Originially posted on The WyvernHawk...

Why hello there, may I introduce myself as the latest member to the Wyvern covern. I will be posting music and music technology bits alongside the usual games, films and television banter from Geeky Tom, Crabs, Saltdog and the Other Girl (and of course the costume drama and naughty work related nonsense from RGB).

2008 has been an excellent year for the musical underdog. The criminally underrated geniuses Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize, the much maligned Kings of Leon finally converting the entire country to their sexy country swagger; but the biggest triumph of 2008 has to be the return of Leonard Cohen. The seminal singer songwriter, now 78, only decided to tour to claw back some money after a manager swindled him out of $10 million. Yet after a fully sold out 30 date tour culminating in an incredible performance at Glastonbury, his vicious twisted love song Hallelujah now sits at the top of the charts in both the number one and number two spot. Hallelujah to that.

Even the crap music this year has been better than the crap music of other years. Duffy may be bad, but she is a homage to all things girl group sixties and northern soul – I never thought I could dislike that. Even The Ting Tings, though over exposed and irritating are something of an ode to all that is good about Blondie.

Other honorable mentions for the best moments of 2008, have got to be all things lofi and Americana – Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Deerhunter, as well as the swirly attitude of MGMT and Santogold.

So I’ll leave you with the obligatory YouTube clip. With this tip for 2009... Passion Pits. There’re just ace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0mBhSeejA4

and I think you’ll agree that hearing once is a good thing. However hearing it again and watching THIS.MAN.DANCE is even better

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kr1wh4Qexcg

Give me one moment in time

There's nothing I like more than being distracted by a beautiful website, especially one based on user submissions. I thought I had found social-network-enabled sites for all my major passions with Last.FM, Forkd, Goodreads and Flickr - however Hitotoki taps into another love of mine, the short story.

Hitotoki means a single point in time. And that is just what the site features, short stories marking a specific time, place and experience in a city. It features London, Paris, New York, Toyko, Shanghai and Washington DC. Some of the stories are sad, some silly, some little more than an observation. But each one is lovely in its own way. The latest London story is about a guerilla gig on a grey afternoon and I find the tale of that first job interview particularly evocative.

MPs indie speech

I love this story, a keen music fan and Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker managed to mention five Shed Seven song titles in a recent speech on the environment in Parliament.

He swears it was a coincidence, but then all Shed Seven fans are in denial aren't they... Ahem.

I found this story on the blog of Andrew Collins, of radio ('Collins and Marconie's Hit Parade') and print ('Where Did It All Go Right?') fame. See the original story here...

I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else....

I can't seem to get the embed functionality to work, but this is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BowmW12yrpw

so cute.

More photo success!

I found out today that another photo I have taken is going to be used online. My photo of the toilets at Max Fish, a bar in the Lower East Side of New York, is going to be used in the latest Schmap guide to New York. It's not a guide I have come across before, last time I went to New York I planned my shopping trips meticulously with the amazing Jargol.

Faces in Places

I'm a little over excited to announce that one of my pictures has appeared in a photo blog!

A photo of my camera case has made it into my friend's Faces in Places blog...

The blog is really very funny and clever and all the pictures are focussed a lot better than mine too!

http://facesinplaces.blogspot.com/

Cheeky

There was a quirky article in The Guardian by Tony Naylor whilst I was away, it was celebrating all that's bad about lad's bands - The Twang, (my secret guilty favourite band) Shed Seven and Little Man Tate. The last band probably got the worst of the critisism, with the scene variously called - "a laughing stock among indie's taste makers...lyrically gauche...Emotionally underdeveloped? Yes"

I had a little snicker at this blog post from the BBC Chart Blog yesterday. It criticises the over-the-top and generally exhausting press releases they get sent from time to time.

The following day I was entertained to recieve a beautifully written and conprehensive Little Man Tate press release - managing to pull a positive quote from the very article that had given them such a battering.

Little Man Tate - " 'But in a world where modern culture is so controlled, so predictable, so hidebound to mass marketing or notions of cool, any grassroots movement that refuses to buckle under and be told what to listen to has got be a good thing.' - The Guardian."

Amazing.