Mr Owl PhD

Quite like this quiz: http://www.theguardian.com/football/quiz/2015/mar/24/football-quiz-name-the-career I got 11/15.

'Hinterland' by Lonelady is out now. It's easily one of the best albums I've heard in the last few years. Every track is stunning. You can stream it here: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/18/lonelady-hinterland-exclusive-album-stream

No longer keeping them peeled: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/mar/18/shaw-taylor

Not all right now: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/18/free-bassist-andy-fraser-dies-aged-62

Fixed that for you.

Gong but not forgotten: http://pitchfork.com/news/58386-daevid-allen-founder-of-gong-and-soft-machine-dead-at-77/

King Khan and the Shrines - Idle no More This was a bit less raw sounding than I expected, although as others have commented, it's extremely retro and wears its influences on its sleeve. Some of the songs were quite good and I don't necessarily mind the style of music. I got rather weary of it fairly quickly though. It actually sounded pretty middle of the road to me after a while - like something I'd expect to hear on Radio 2. The songs were okay without being outstanding but the main problem is that it just seemed retro for the sake of it. I don't mind people drawing on old music but I tend to prefer it if people do something new with it. I didn't really get that sense here. 5/10 Paul Cary - Ghost of a Man I'd hesitate to say this was a bad record but it was the one I liked the least. This sort of sub-Dylanesque type stuff tends to annoy me at the best of times. Maybe if the lyrics or songs are particularly good I can tolerate it but this all seemed ordinary with rather daft sounding lyrics at times. Sort of like Jake Bugg but not even as good as that. I was quite glad when this album was over. 3/10 PC Worship - Social Rust I don't think I'd go so far as to say that I really liked this but it was easily my favourite of the three and the one that I'd most readily come back to. It also sounds quite retro but at least reminds of music (90s American indie rock) that I'd like to hear more of rather than stuff I'd be happy to hear less of. Some parts seem fairly distinctive and I liked the general mood it conveys. The song 'Baby in the Backroom' was easily my favourite song on any of these three albums. They could have a bit more variety on it and it's definitely music for a certain mood. I might listen to this some more. 7/10

I'll try and do a review of the current three this evening.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/06/schoolboy-fifty-shades-christian-grey-barred-from-world-book-day-school

I like this comment: What is up with you lot in here in the comments? I can tell you for nothing if we had a teacher like this at school, he'd have been considered an utter legend. What on earth is so "serious" about his conduct? I bet you anything that he was well liked and it was some overbearing parental complaint that did him in!What is up with you lot in here in the comments? I can tell you for nothing if we had a teacher like this at school, he'd have been considered an utter legend. What on earth is so "serious" about his conduct? I bet you anything that he was well liked and it was some overbearing parental complaint that did him in!What is up with you lot in here in the comments? I can tell you for nothing if we had a teacher like this at school, he'd have been considered an utter legend. What on earth is so "serious" about his conduct? I bet you anything that he was well liked and it was some overbearing parental complaint that did him in!

I like Philippe Coutinho.

Comfortable win for Hearts today, I see.

I only know him from his songs:

I might join in with this properly. Hopefully I'll have time to listen to stuff anyway.

Boof!

Am very much looking forward to the forthcoming Lower Dens album:

Except that now Alberto Moreno joins in, which makes it totally great.

This is an important point. Henderson has no real track record of taking penalties and Balotelli was obviously the player on the pitch with the best track record. If Henderson had taken it and missed then there would have been a lot of criticism. Even if Henderson really wanted to take it and was a bit annoyed to give it to Balotelli it was a sensible decision.

I think Sturridge was the one at fault there because he made it clear to everyone that there was a problem with who would take the penalty. If he'd just let Henderson and Balotelli get on with it then I don't think it would have been anything like the same issue. As far as I can tell Henderson was nominated to take the penalties and was captain but Balotelli persuaded Henderson to let him take it, which was a good decision because, even if he's not great at much else, he's good at penalties. Nominated penalty taker and captain decides to let someone else take a penalty = non-issue, as far as I'm concerned. I think Gerrard was also a bit out of order for his criticism of Balotelli. He was trying to stick up for Henderson but actually undermined him by saying he was wrong to decide to let Balotelli take it.

*lives*

Chelsea unable to park the bus: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31512500

With this death you are spoiling us: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/14/michele-ferrero-owner-of-nutella-and-italys-richest-man-dies-aged-89

Thought I should maybe join in with this, though I've certainly listened to one of these records a lot more times than the other two. Dean Blunt - Black Metal Interesting to read other people's opinions on this and I must admit to generally sort of agreeing with a lot of them. Blunt has been involved in making some of my favourite music of the last five years. His last album 'The Redeemer' was one of my favourites of 2013 and much of the stuff he did with Inga Copeland as 'Hype Williams' is pretty incredible. This album has some great moments, is characteristically bewildering and in certain respects is fairly obviously 'bad' in that Blunt is not really a very good singer and the musicianship isn't always that good. I find the album a bit too incoherent though and I don't think any of the individual tracks are as outstanding as the best tracks on most of his other albums. This isn't what I'd give people if I wanted to introduce anyone to Blunt's work. Even as a fan, despite listening to this lots of times in the last couple of months, I don't really feel like I've properly got into it. One good thing about the album is the developing presence of Joanne Robertson, who does backing vocals and I suspect plays most of the guitar. I like her voice and hope she features more prominently on Blunt's future work. 7/10 Ariel Pink- Pom Pom This is the first Ariel Pink album I've listened to from start to finish. I've sometimes quite liked bits I've heard by him but have always been a bit prejudiced against him since seeing be a complete tool when he played at the Tunnels several years ago. I was intrigued to see if this album is as bad as others say it is. I actually quite liked a few bits - sometimes fragments of songs and sometimes whole tracks. It sort of teeters on the edge of awfulness a lot of the time, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does, I have to say, stray over the edge on occasions. I guess Ariel Pink is known for doing music that sounds like it's what you might hear dialling through various radio stations in the late 1970s. This seemed to me mpre like stumbling over the soundtrack of some sort of weird retro soft porn musical. That's maybe an okay idea but the results aren't on the whole what I'd want to listen to for pleasure. I found it mostly uninvolving and a bit irritating, despite the occasional good bit. In the end I tend to think a band like Ween did this kind of slightly tongue in cheek take on retro pop and rock much better. 5/10 The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World I'd never listened to a whole album by this band either. It's relentlessly competent and I certainly quite liked a few tracks. In some ways this is quite close to a lot of things I really enjoy but I don't find the guy's voice particularly affecting and that means I can take or leave a lot it. It sounds very much like an album by a band who know how to do what they do going out and doing it. This is fine but, even with bands I really like, I usually want to see a bit more adventure and something new. I get the feeling they're not really taking many risks with this album. 6/10

Apart from Indian places I've been pretty underwhelmed by everything I've had in restaurants in Aberdeen recently. The best was probably Nargile: http://www.nargileaberdeen.co.uk/