Solitude.

Angel.

Faith.

Will Bryant giveaway.

Booooooom are asking you to comment on a poster by graphic illustrator Will Bryant to win a print of his work.

Will is a gifted young man. He already has a huge not to mention colourful portfolio, his work sticking to a personal style throughout. Yet still managing to bring something new forward within each project.

Illustrator, come dreamer Will Bryant 'makes stuff because I
get sad if i don't.'

With an impressive online showcase of his art and makes, it is hard to narrow this down to highlights.

Wolf & Cereal Face in his Kitsune Noir project, and illustrative self promotion I Made this for You lo-fi publication are worth a look.



Say hello to Will.

Enter the Booooooom competition.

Birds.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

This came on my iPod today.

It took me somewhere else.

Calm.

Rust.

Fever Ray.

One half of The Knife, Karin Dreijer Andersson, returned to music this year with a new solo Album.

Erie, magical and distorted (as expected) it made The Guardian's No2 of album's of 2009.

The latest video, directed by Jens Klevje and Fabian Svensson, a dynamic director duo, is truly an amazing piece of art. Musically, visually, the whole canvas.

The dark and dreary piece only adds to the depth of Fever Ray's voice, allowing you to peer further into her soul.

This is Fever Ray with Keep the Streets Empty for Me:



More info on Fever Ray

The XX.

The XX's UK tour comes to an end up North, in March 2010. The coy quintet are heading to the Cockpit in Leeds on 8 March 2010. Having recently toured America with Friendly Fires.

The XX are back on the road in the New Year with a headline tour of their own, playing Shepherds Bush Empire in London on 3 March.

The XX at the Cockpit means eclectic tone treats for those of you in and around Leeds. If you miss that, or Britain's Got Talent is on, then they are back over in Liverpool on 10 March.

Making a crack ridden pavement into a subtle stage in Amsterdam, The XX are melodically crafted plucking at classic acoustic guitars. Occasional traffic drones by unnoticed, adding to the raw feel of the music.

I reckon I better buy m'sen a ticket:


Oliver and Romy playing Crystalised in Amsterdam.

More info on The XX and tour dates

Bricks.

Vacuum.

A maze of space,
I implode.

Savour nothing,
drag me forever.

Escape,
a never ending idea of time.

Float, linger
rot.

Exist in a tunnel.

Regrettably.

I'm not alive right now,
darkness whispers.

Nothing is certain,
unsure.

Questionable,
this isn't me.

To feel like me,
simple.

De fragment,
build you up for nothing.

Simple.

Falling.

To know everything, less we forget.
To hold on to it, less you forget.
To hear everything, ask everything.
To never stop.

To never be in the shadows.
To never have to ask.
To never being without that.
To know that there is no never.

To know that.
To know you.
To know me.

To stop.

Reflection.

Web.

Digital Age theives?

Paul Bradshaw, author of the Online Journalism Blog, recently published a post that got me thinking. As his posts on the development of Web2.0 usually do.

This time I threw my thoughts into the conversation.

Below is my response to his post on how bloggers are viewed by those media execs types.

My response on the Online Journalism Blog to Paul's post.

The mention of bloggers and our parasitic ways, of supposedly leeching from mainstream media is just narrow minded, and money focused rather than information.

We are a network that feeds each other, tribes of people with the same interests, re-tweeting what we liked to hear. We create our own news away from a centralised hub of ‘validated’ content.

When writing my reasonably small thesis on the use of Twitter as a breaking news platform it became apparent, even then, that this tool would allow citizen journalism to flourish. Away from the reliance of say, the BBC, to collect and disseminate our news for us- 7 July bombings for example.

In its early days, and I am sure even more so now, twitter broke news ahead of Reuters- those PR companies that Murdoch and co relies on. Is Reuters even as valued as before?

Bloggers create their own news and network, tweeting, searching, bookmarking. Building on an already established genre of journalism. To say that this is amateur and trivial is denying its purpose and its value.

Blogging is both valuable and diverse, and could not be more of a reflection of the people that read it, as well as create it.

Rewind.

It's sudden, lost
forgotten.
A mere photo in my eyes.

Riding, unnoticed
past me
at the speed of light.

A summer solstice lasting seconds.
Gone
refusing to change before my eyes.

Blink and you'll miss me.

Dusk.

Flight.

Depth.

Look Up.

Sorry I'm Late.

There is a certain charm about stop motion that you can't escape.

Tomas Mankovsky captures you in this short stop motion animation. The dream like sequence defies gravity, the journey shot on a camera suspended from the ceiling. Cellophane, crayons and cardboard cut outs, all the pieces from your child hood craft box; fused together and brought to life. Pillows, pushbikes and tire swings join the fun within the naive setting.

What is stop motion if it isn't naive, it's as it should be. Tomas Mankovsky's use of colour, texture and lighting birth a sense of nostalgia. Even if it is the first time you are watching it.

Why don't you pause a little, and escape in this:



More footage is available on Sorry I'm Late website.

Wave.

Beef.

Horizon.

Carbon.

I clench my fists.
Warming what is left of me.

Like a rusty old iron gate. I wither.
Slowly away.

Standing strong,
reacting inside.

The glow of decay.

My own metal.
Spent.

You and Me.

I know you are talking. You always talk.

I'm listening... here.

Wait.

Rigid.

Through me.
In me, and beyond me.
Unravel, unravel it all.
Build a scaffold.

Distance.

Wasps in November

Go now, if only for a minute.
Lurking, teasing,
rolling over inside.
Static.

Hot white feelings of dread seep through.
Time is nothing.

Time is now.
Track lines running through my insides,
dragging up dreams.
Warmth.

Time is then.
Parallel entities, entirely winding.

Time.
Leaves fall.
You're not meant to be here.

Untitled.

Post came too late.
Strike me down in the dark.

The Past.

Please feel free to browse

Duck.

Pitty.

Hence why we fall, to learn to get back up again.
To only get knocked back down once more.

Just a slice.

At Peace.

Heritage.

Migration.

Realisation.

Sorrow.

A magpie haunted me,
taunting me at my window.

Knowing something I did not.

Considered Vinyl.

Leeds Fine Art Student Fundraiser 08

Brudenell Social Club....
Flowe, Ellen and the Escapades, Süp and Ben Graves

Leeds University 3rd Year Fine Art Students hosted a Fundraiser for their Degree Show, at the Brudenell Social Club, Hyde Park back in December. The oh-so-cheap beers were flowing from behind the working man's bar, and quaint little cakes were selling, well like hot cakes. The night began with a certain subtlety to it, with the student crowd dribbling in through the doors, acoustic chords echoed through the old aesthetics of the Social.

Charming singer songwriter Ben Graves, originally from Wolverhampton but resident in Leeds, kicked off the night’s shenanigans with a nice hat, and even nicer guitars chords, picks and melodies. Graves voice effortlessly rang through the club, obvious bluegrass influences and inspirations from acoustic folk lord Damien Rice plucked at my lobes. Graves continued to busk, singing confidently, peeling back music to a classic acoustic guitar, him and a stage. Melodic chords, deep passionate vocals and an evident narrative to his songs made Graves a hit with a less than apparent crowd.


Süp slipped on the stage with pencil skirts, guitars and violins. A personal favourite of the night Süp oozed character and originality, consisting of two charming female characters, Emma Greenfield and Emma Kraemer. Greenfield lightly strummed her guitar; “drip, drop, drip, drop” cooing at the microphone, Kraemer stood barefooted, snaking with the rhythm and flow of her violin. Quirky lyrics matched their presence, “take me away from this melancholy place, where everything is not quite what it seems, take me away to a land where they don’t say the polar opposite of what they mean”, simple, enjoyable and true to life. As they warmed the stage, the growing crowd showed their appreciation for the near perfect harmonizing and original take on naive folk.


In between a few more cupcakes and trips to the bar the night progressed and larger bands donned the miniscule stage. Ellen and the Escapades were up next, surprisingly all managing to fit on there. Crammed on to the stage they seemed to please the crowd, with their bluesy, country twangs but being technically gifted, possessing the ability to read sheet music since the age of nine and obtaining a music diploma doesn’t make Ellen and the Escapades an unstoppable midst of fresh local talent. Yes, I would be cruel and wrong to say that Ellen and the Escapades were not well equipped with the ability to play music and thread technical melodies together, but there is just too much going on all at once (and not in a good way). They seemed nervous, stringing together good arrangements and keeping it together on stage, but leaving an air of dissatisfaction, on my part at least. Ellen and the Escapades cross the folk, melodic-indie barrier, at times unpleasantly tapping at a mature Radio 2 audience. Ellen’s voice has a warming quality and ‘Yours to Keep’ stripped to the bare essentials, was their best of the night. Lyrics were true and soulful with large hints of a Katie Melua influence along the line. The band have just recently released their first EP and have a string of local, live gigs lined up, including a headline at the Cockpit in March.



Flowe then hit the stage with more than enough confidence and pizzazz, showing The Brudenell that they are very much a unit, possessing their own identity and sound. Boasting a banner of Her Royal Highness stating ‘make electro history’ at the front of their set, they grabbed the crowds’ attention with their cocky take on a performance. As I listen along with the rest of the rabble, hints of very early Kings of Leon spring to mind, with Celtic influences thrown in hear and there for good measure. Flowe are a cheeky alternative/indie-folk English talent. I couldn’t help but watch the drummer; work out combinations with ease and the rest of my time was spent watching the front man swagger and swoon, his voice brimming with an eclectic 80’s cult band sound and feel. Pint after pint was consumed as the night went on, plenty more cupcakes were nibbled and songs after song Flowe persistently impressed, this quintet from a little further south of Leeds are definitely ones to watch.

Piracy & Lily Allen.

Lily has gained a strong online social network, and is not afraid to use it.

Forever tweetin' her whereabouts, insights into her appreciation for the England cricket team or winding up Chris Moyles, "I suggest we start calling him tedious Dave as he spends far more time doing his aptly named link than being funny".


Lily has racked up over 1 Million followers on Twitter, directing them through her tweets to see her view on the recent dispute about P2P music file sharing.

Lily Allen, equiped with her online status and a GQ shoot, gained an impressive 14 thousand profile views whilst actively blogging about the issue.

A month on and her blog has closed, "I have shut down the blog it is getting too much". Leaving influential breadcrumbs in the social sphere.

Lily's constant tweets and her ability to network with the right people, both on and offline drove a meeting on the controversial subject to be held in London after much attention from netizens and fellow web savvy celebrities.

Tweeting mid morning on 24 September that "there is a meeting today in London where artists are meeting to discuss Piracy. My job done." It is fair to say that Lily has used social media to it's full potential, birthing a policy meeting via an online conversational networking platform.