GarethRDR

Playing catch up here, but that drum fill at 3:20 is absolute filth. Lovely stuff.

I forgot about the new Baroness... it's been a bumper month!

I've not gotten round to listening to any of them yet, but I've got the Empire State Bastard debut (a frankly ludicrous conglomerate of talent in Mike Vennart, Simon Neil and Dave Lombardo), the new Slowdive and the new Explosions In The Sky queued up for tonight. It's gonna be a reet good 'un.

I am ready, willing and able to virtually peruse and potentially buy people's unwanted CDs, incidentally.

I didn't even know Eno and Byrne had a collab album knocking about, there was definitely an audible "OOOOOOOOOOOO" when I flicked to that one.

Wouldn't play CDs in a car but nor would I stream, I'd just be sticking my jailbroken iPod Classic into the aux in (or worst case scenario a loaded USB stick, if no aux in available). Physical media and actually owning my shit trumps the "convenience" of streaming each and every time for me, and as I'm not a vinyl junkie, CDs are my go-to. The mooted decline in popularity has actually been a huge boon for me, as people are flogging off all their CDs at record stores, I get more stuff to browse through and they're priced ever cheaper. Last week alone I picked up the below across three record stores (including two new releases from an HMV, which is admittedly a very rare occurrence these days). Could have been more, Thirteen Records in Dundee (the store that was set up in the wake of Groucho's closing) happily let me in the back (KW.jpg) to flick through the shelves and boxes of second-hand CDs they hadn't gotten round to putting out yet. Could have happily spent hours down there, but at the 30 minute mark I could sense the burgeoning murderous intent from my wife.

I absolutely love the original (some spectacular use of it as an episode opener in the last season of Glow *sob*), but I do have a very specific association with that particular cover version... High Moon really did nail the trailers for this game (and the game itself).

NEW. FLIPPIN'. MCLUSKY. https://mcluskymclusky.bandcamp.com/album/unpopular-parts-of-a-pig-the-digger-you-deep

Rampant Lion... ...o.

Hence the thread.

Smith walked so Emery could run*. *Emery would have to run serpentine, as Gerrard had pooped himself all over the field.

Passed on seeing John Carpenter and Ryuichi Sakamoto at their respective last shows in London. I say "passed", it was more we didn't really have the money for it at the time but boy do I regret that. Spurred me to splash out the hefty sum for Brian Eno this year. Most recently not booking a hotel overnight for The Mars Volta's show at the Troxy, ultimately meaning having to leave before the last two songs as things ran late, those two songs of course being the two I was most excited to hear (Son et Lumiere into Inertiatic ESP).

There were some subtle implications througout Days Gone that it was set in Syphon Filter's universe. Great game that deserved more love, and I say that as someone who it passed by totally on release, didn't play it until it came up on PS Plus one month. The first game where the voice acting and direction was so good that I actively noticed it, Witwer in particular. If I remember I think the studio lead went on some tone-deaf rant about people not buying it full price on release, not a great look when it's an endemic industry problem to rush out half-cooked shite whilst trying to get as much of your cash up front or on pre-order as possible. Anyway yeah, great game. Shame it won't get a sequel, would have loved to get an SF crossover in the vein of Control/Alan Wake.

Some wee shite has slashed our rental car tires so we're losing our £200 deposit (and nearly got stung for the £1500 excess).

Better. Better get a bucket.

On hols up to Moray Firth and experienced the binary "spectrum" that is Scottish hospitality; waiter took my rather large t-bone order (KW.jpg) with a "nae bother", then didn't manage to catch himself before exclaiming "fook's sake" when I said I had room for the Belgian waffle. Bloody love it up here.

Blinked and missed Stars Of The Lid's Brian McBride passing earlier this week. Big gut punch, that.

Tommy Elphick's height is inversely proportionate to Lucas Digne's wages.

If Punk has to forfeit his "real" world championship because of suspension, when he comes back is he going to debut his "really real" world championship?

Anyway asking the real big question from last night... did Sue really pay the congestion/low emission charge just to bring her boys some home-baked treats? Babyface move of the year.

To play contrarian again, I think Collision has largely been very good (this week aside, which was always going to be the case for a go-home show the day before). This is the frustrating thing with Punk; the storytelling is always so good, so engaging, even when his ring rust slips through it doesn't matter. The Joe and Punk match was a banger and they nailed the story of the match (Pepsi Plunge finish was the cherry on top). To then ruin it all by throwing down over hurt feelings is so beyond stupid, quite aside from the fact that it seems to be so arbitrary what does and doesn't piss him off. Some of the stuff Kingston and Moxley said in their respective Punk feuds seemed far more pointed and inflammatory (and hilariously bang on the money in Mox's case) and it's all fine, but Jack Perry or Adam Page say something (that would have otherwise flown under the radar completely) and it's handbags and headlocks at dawn. It stinks of punching down somewhat, bully behaviour. The dichotomy of Punk. Same as it ever was. "Fragile mind. Fragile body. Fragile ego."

It was like being a sardine in a vacuum pack of months-old gooch juice.

I will never, ever, get that BO stench from the cramped penultimate tube ride out of my nostrils.

My only big disappointment was Shida dropping the title (and how patently **** obvious they made out that that was what was going down with her entrance). That said the crowd seemed to love it, I was possibly in the dissenting minority on that one! I absolutely did not have Julia Hart gets scissored on my bingo card for the show.

Wife and I are chilling at Boxpark for anyone wanting to join us. Gonna wait for the tube to die down before heading back to the hotel.