I'm back baby, hooking the Poco up to Chromebook to bring you some absolute heaters/links to ancient songs on YouTube.
I thought I'd share some music from the move, a soundtrack from Canton to Llantwit Major.
After handing the keys over to a buy-to-letter (why did I bother thoroughly cleaning the place for a landlord?), we jumped in the car, slapped on 6 Music and heard... Slipknot. I'm not looking up what song, it wasn't Wait and Bleed, so I don't care.
But just as we were passing St Athan, we got Feel Real Good by Manix, which was the energy we were going for...
I started CeefaxofLife in February 2009 out of pure boredom while living in Llantwit Major. Working part-time and trying to fill the time, this blog was a way to keep busy and keep my audio editing skills up, while I figured out what the hell I was doing.
And it's to Llantwit Major that I'm moving to today, with a wife, child, dog, car, and... career? Well, a full-time job anyway. A lot changes in 12 years. A lot stays the same.
You may have noticed a drop in posts recently, and that's to do with packing, panicking and stress that goes with a house move. That won't be rectified when we get through the door. We're not gonna have internet for a while, plus there's lots of DIY to do and footpaths to explore.
So I'm thinking it might be an apt time to wrap this up, bring it full circle, say goodbye to CeefaxofLife. Or I might get bored again and need an out. It's not like I'm planning to stop listening to music, far from it. I mean I'll have space to get the decks out again.
Anyway, we'll see. But for now, it'll be a little quiet here. Just like Llantwit Major.
We finally made it up Fan Brycheiniog to scatter my dad's ashes. We chose his birthday to do it. Better late than never.
Naturally, I've been thinking about my dad a lot. What we had in common (it's cricket season after all) and what we didn't. One area we didn't see eye-to-eye on was music. Now, my dad liked music, just none of the stuff I liked. And vice versa.
In particular, I found it bizarre that he treated all hip-hop, even classic rap like De La Soul and NWA, as this new fangled sound. Like, he was in his mid to late 20s when hip hop went mainstream, surely he grew up with it.
Then I got it.
Loo and I were watching The Hit List the other day. And I couldn't get a single one of the 2010s music questions right. 80s, 90s, 2000s yep. But the 2010s? Nothing in the tank. Loo smashed it mind, spending the decade in retail helps.
But I kept thinking, I was 25 when the 2010s started, surely I was still with it? I mean, I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too.
Goddamn it. Sorry, dad, I get it now.
I'm still not gonna get into Yes, though Roundabout ain't bad...
Another month, another random list of music I've been listening to. I say random, I think four of these are electronic tracks from the early 80s. And none from 2021.
As featured recently on Jake FM on NTS, this takes me back to my Llantwit days, all Ninja Tune and The Blue Room, hour-long bus rides to Cardiff and walks on the beach.
I listened to a great podcast on the history of Muzak the other day.
Yes, really.
And I really could have used it when I was writing my dissertation all those years ago. That classic was on in-store radio rather than Muzak but there's a lot of crossovers. And I still have an interest in the functionality of music. I suppose that's an overspill of liking dance music.
While listening to it I started thinking about Spotify and its mood playlists and how that could be our new Muzak. Whereas before Muzak was selected by management to extract the maximum output from workers, do we use Spotify playlists as muzak to extract the most work out of ourselves?
Then there's how the pandemic plays into this. I've always leaned on music to work to, especially instrumentals. Yet it's become essential since working from home for over a year if only to block out a toddler and dog and everything that goes on in a home as I type, and type, and type under the stairs, pressing buttons to make numbers appear in my bank account at the end of the month.
Jeez, that got depressing quick. Still, that shouldn't put you off listening to The Day The Muzak Died. It's a fun doc and I thought that even before Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo rocked up. He's there sharing stories of making E-Z Listening Muzak covers of Devo songs as a preshow soundtrack for the band's gigs in the early 80s.
Big New Age energy. Alongside Mongoloid, there's also excellent Muzak versions of Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 and Funkytown by Lipps Inc that are used in the podcast. There are worse ways to spend 30 minutes either under the stairs or elsewhere.
A Llantwit Major-based music blog for things post-punk, electronic and a little bit left of centre, with second-hand cultural musings, third-rate sociological stabbings and very rarely the odd mp3.
I also write the odd album review for Buzz Magazine and used to present Amser Electroneg on Bro Radio.
