Monthly Archive for August, 2008

a postcard from a tiny island: last month’s mix, august 2008;

Published on August 31, 2008 in music. 12 Comments Tags: , .
This entry is part 11 of 28 in the series monthly mix club

There’s something symbolic about the last day of August, as if – regardless of the weather or the continued adoption of British Summer Time – summer is truly over. The schools are back, the sales have been and most people have returned from their holidays. Whether it’s the overcast, muggy sky or relentless rain, it feels as if summer never really got going here in Scotland anyway – which is fine with me, as I’m not a fan of the heat, but at least once September begins you can’t really get away with pretending.

September is going to be a big month for me. There’s a magazine to finish, the Law Awards of Scotland (Jules and I found me a dress over the weekend, on which more later) and then, right at the end, my trip to Australia. I’ve got my visa and travel insurance, am ordering my dollars tomorrow and am ridiculously excited to see and celebrate the wedding of my lovely Twin.

Here’s a selection of songs for those grey, last days of summer.

Grey Weather: last month’s mix, August 2008
1. Silver Jews: “Tennessee”
2. High On Stress: “Cop Light Parade”
3. Kathleen Edwards: “Independent Thief”
4. Wake the President: “Sorrows for Clothes”
5. The National: “Blank Slate”
6. Sera Cahoone: “Couch Song”
7. Nina Nastasia: “Ocean”
8. Iron & Wine: “The Devil Never Sleeps”
9. Gregory and the Hawk: “Grey Weather”
10. The Cave Singers: “Elephant Clouds”
11. Shannon McArdle: “Leave Me For Dead”
12. The Walkmen: “Postcards from Tiny Islands”
13. Frightened Rabbit: “Backwards Walk”
14. Jenny Owen Youngs: “Keys Out Lights On”
15. Tom Waits: “Long Way Home”

[zipped .mp3s, left click and save]

LATE EDIT: Thank you to my bezzer, who’s just sent me a link to this slating of the lyrics to the Frightened Rabbit track. Have to confess having not even listened to the lyrics in this case – it’s the tune that I find so uplifting, which is at odds with my usual musical MO as I’m such a lyrical soul, haha. She just liked the “in Scotland, Bruce Springsteen is U2″ line although I’m not sure how turgid Irish stadium rock fits into their argument (ah, America, where crisps are “chips” and “fries” are something else entirely).

Monthly Most Played after the jump.

Continue reading ‘a postcard from a tiny island: last month’s mix, august 2008;’

what’s in a name;

Published on August 31, 2008 in a little more personal and quizzes/memes. 14 Comments Tags: , , .

Only through dint of sheer perseverance did I manage to get onto that World Names Profiler site, which is buckling under the weight of BBC-generated traffic and public demand. It’s quite interesting to see the roots of your family name and through which of the 26 covered countries it’s spread to, so it’s worth sticking with it or bookmarking for later.

A search for the popularity of the name Ferla revealed few surprises: it’s most common in Italy (specifically Sicily, at 113.06 FPM*) which I knew already. Popular first names: Paolo, Giovanni, Francesco, Salvatore and Guiseppe. The original name, however? Polish.

Top Countries for the surname Ferla:
1. Italy: 30.51 FPM* (*Frequency Per Million)
2. Luxembourg: 8.5 FPM
3. Switzerland: 7.67 FPM
4. Belgium: 6.88 FPM
5. Argentina: 6.16 FPM
6. New Zealand: 4.29 FPM
7. France: 3.7 FPM
8. Canada: 1.38 FPM
9. Great Britain: 1.31 FPM
10. United States: 0.89 FPM

But there was a big surprise in the detailed breakdown of the results: as most of the areas are, I’m assuming, farmland or not very densely populated, the third-top city for Ferlas in the world is… Glasgow!

you got more buzz than the bees;

Published on August 28, 2008 in a little more personal, blogging & pixlet and photography. 11 Comments Tags: , , , .

Let's Go Round Again (Day 1 of 365//Week 1 of 52)

Two big milestones today: first, this is my 500th post on Last Year’s Girl – which is not bad going for approaching three years of life. Back in October 2005 I was nervous about starting out on my own, away from the easy community feel of LiveJournal – little did I envisage that I’d one day ended up quoted in… oh, you know the rest. Thanks for sticking around guys, and for your always-insightful and often hilarious comments – it means a lot. I’ve been reading back a lot recently as part of my ongoing project to tag and categorise every entry and it’s interesting to see how much my writing style has changed, as well as to relive those older rants and obsessions. I’ve been blogging for almost ten years now, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The other big milestone is the arrival of my new SLR camera, and subsequent commencement of the next 365 days of photographic madness.

Having already completed the 365 Days self-portrait project, it would appear I’m a glutton for punishment. Not so. There doesn’t seem, to me, to be much point in paying for an expensive piece of kit if you’re not going to get the use out of it, and what better way to learn than for signing up for another year: Project 365? The flexibility in this project – in that my daily photo doesn’t necessarily have to be of myself – will allow me to practice on different styles and subjects, but since I know I’ll likely be throwing in a few selfies too I’m also committing to one of those a week.

It’s all very different on this side of the fence, and that this first shot is blurred and crappy is, I think, strangely appropriate. Needless to say, at lunchtime I’m off out to buy a book called SLR Photography for Dummies or something similar.

I’ve done it before… can I do it again? Let’s find out, shall we…

(The disjointedness of this entry was brought to you by a sleepy morning which I have spent trying to operate my work PC as if it was a Mac.)

PHOTO: Day 1.

just to tell you i got the wanderin’ blues;

Published on August 27, 2008 in a little more personal, books & literature, music, photography and travellin'. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

butterflies (2)

We spent the weekend in the north of Scotland, saying goodbye to one of my best friends before he sets off for a year in the wilds of New Zealand. The north of Scotland, from about Perth up through to the Cairngorms and beyond, is one of my favourite places to drive through: it’s all dirt tracks and signposts with storybook names pointing down roads that seem to lead to nowhere, and it makes this country of mine seem romantic and magical.

Forres is quite the picturesque wee town, famed for its elaborate floral displays. I visited a couple of times when I was a wee girl as my family have a significant connection to that part of the country, and it was nice to see how little had changed about the place.

Our connection centres on Pluscarden Abbey, a medieval monastery still inhabited by Benedictine monks which is situated just outside of Elgin. Both my grandparents are buried there – indeed, our visit at the weekend was my first since my Grandad’s funeral in 2005 – so it was a poignant visit and one I felt very privileged to share with Stevie and Jay. I took the above photograph of a butterfly in the grounds, as well as a few more which I’m sure would have looked all the better on the new SLR camera I received today (of which more later!).

I don’t like to get too personal on this blog, unless the alphabet meme insists I do, but even although it’s only for a year and we’ve never lived close by I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up a little when saying goodbye to my “big brother”. He will be missed.

Anyway. Despite the glorious sunshine, there was one dark cloud over my weekend in the form of the ongoing problems I’ve been having with my dodgy knees and flat feet. I kicked my shoes off when we got onto the bus to discover that my left foot had swollen up to the size of a baseball. Cue me frantically Googling, even although I know you’re not supposed to, and then spending the weekend limping with one insole out and one in.

ME: “The internet says it’s either gout or deep vein thrombosis.”
JAY: “If it’s deep vein thrombosis, then you’re not getting on that plane.”
ME: “It’s not deep vein thrombosis.”

A day in new shoes has seen the swelling move up to my ankle, so I’m dragging myself off to the doctor’s tomorrow to check there’s nothing serious going on.

Oh, PS! Since I haven’t blogged about Ryan Adams for a while: have you heard he has a book coming out? Infinity Blues will be out at some point via New York publisher Akashic. You can also sign up for… something at Cardinology.com. I’m not sure what that’s about, but I’m certain my inbox is gonna explode any day now.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE MOST EXCITING BIT: there’s a Cardinals UK tour in November. With an Edinburgh date which clashes with Death Cab at the loathesome Corn Exchange. Knew there was a reason I was yet to book my ticket for the latter.

Oh, and Jesse Malin is blogging again too…

in defence of: the x factor;

Published on August 26, 2008 in aff the telly and music. 9 Comments Tags: , .

It’s back. It’s been back for a couple of weeks actually, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had to blog about it in any form. And it may surprise you but I’m talking about The X Factor, that Saturday-night light entertainment behemoth that will nicely plug that gap between dinner and pub from now until Christmas.

It’s not cool to like reality television, so I’d be disappointed if I didn’t receive a bit of a slagging for flopping down in front of the show of an evening. My boyfriend, bless him, has to leave the room whenever he hears the opening notes of that frantic theme music. But I don’t believe in “guilty pleasures” (too little in life is enjoyable when you’re as cranky as me, and having been raised a Catholic I’ve had my fill of “guilt” too), so I’m outing myself as a viewer here and now.

Of course, it wasn’t always thus. When the idea of these carefully marketed, televised talent contests was first floated I tutted, considered myself above it all and muttered something about it being the death of the music industry as we know it. But much has changed in the intervening few years: the music industry as we knew it then has died anyway and there are much more heinous things at stake than the latest Pop Idol – Scouting For Girls being a prime example. The only thing the X Factor has killed off is any debate as to what the Christmas #1 might be, and that was never a British tradition worth getting excited over anyway.

We’re currently on the second of the open audition weeks. You’ll be familiar with the format so I’ll spare you the details, but it’s this first part of the process I find less enjoyable to watch – the deluded no-hopers, stripped of their dignity and paraded on television for the amusement of the pre-pub crowd. Of course, some of them are genuinely funny (the pair that Simon Cowell dubbed “Ant and Deaf” were, in particular, hilariously bad), but some break my heart. According to The Bitch Factor – the other blogging highlight of my Sunday, along with PostSecret – these people are called back for a separate audition on a different day with the television judges. I knew that only the best and the worst got through the “pre-audition” stages to what you see on TV, but at least during my sister’s ill-fated attempt to become one of Girls Aloud the second audition happened on the same day.

Then there are the “sob stories”. I almost switched the TV off last week when, to a suitable mawkish musical backdrop, young Alexandra from Bridgend was questioned about her hometown’s tragic media reputation. But I didn’t, so to try and get preachy about it would make me a filthy hypocrite.

I’m holding out for the live shows – who will we love and loathe this year? Will there be another Same Difference? Will the £1 million recording contract – a great prize, as long as the winner is grounded enough to look at past form and realise that it means very little in the long term – go to yet another bland boy who’ll be reduced to pub telly a la Shane Ward in the future? And will we miss Sharon Osborne… ph let’s not kid ourselves, Cheryl Cole and her amazing wardrobe is fabulous. I can only promise not to bore you with talk of it much.

PS Mountain Goats release tour-only EP. Tracks from which will, thankfully, be available via pay-what-you-want download to those of us not blessed with a visit from the band this autumn. New Mountain Goats = squeals from me in whatever format.

phony olympic mania has bitten the dust;

Published on August 25, 2008 in a little more personal, current affairs, modern life is rubbish and music. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

As we headed into Inverness to get the bus home yesterday, we heard a little of the Olympics closing ceremony played on the radio (it lost a little in translation it had to be said: “here comes a big red bus, oh here’s Myra Hindley“, that sort of thing). “I bet if Joe Strummer was still alive,” Jay remarked with eerie prescience, “the organisers would have tried to get him to perform London Calling at the opening ceremony.”

I laughed. I wish I hadn’t, because over dinner David informed me that the song was in fact covered at yesterday’s London handover “party” by none other than the rock bottom of the so-called “landfill indie” bands we touched on the other week: Scouting For Girls.

But it gets worse. Because I’m a sucker for punishment, I came home and went a-Googling. I couldn’t find the travesty of a performance (which is why I soothed myself, and you should too, by the Clash/Springsteen/Dave Grohl* live performance of the song I’ve posted above), but I found better in the shape of a recap by Andrew Collins, who seems of the sort of mindset I would have been had I watched the thing. And so now I don’t have to.

Did Joe Strummer die so that thousands of flag-waving tourists could wave them to one of his finest songs?

Apart from that, I’ve had a great wee day. Saw some old friends, bought some new shoes to try and offset the latest round of problems with my knees/feet/insoles (which I’m sure I will be regaling you with to comedy effect when I can find the energy). Only it’s bloody difficult to find anything suitable, and I thought I was going to end up only going home with these which are awesome but completely inappropriate for the Scottish winter even if I’m cheating by spending some of it in the middle of an Australian summer. In the end, I settled on these.

Back to work tomorrow, boo. No rest now til Melbourne!

*My bad, that’s with Elvis Costello at the 2003 Grammies, isn’t it? D’oh.

you should blog about: gregory and the hawk;

Published on August 21, 2008 in music. 11 Comments Tags: , , , , .

gregory and the hawk

Thieving a feature name from my dear American friend but lacking the dedication required to devote a week’s worth of posts to the topic, I’m moved to write about one of my favourite new discoveries of late.

Gregory and the Hawk is the stage name of native New Yorker Meredith Godreau, whose second album proper Moenie and Kitchi is out in October. The odd choice of name was apparently selected to avoid the inevitable pigeonholing as another kooky indie singer-songwriter, but the vocals behind it sound like nursery rhymes from the ghost in the cupboard under the stairs. Godreau’s dreamy, spellbinding voice manages to swing between delicate and fierce in the way that only little girls can be, often in the one song, over a lo-fi backdrop of guitar and shuffling drum-beat. You can stream a couple of tracks at the inevitable Myspace, or download “Ghost” below as a taster.

MP3 Gregory and the Hawk – Ghost [YSI]
PREORDER Moenie and Kitchi [via FatCat in the UK]

A couple of bits and pieces too, in case I don’t get the chance to blog again before I head up North for the weekend: I’ve joked that my taste in music is America-centric often enough, but sometimes a tour gets announced that makes you wish really, really hard that you lived a couple of thousand miles to the east. Somebody had better get to one of these and tell me allllllll about it.

And you heard Ryan Adams was blogging again, right? Now serving tour etiquette for those lucky enough to catch another awesome tour: the Cardinals with Oasis (a band who I hope to see in November, but have so far drawn a blank when it comes to tickets).

[I]f there are some new folks there who want to hear “come pick me up” and get weird, if it upsets you, just be polite and maybe remind them “Ryan is really deaf in one ear and heard of hearing in general so he just can’t hear you,” you know, or whatever.

adrian sudbury;

Published on August 20, 2008 in current affairs. 1 Comment Tags: .

A quick post because I’ve just found out that Adrian Sudbury, the journalist-turned-blogger whose regular updates on his battle with leukaemia and campaign for better bone marrow education in schools made for touching and often hilarious reading, died last night.

As a journalist of the same age, and for other reasons, Adrian’s story was one I found incredibly moving and I’m now on the blood donation register thanks in part to his campaign. Blogging as recently as last week about a phonecall with the Prime Minister regarding his campaign, Adrian achieved more in his last few months than most of us will in a lifetime. He was an inspiration.

His former employers the Huddersfield Examiner have opened an online book of remembrance.

Protected: alphabet soup: innocent when you dream;

Published on August 18, 2008 in a little more personal and music. Enter your password to view comments. Tags: , , .

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you own me, there’s nothing you can do;

Published on August 14, 2008 in music and the media. 16 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

The above is The National performing new song “A Thousand Black Cities” live at the Vega in Copenhagen the other night. Good stuff. I haven’t grown tired of this band since the day I fell for them [via You Ain't No Picasso].

Bless you, internet. The music industry might think you are smothering it, but me? I love the fact that one of my favourite bands, despite being relatively unheard of in my country, can air a new song somewhere else entirely and I can stream it at my desk the next day. And I love that blogging gives me the ability to share these bits and pieces as well as keeping a record for myself – sorta like the boxes of magazine clippings I kept on top of my wardrobe as a kid only in interactive, multimedia format.

You did note the sarcasm when I joked about the internet smothering the music industry above, right? This has been a banner year for those bands and record labels who, rather than stick their heads in the sand and hope that the nasty downloaders will be scared off by threatening letters and botched prosecutions in the US, have recognised that the internet offers unprecedented opportunity for marketing directly to those hardcore faithful who’ll hang on a band’s every lyric. Radiohead got the ball rolling in the most high-profile way of course, but it was Paul Westerberg’s 49:00 project (since pulled, ironically for “copyright reasons“) that got me most excited.

Hell, it all gets me excited. It shouldn’t really, because so many of the people involved at least in the more “independent” side of the music industry are my age, and must be wise to the potential new forms of technology offers for the promotion of their product, but it does. The other day I got an email from Jagjaguar, letting me as somebody who had purchased Okkervil River material directly through them before that the new album is now available for preorder. That’s not the best bit though – preorder packages come with a poster set, and an electronic version of the album prior to release date.

Now, I can’t be a hypocrite here: the album leaked a while ago, and I’ve heard it. But far better to have an official, properly mastered electronic version, while waiting for the physical product that I still love above all else.

And Jagjaguar wouldn’t be this worthy of my praise without a web 2.0 friendly mp3 from the forthcoming album:

[MP3] Okkervil River – Lost Coastlines [courtesy of Secretly Canadian]