Oh how I love Peanuts. Oh how I love Hallowe'en. Bring them together and...



Find the rest of the episode here. Happy Hallowe'en, kids.

So anyway, yeah, I had this evil flu thing that was going around. I'm better now, you'll no doubt be relieved to hear. But it wiped out the end of last week and my weekend, which is always a bit of a drag. I was a bit out of it, so I couldn't really watch TV or mess around online, so I lay back and made my way through a stack of albums: some new to me, some flavours of the month, and others classics it was high time to revisit.

And oh what treats I uncovered. Some brand new, some old, but all somehow helped keep me sane. Let's do some mini reviews why not? We'll start off with those new to me...

1. The Duke Spirit - Cuts Across The Land



Oh wow. How did this pass me by? Originally released in 2005, this is garage rock sent straight from heaven's carport. A classic case of hearing the name, but never really indulging, until a wise friend mentioned they were playing in Soho and were ace. I missed out, but sought this out, and it is an absolute gem. Lead single 'Darling You're Mean' perfectly showcases their wonderful qualities. Softly spoken delicate blues exploding into delicious dirty rock passion. They're playing London again soon. I won't be missing out this time.

2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga



Have I raved about single 'Hot Knives' enough yet? Ok then. 'Hot Knives' is quite the most extraordinary song I've heard in a long time. This is the parent album, and it's just astounding. As I lay dead to the world, this kept me somehow tied to Conor Oberst's interpretation of reality. One of those albums that fills you with joy, simply because as good as it sounds on the first few listens, you know it's only going to get better and better with repeated plays. Just sublime.

3. Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated



I've already mentioned this in my recent reasons to be cheerful. But it's still delighting me. The style is an acquired taste (essentially spoken word lyrics over raucous indie noise) but it works like a charm. Equally seductive and hilarious, its knowing glaces at the battle of the sexes are to be treasured. I want to recommend a stand out track, but they're ALL good!

4. The Good The Bad And The Queen



Apparently the band don't actually have a name. So you just get the album title. This has been my slow burner of the year. I was initially a little sceptical, but the fact that this is less immediate than Gorillaz is actually its strength. There's a lot of depth here. As an old Blur fanatic, Albarn could fart in a jam jar, and I'd call it art, but I think this stands alone. Dark, paranoid, but unmistakably British. As a collection of songs, it's a rewarding 42 minute journey. As the closing track gradually builds into a fantastic rock out, you can't but admire Damon. Another reinvention, another success.

5. Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche



Sigh. The companion of outtakes to Sufjan's Illinois masterpiece. Oh, it's just so indescribably lovely. There's 3 versions of 'Chicago' on here, and I could listen to twice that many. The man has to be some sort of creative workaholic though. First he aims to make an album for each of the 50 US states. Then he does a double album for state no.2. Then releases a double album of outtakes from that one album! Fuckin' 'ell, Suf, have a lie down for a minute.

6. Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped



Having already succumed to their second LP, Reject All American, this was the obvious place to go next. And fuck yeah, come on! Even more righteous anger and unrepentant punk genius. 'Sugar' has the best start to any song I've heard this year, and 'Rebel Girl' sounds better than ever. Punches you in the face for 25 minutes, until you fall to the floor exhausted and bruised, completely in love with it.

7. Astrid - Play Dead



Bit of a change of pace then! From Riot Grrrls to delicate indie boys. As Peel favourites, I bought a couple of the singles when they came out at the turn of the decade, but never got the album. I had to track it down on ebay, and it's just pure meek indieloserboy wonderment. Jangly guitarpop from north of the border that almost out Teenage Fanclub's Teenage Fanclub. Packed with melodies and harmonies that stick in your mind like bluetack covered in superglue. The fact they split a while back after the lead singer's drug use seems almost too rock n roll. The only thing you can imagine him ODing on is Love Hearts and Panda Pop.

8. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream



I've loved so many of the tracks from this album since it's release. But criminally I've only just got my own copy. 'Disarm' is still my favourite Pumpkins song, but everything else here is equally essential. I think this is almost certainly my favourite album from the band... just. Some parts are like taking a warm bath, and sinking under the water, before it lifts you up, out into the sunshine and then blasts a force 10 gail in your face. In a good way. The sound of a band falling to bits has rarely sounded this good.

9. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures



One of those records I have to save up and listen to on special occasions. With all the recent rivalism surrounding the band, and the release of Control, it's easy to get cynical about style over content. Then you stick this on and it's... oh... right... yeah. I remember now. They really were fucking good, weren't they? I still think this is streets ahead of Closer, and probably unsurpassed by New Order. It's a breathtaking record. 'New Dawn Fades' is my favourite track by the band. If you're sitting wondering what all the fuss is about, this has all the answers.

10. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless



And then it goes to show how much I rate MBV when I say that this is at least the equal of Unknown Pleasures. I recently got hold of a lot of the EPs from earlier in their history, which are full of numerous treats, but this is still their defining moment. This was the perfect soundtrack to being ill. As the waves of my fever crashed over my shivering sweaty frame, Kevin Shield's woozy guitar eased my pain, as the barely decipherable vocals drifted in and out of my conciousness. Pitchfork recently relegated this from the No.1 position as their album of the 90's and replaced it with 'OK Computer'. Bzzzt. Wrong!


And to be honest, I could go on, but 10 is quite enough for now. Tune in again soon for a Hallowe'en treat and exciting adventures with my new digital camera.

You've never had it so good, you lucky people. Stay gorgeous.

Howfukkinamazinisthenublocpartysingle?!

Cracking one-off singles! Ambitious albums! Storming videos! I love this band.

Hello you gorgeous creature. Looking good. Did you lose weight? Your hair looks great. Anyway, we're freewheeling to the weekend. Here are ten reasons to be cheerful. Most of which you can put in your mouth. Orally fixated? Moi?





6. Danny Wallace's Yes Man book. The bloke who accompanied Dave Gorman in Are You Dave Gorman?, and accidentally started his own cult in Join Me does the positivity thing. He decides to say yes to every offer he receives. I can honestly say it's one of the most effortlessly funny and uplifting books I've ever read. Say yes more. It really works!

7. Art Brut's It's A Bit Complicated LP. Quite quite wonderful. Discovered during a game of Risk in a basement in Sussex. More than made up for my inability to maintain control of Eurasia. Going to see them live in December. Santa has come early...

8. Hallowe'en is almost upon us, and I have got the best costume idea for my friend's party! No, I'm not going to tell you what it is, it's going to be a surprise! Ok...well, the theme is anyone to do with music, living or dead. I intend to sit on the fence. That's all you're getting! And...

9. ...Christmas is on its way! Yup, you read that correctly. As Half Man Half Biscuit once sang, it's cliched to be cynical at Christmas. I fully intend to embrace yuletide with all my might. I dare say, this could be the best Christmas Banditoville has ever seen. Pass the spray on snow.

Mistah Kurtz—he dead.

A penny for the Old Guy

I

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

V

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.




Every time I read this poem it sends a shiver up my spine. Sublime.

Text from PoetryX

Red wine, weird wonderful records and sparkling witty conversation. I can see myself doing Peel nights for many years to come...

It's Sunday morning.

I left the flat in darkness, travelling through the streets to the sound of the dawn chorus. The sun gradually illuminating the world around me, turning the jet streams pink in the blue sky. I only left these streets a handful of hours before, and I can feel it in every muscle. But as tired as I am, there's nowhere I'd rather be than out in the chilly air of Fitzrovia.