Well, I appear to have hit a dry patch blog-wise, which is fine, but while the link-farm keeps plodding away on the sidebar this main bit in the middle is looking somewhat un-dynamic. So since I’m not finding myself fascinating enough to write about I’ll take this opportunity to point you towards some other blogs that I like.
Hydragenic: I met Stuart at a London blogmeet over a year ago and while no real contact was maintained I’ve been following his blog pretty regularly ever since. It works on a number of levels. Most importantly there’s a sense of self there – the style of writing, choice of links and selected quotes build up a nicely rounded image of the man. This is something I’ve always looked for in blogs and zines, something that’s not conversational and not formal and seemingly impossible to teach. But it’s Stuart’s subject matter that keeps me returning. Calmly obscure but never inaccessible he introduces me to things I’ve never heard of be they music, art, literature or simply ideas and ways of looking at the world. Above all Hydragenic shows that it’s not enough to just pull out the usual links and write about the minutiae of your life (um… anyway…). In order to achieve greatness you need that something else. Stuart gets close to this while giving the impression that he’s sitting in a big comfy chair smoking imported cigarettes and wearing a rather natty dressing gown. Which is how it should be.
More recommended blogs to follow, and feel free to mention any you like in the comments.
Thanks Pete, very kind indeed. “Calmly obscure” might well become my new motto. I’m laid up in bed with a chest infection at the moment (hence the sparse content this week), so your comments have cheered me up.
The link to the Radio 1 4AD feature was gratefully received. I have no concentration for reading right now, so that was a good way to pass a couple of hours.
You can consider it payback for introducing me to The Mountain Goats – quite wonderful music I can’t quite describe other than it’s not at all like Jeffrey Lewis.
Curiously enough, I was just checking out the 4AD site (more for, um, old time’s sake than anything else), and it appears from their news section that their latest signing is some bloke called Scott Walker.
In the general 4AD aesthetic (although more the aesthetic as it was, rather than as it is now) it makes perfect sense, I suppose.
Still think they should have signed David Sylvian all those years ago, though . . .
Oh, and I suppose I should add that I couldn’t help laughing at a couple of the typos on the playlist for that Radio 1 4AD Special – in particularly that classic Birthday Party track ‘Sunny Burning’ (mmm, sounds like a cheerful goodtime number), and they also played ‘Siren Song’ by This Metal Coil. Ouch.