Listening to...

Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
I cannot stop listening to this album at the moment.

Fleet foxes is a five-piece band from Seattle. Imagine The Beach Boys fronted by Neil Young. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? A great record and definitely one of the best albums of the year.

2 Big Shocks

Shock Number 1 - Elbow win the Mercury Music Prize
A fully deserved award for Elbow. A truly stunning piece of work. Was my previous post some sort of premonition? Bugger! Should've stuck on a tenner on it!

Shock Number 2 - Croatia 1 England 4
England managed to win 2 football matches this week. The first victory was an expected 2-0 victory against Andorra. The second a rather surprising defeat of Croatia. I cannot comment on the game as I didn't have access to it. Which is a bloody disgrace. Not even highlights.

Apparently Theo Walcott got a hat trick and Wayne Rooney got the other. Could this be the end of Becks?

Artist of the Month...September 2008

Elbow
Formed in 1991, and probably the most consistently brilliant band to come out of Manchester since The Smiths. A band who get better and better with every release.Their latest album, The Seldom Seen Kid (released in 2008) is their finest and is my favourite album of the year so far. The band have gained lots of critical acclaim but have not had the commercial success they so richly deserve.

In lead singer Guy Garvey, they have on of the best lyric writers of the last 20 years. I love the lyrics to Starlings from their latest album. See below:

How dare the premier ignore my invitations? He'll have to go.



So to the bunchy luncheons, the second on
 my list of things to do.
 At the top is stopping by your place of work and
 acting like I haven't dreamed of you and I and
 marriage in an orange grove. You are the only thing in any room you're ever in 
I'm stubborn, selfish, and too old.



I sat you down and told you how the truest love that's
 ever found is for oneself. You pulled apart my theory with a weary and disinterested sigh
. So yes I guess I'm asking you to back a horse that's good for glue
 and nothing else.

But find a man that's truer than, find a man that needs you
 more than I. Sit with me a while and let me listen to you talk about your dreams and obsessions 
I'll be quite and confessional
 The violence explodes inside me when I meet your eyes
 Then I'm spinning and diving like a cloud of starlings.

If you only buy one Elbow album in your lifetime then The Seldom Seen Kid, released in 2008 is the one. The others in order of greatness are:

1 - The Seldom Seen Kid - 2008
2 - Leaders Of The Free World - 2005
3 - Cast Of Thousands - 2003
3 - Asleep In The Back - 2001

Guy Garvey also hosts a radio show on 6 music. It's on too late for me, so i listen to it through BBC iPlayer.

Just Finished...

Design & Development for Palandri UK Website.

Hallmark Plants Ltd has been an exclusive UK distributor for the superb range of Vivai Palandri plants, trees, exotics and topiary for two year.

Visit Site

Just Finished...

Midday Contracts Leaflets

Manchester...so much to answer for

I went to Manchester for a stag do this weekend. As I was best man I put together a Manchester Survival Kit. In it I included a CD compilation of Manchester bands. Tracklisting as follows:

Rock 'n' Roll Star - Oasis
Elephant Stone - The Stone Roses
William It Was Really Nothing - The Smiths
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
Montevideo - Alfie
Reverend Black Grape - Black Grape
Not Nineteen Forever - The Courteeners
Then - The Charlatans
The Cedar Room - Doves
On A Day Like This - Elbow
Get The Message- Electronic
There's A Ghost In My House - The Fall
Wrote For Luck - Happy Mondays
This Is How It Feels - Inspiral Carpets
Hymn From A Village - James
Pacific 202 - 808 State
Atmosphere - Joy Division

Thankfully the weekend was a success. It's was pretty hard organising a stag do in a city I didn't know but everyone seemed to have a good time. We managed to get through 10 different bars. My favourite was called Big Hands. Pavement, Pixies and Sonic Youth on the jukebox. The worst was a heavy metal pub. I never want to go into a pub that has Pantera next to Sepultura on the jukebox ever again!

Just got to write my speech now!

Bargain!!!

The Complete West Wing: Seasons 1-7 (44 Disc Box Set)

The West Wing box set collection arrived over the weekend. A bargain from Amazon at only £73.97 for 44 DVDs.

Just need to find a spare 112 hours to watch it all!