Diggin

Music: I’ve had a slowish week music-wise due to catching up on film podcasts to prepare me for the switch in focus for the site. The only things I’ve been enjoying musically this week are the eighties synth-symphonies of Neon Neon (a collaboration between the Super Furry’s Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip) whose album Stainless Style is really excellent. I also love the new Young Knives album and the EP from Fleet Foxes. Another mention goes to Earth, Dylan Carlson’s doom-metal act whose new album, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull, incorporates some serious groove to the din.

Film/TV: Busy week here as you might expect. Reviews of all three of the films I saw this week will go up very soon but just to preview, I watched Charlie Wilson’s War, Lars and the Real Girl and The Orphanage. The coming week will see me take in a number of others including Days of Heaven, The 400 Blows, Bande A Part, Enchanted, Once (rewatch), Hallam Foe, Killer of Sheep and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. On the TV side, I’m well into the third season of Battlestar now and it is still a pretty excellent show. I’ve also finally got hold of The Wire’s precursor show, The Corner, a detailed investigation of those in and around Baltimore’s drug trade.

Books/Magazines: I finished Imperial Life in the Emerald City this week and am now really looking forward to the Paul Greengrass movie. Cutting investigative reporting at its finest with a dark line of heartsick comedy running through it. I also finished Northline, the new book from Richmond Fontaine singer and primary songwriter Willy Vlautin. I loved it, far more accomplished than his first work, This Motel Life, and filled with lovely, realist observations of life. I did my clippings this week so my magazines’ best articles are all in three folders now. This week’s best include an interview with Gore Vidal by Rachel Cooke in the new UK Esquire, an examination of the relationship of Godard and Truffaut in the New Yorker and The Atlantic’s Britney edition has an investigation of Hollywood’s move back to the spirit of the 1970s.

Other: Oh, the soup. I’m addicted to Waitrose soups! The best of the lot is a crab and asparagus which has hints of black pepper to give the aftertaste a little interest. I’m also still addicted to podcasts but mostly to the one from Filmspotting. I will tell you now that the likelihood for the future of this site will be to emulate the work of those guys. Outside that one, I also love the Truthdig podcast from political journalism doyen Robert Scheer and Slate’s Political Gabfest.

Diggin’

Music: I love the new Black Keys album, Attack and Release, which seems to paint from a more soul-based palate than the previous hard garage-blues of their other releases. Produced by Danger Mouse and working off songs written for an planned Ike Turner collaboration, it’s a magnificent work and their best album to date. From a history of dislike, I have found common ground with Autechre on Quaristice which is a beautiful work of celestial wonder, if perhaps a side too long. I’m also in the process of purchasing vinyl in anticipation of getting a new system with a turntable again so I’ve been working back into the classic part of my collection to figure some shiny discs that need to be replaced by the warm fuzz of spinning black. So far, Talking Heads’ first record, two Smiths (eponymous debut and Queen is Dead) and Otis Redding’s Otis Blue are winging their way to me. Key this time will be Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and both great albums by The Band.

Sam’s Year of Reading

So for books, as I have little money and do my reading on a packed tube of commuting fellows, I can’t really rank the books of the year. In fact, I think, I only managed to read one book which was released in this country in 2007 and even that is somewhat borderline. Therefore, I am simply going to write my way through my year of reading, pointing out the notable and not-so-notable works I have loved or endured over the past year.

At the close of the article is a list of all the books I have read this year. If you see any your are interested in and want to ask if I enjoyed them, should they not be mentioned, feel free to do so in the comments and I’ll get back to you.