Sixteen

The next instalment in my understated classics series is "Stray" by Aztec Camera. Released in 1990, it features two hit singles and the cover is my favourite colour: green.

Heavyweight is a podcast about “heavyweight” issues, in the sense of burdens on the soul, rather than the burning issues of the day. It’s presented by Jonathan Goldstein, who was the host of the WireTap podcast. Each week he helps someone resolve an issue from their past. These include resolving family feuds and understanding mid-life depression.

Mira Schendel was a Brazilian artist who was active throughout the middle to late twentieth century. She is considered to be one of South America's best artists. Known mostly for her abstract paintings, she also experimented with sculptures and installations. Many of her works use text and semiotics to explore and define possible meanings for more abstract works.

This month's album digest features albums by Wilco, M.I.A., Local Natives, and a collaboration between Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Suzanne Ciani.

A few weeks ago, Ingrid and I went to see The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre.

Witness the pressure of a new notebook. You sit at your desk, trying to get it started with an amazing piece of writing. Something worthy of that crisp new page. You want it to tumble out of you, fully formed and coherent. Something that justifies you abandoning the previous one. As though first drafts don't exist. You cast yourself into the role of shaman, of seer - of someone gifted a prophetic vision. But it's a role that you cannot and will not fulfil.

A little man wearing a bow tie, and possibly a fez, scurries into the middle of the frame clutching a clapboard. Breathing heavily he hoists the clapboard up to chest height. He holds the clapper up then brings down while slurring "This is a blog post about not having a clue, take 43". He exits to the right of the frame.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I allowed Spotify to pick some new albums for me this month. It chose some noodly ambient techno, a captivating slice of World Jazz, a moody gothic hallucination, and a concept album about humans being rescued by aliens. All in all a pretty good job! Here is the list:

Because I couldn't find any albums coming out this month that I wanted to review for the album digest, I decided to let Spotify pick the albums to listen to. I listened to my algorithmically chosen Discover Weekly playlist one week and selected albums based on the songs that I liked the most. The album also had to be released in 2016. The selections are ones that got away.

We went to see Prom 47, an afternoon prom at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The bill included a brand new work by Piers Hellawell, along with a Cello concerto by Haydn and a symphony by Tchaikovsky. These were all performed by the Ulster Orchestra. The conductor was Rafael Payare. The tickets were an affordable £17 each which isn't bad at all given that we were sat in the second row of the circle. We had a great view.

Album Digest July 2016 consists of a bumper five albums, mainly because I couldn't work out which one to drop. I think they're all pretty good though it's great to hear new music from The Avalanches after all this time.

Acts of the Assassins is an interesting novel by Richard Beard that retells the story of the apostles and their deaths. It uses a modern crime genre style and a contemporary setting. The author himself refers to it as "Gospel Noir".

I give the impression of planning these posts but to be honest I came across an article about Maxwell a few weeks ago and fondly remembered my cassette copy of this album. The joy of Spotify is that it's easy to dig up old favourites. The recent warm weather makes for a good opportunity to enjoy the sultry embrace of "Embrya" once more.

Uyuni to Tupiza

I last wrote about a JG Ballard novel nearly three years ago. That one - "High-Rise" - has since been made into a film. The subject of this post is "The Unlimited Dream Company", my favourite among his novels: a silly romp through suburban sexual repression that glitters with sinister wit. Even after many read-throughs I still can't work out whether it is a crazy masterpiece or something light that we're meant to throw away after reading.

The shiny app embedded below allows you to explore the number of packets you need to complete the Panini sticker album for this summer's Euro tournament. This builds on the results I presented in an earlier post and allows you to explore how many fewer packets you need to buy when you have more friends to swap with. You can also vary the number of runs performed because the model runs considerably slower with more swappers involved.

Album Digest June 2016 is a poppy batch of albums. We have the return of my long-time favourites Roxette and the heroes of my South American tour Tegan & Sara. There's some dance music in the form of Flume's album "Skin": an Australian presence ahead of the new Avalanches album next month. Finally there is the first of two new albums by Islands - both were released back in May but one gets reviewed this month and the other next month.

As a follow-up to my post about the Euro 2016 Panini Stickers, I've now completed the collection with the help of an online swapping site and by buying the last 39 stickers directly from Panini. I also managed to write a new simulator, this time with additional collectors involved.

Britain voted to leave the EU this week. It made for an angry and confused Friday morning. I posted snippy comments on Facebook at a rate of about one every fifteen minutes. I also knew that there was nothing I could do. Even when you feel like Charlton Heston at the end of "Planet of the Apes", you have to suck it up and accept that sometimes things don't go as you like.

Time for a little gear review. This is the Logitech K380 keyboard. It pairs with devices wirelessly over Bluetooth. I bought it to use with my Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. It runs on 2 AAA batteries, but the supplied batteries are not rechargeable. The keyboard is light and portable but you definitely know you have it in your bag.

Sound the conspicuous consumption klaxon! 📣 I know it's foolish but I decided to collect the Panini stickers for the Euro 2016 tournament this summer. I think it's a more edifying waste of money than a series of group game accumulators that don't come off. If this week's long read in The Guardian is anything to go by, we really shouldn't be giving any more of our money to betting companies. The album also looks better than any of the official books. Anyway, this post celebrates my inner collector/geek and the beauty of the shiny sticker!

Album Digest May 2016 features the work of four bands or artists that I have reviewed in previous album digests. I also own (or will own) all of these albums on vinyl, so it's handy that I've recently bought myself a record player!

2016 marks the centenary of the birth of Werner Bischof, the talented Magnum photojournalist who died in Peru in 1954, aged 38. He travelled widely, making the most of an incredible talent for photography. After the second world war, this led him all over Europe to document its aftermath. As the cold war began, Bischof found himself documenting events further afield.

"Something Coming Through" is a science fiction novel set in the near future. A few years after a brief nuclear war known as "The Spasm", an alien race known as the Jackaroo introduce themselves to humanity. The novel is funny, thoughtful, and politically charged. I found it to be a good read.

This month's album digest is a mixture of comparisons. First we compare the fortunes of old hands Underworld to even older hands the Pet Shop Boys. After that I've found two dance albums, one that I liked and one that I didn't. I find it quite hard to write about dance music and so the comparison is quite useful. Sometimes it helps to work out why you like one thing and not another.

Just before Easter Ingrid and I went to Lausanne in Switzerland for a few days. It was a much-needed break and my first trip out of the UK since I got back from South America.

The Orb return with a new EP on the Kompakt label called "Alpine".

I thought I'd add three of my favourite David Bowie albums to my review of Blackstar to a form an album digest tribute. Also among my favourites but not included here is "Outside", which will be included in the understated classics (currently it's number 66) at some point. I thought about bumping "Outside" up the running order but I'd like to be objective about it when its turn comes.

For Ingrid's birthday, we went to see The Nutcracker performed by the Moscow City Ballet at The King's Theatre in Southsea.