed roadtrip.

Highlights: ‘Myth’, ‘Other People’, ‘The Hours’.

Cornershop Urban Turban: The Singhles Club (2012)

Ample Play www.cornershop.com

I bought this album, having heard the song ‘What Did The Hippie Have In His Bag?’ on BBC 6Music. Like quite a few people of the britpop generation, the only Cornershop album I have before this, is ‘When I was born for the 7th Time’, an album I adored for it’s east-meets-west sitar & tablar tinged indie-funk. Well they’ve moved on from that, adopting a more electronic & eclectic style, that took a while to grow on me, the old funk sensibilities are still there, as are the indian influences, each track here is a collaberation. While I still find it a bit patchy, repeated listening is rewarding as tracks like Milkin’it & Dedicated reveal themselves.

Highlights: ‘What Did The Hippie Have In His Bag?’, ‘Who’s Gonna Lite It Up?’, ‘Milkin’ It’.

Coasting You’re Never Going Back (2011)

M’lady’s http://coasting.bandcamp.com

Coasting are, as best I can tell, two girls from Brooklyn that moved apart (to Portland & Memphis) but still made a record together in Michigan. I was introduced to them by Everett True’s excellent Collapseboard, and the song ‘Kids’, a gloriously joyful indiepop song that makes me want to jump around with a cut n’paste stop motion video to match. The rest of the album is deliciously lo-fi indie-punk with a firm grip on what makes a great harmony, an adundance of energy and vitality and a love of the old quiet-load dynamic that when done well as it is here, never gets old.

Highlights: ‘Kids’, ‘Portland’, ‘Pirates Cove’.

Azealia Banks 1991 EP (2012)

Interscope www.AzealiaBanks.com

Azealia Banks probably isn’t someone you would expect me to like, I was also led to her by Everett True and the song ‘212’ from this EP. She has been compared to Nicki Minaj, not something I can qualify, the Minaj songs I’ve heard haven’t been my type of thing and to be honest the 3 other songs here I find pretty bland and formulaic, fast paced rap-pop to a nightclub beat. ‘212’ however is a different animal altogether, beneath the filthy lyrics is a primitive beat that opens up into a dancefloor beast, that as Banks’ wraps her tongue around the sexual imagery with considerable relish (watch the video) could make even the shyest person bump & grind with the best of them.

Highlights: ‘212’

Shellshag Rumors In Disguise (2010)

Don Giovanni Records http://shellshag.blogspot.co.uk/

Yet another I found from Collapseboard, hailing from Brooklyn, Shellshag are husband (Shell) & wife (Shag) duo. Rumors In Disguise is another minimal punk record, in places reminding me of a more lo-fi grungey Lemonheads, it has all the touchstones that are bound to make me love them, squalls of white noise, stripped down hooks, ‘Resilient Bastard’ could almost be Weezer in their prime, the short sharp burst of ‘Rumor’ comes complete with doo-wop handclaps & catchy as hell "I wanna make it with you" refrain, and dirge of ‘Rock and roll ruined my life’ contrast greatly with bittersweet closer ‘Carry On’. Oh, and it has the best album cover I’ve seen for a long time.

Highlights: ‘Resilient Bastard’, ‘Crashing Rockets’, ‘Carry On’.

Akira The Don ATD28: Unkillable Thunderchrist (2012)

LITF www.akirathedon.com

Unkillable Thunderchrist is the latest from the UK’s most prolific rapper, Akira the Don, his 28th mixtape is full of impossible to clear samples & is better than most artists official releases. What sets ATD apart is the joy he takes in everything he does, even when he’s eviscerating the coalition & politicians on ‘Lemmings’ & ‘Weird & Creepy’. And yes ‘Lemmings’ does sample the classic computer game. ATD’s collaboration with Time on ‘Too Sweet To Be Sour’ is a fitting & suprisingly touching tribute to Adam Yauch, while closing track ‘Wu-Wear & Acid’ is a stunning end to the collection, and shows a man, as the Hunter S. Thompson sample* suggests "riding the crest of a high & beautiful wave", long & far may it carry him.

Highlights: ‘Lemmings’, ‘Too Sweet To be Sour’, ‘Wu-Wear & Acid’.

*Well actually a quote from the Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas film.