Hip
I availed myself of a FIRST DAY ticket, meaning that I could hop(?) on and off the bus at any point, so I took the opportunity of hobbling down to the HMV in Commercial Road to purchase the long-awaited "Wall Of Eyes", the second studio album from THE SMILE (Them Off Of Radiohead)...
I'll need to 'live with it' for a while, 'cos it's what we might call a 'GROWER'. In other words, it's probably not as 'immediate' as their first album "A LIGHT FOR ATTRACTING ATTENTION", which was my own "Album O'The Year" in 2022. But they're already a strong contender to clinch it for a second time (mainly because it's the ONLY new album I've bought so far this year!) Oh! and I still haven't got around to watching the lads' orchestrally-enhanced performance at the 6MUSIC bash in March...
I treated myself to a neat little PORTABLE CD PLAYER for my birthday. It replaces a trusty SONY beast that had given great service over the years, but now appears to have a DEAD LASER. I needed something that would fit in a rucksack pocket to keep me 'entertained' during all those _L___O___N___G_ waiting times at the HORSE PICKLE or on public transport. This one promises longer battery life (a boon!) and will also pick up RADIO 3. The supplied earphones are typically crap, but I have some old APPLE 'buds that will do the biz. (Needless to say, I don't want to take the vastly superior AKGs 'on the road')
Week from Monday 22nd April 2024 - I've been feeling particularly ROPEY this week, no doubt due in part to my gnarl'ed bod adjusting to the "FRIDAY IS THE NEW WEDNESDAY" shift in pharmaceutical routine. I've generally been taking it easy, but on Thursday I have to report to the 'ENABLEMENT CENTRE' at St Mary's to be fitted for a BACK BRACE... which doesn't sound like a bundle of larfs...
But things have taken a step forward on the LOGISTICS front, as I am now able to send off for my FREE BUS PASS, which should make getting about that much easier (and cheaper!).
CORSET ISN'T... The Back Brace is actually not too bad! I'd visions of some sort of elaborate tubular scaffolding affair, with maybe one of those plastic neck cones that they put on sick dogs. But this is a very discreet assemblage of straps and pads that are a living testament to the magic of VELCRO. Rather like wearing a fitted rucksack, only without the sack. Or the ruckus.
I dug out AN ARTFELT RANT from this here diaryblooggydoodah #TwentyYearsAgo. The 'world music' magazine SONGLINES had done a 'special' on "GLOBAL HIP-HOP" which had me pondering about how certain 'world music' styles had become somewhat homogenised - "reggaetón", anyone? ("If that's the direction that world music is taking now, then I'm not following...") But I thought it might still have some relevance in this time of EUROVISION!?!
As Humphrey Lyttleton might say on "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue", a song is made up of two elements, the words and the tune. For a "song" to hold ANY appeal for me, the "tune" must have "That Certain Something" going for it, to be musically stimulating or AT LEAST INTERESTING.
The "words" have to convey a message or, failing that, the vocals have to trigger an emotional response on a purely musical level. If the song fails to stimulate me in either of these ways, then I simply can't be bothered with it, because there is far too much music out there that will!
I am not a music journalist - I have to pay for my CDs and tickets!
Rap is a spoken word medium. The words are pretty much the only thing it has going for it. If the message is lacking in conviction, or lost in translation, then what is left? A bunch of blokes shouting and posturing on a stage. Without "substance" this can have no appeal on any level, other than that of "attitude" or "street cred". It has been suggested that young African kids have latched on to hip hop, because it is a way of communicating their "message" in a way that doesn't need "expensive" instruments, by the power of the voice alone.
All well and good, but in doing so they abandon a little of their own culture and merely copy the sounds of the American acts they no doubt aspire to emulate. Let's not forget that, though we "world" music enthusiasts might like to believe otherwise, bootleg cassettes of Michael Jackson shift far more units in these territories than any "local" artists. Why else would hip hop acts from Cape Town or Lagos (or Manchester, for that matter) acquire phoney, drawling American accents? By becoming clones of their American role models, they are no less ridiculous than the interchangeable, fashion-victim, bling-bling, Ali G lookalikes who populate the UK charts, haranguing and posturing like a bunch of thugs.
There is some good hip hop out there. Some artists actually have something to say. Some do it in an original and stimulating way. Some construct their music from interesting sources. I just don't hear it, 99% of the time... If I want to hear someone shouting incomprehensibly, I'll go down to the bus station on a Saturday afternoon... If you enjoy this music simply because it is "cred", then you are no less of a fashion-victim than the spoonfed masses who crave the latest manufactured PopAcademyIdolBoyGirlBand product. If you want your "world" music served up as that palatable "BROWN SOUP" with all the sharp bones left out and if , for you, "world" music is just another style accessory, then stick with your GlobalLoungeBarChillOutBuddhaSpiritualVibes club DJ compilations.
I enjoy listening to the music of other cultures when Anglo-American music fails to stir me on any level. If that "music of other cultures" ends up sounding exactly like western music, then where is the appeal?
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