The two hundred and thirty-third TV show: #36 Maverick It's worth remembering that movies and serials were being made long before TV series became a thing. That means that, for a number of different series, there are enough examples on how to pace your stories, especially in established genres like the westerns Maverick draws on. While I wouldn't watch all of the episodes - even more when I consider a bunch are rewritten from scripts for other series, so there's some duplication there - the semi anthology format with only one of the leads appearing as repeating characters does a lot to keep it all fresh.
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The six hundred and forty-second album: #642 Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire The recreational drug-fuelled rock track of Spacemen 3 flirts with different types of rock. A track like Revolution feels as punk as it can get, while Suicide is an extended hard rock riff and Lord Can You Hear Me is a sipmle ballad. It's often more relaxed than other tracks, with a definite stoner vibe, but there are moments where it feels more harrowing too, like in the aforementioned Suicide.
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The one thousand and eighth song: Super Bass – Nicki Minaj It still feels odd to move from Queen Latifah's debut album yesterday to today's modern rap song, where the rap is at a speed no music was in at the time. I don't love Nicki Minaj's style, but musically this sounds good, the skill is there and it's impressive how it all fits together into a really great and memorable track The one thousand and ninth song: 212 – Azaelia Banks On the other side, Azaelia Banks' mechanical rap goes the other way. The lyrics are clear, the references come often and the mechanical beat stands out against the more flowing style. It's precise, in a way that works quite well. The one thousand and tenth song: Written On The Forehead – PJ Harvey The slow build up of this pop song focuses on PJ Harvey's light vocals, tuned to sound disconcerting as it addresses a world on fire. It embraces a fatalistic view on the world, in a way that's unsettling but also attractive. The one thousand and eleventh song…
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The six hundred and forty-first album: #641 Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen After the rise of rap is established, Queen Latifah comes in as one of the main female rappers of the age. She's strongly political and even surrounded by the male members of her crew, she stands out strongly, as the best voice in the mix. She can rap and sing and there's a unity to the feel of the songs even as there are a lot of collaborations included. Building on soul music and including a lot of dance influences, it creates an album that has a definite impact.
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The two hundred and thirty-seventh classical recording: #204 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Trio in B flat major, op. 97, "Archduke" These are some fairly soft and sensitive pieces, hitting you quite emotionally on a dreary winter's day. There's a lovely flow to the music, leading you through a dreamy soundscape. It might not be the most ambitious piece, but it's such a joy to listen to.
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The two hundred and thirty-second TV show: #197 Welt am Draht Twin Peaks and The Kingdom have given me a good start at the mystery genre, together with a number of other shows and movies, and for that reason Welt am Draht gave ma a lot of the same feelngs. The similarity to Black Mirror in its point of view is notable (without spoiling this series), which meant we were probably a bit further ahead than most viewers, but then, that might depend on different levels of media savviness. The first half is the most interesting part, as the suspense builds to a big reveal. It follows it up with a more tepid second half, which goes between long drawn out, too artsy conversations and then action pieces that feel disconnected and at that point unengaging. It tries to be a character study without a character that works, and an action movie with a lack of action. It's a bit predictable, and it feels like it needed more exploration of these themes before they would have had the language to pull…
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The one thousand and second song: Feels Like We Can Only Go Backwards – Tame Impala As a deliberate throwback to an earlier psychedelic rock era, this hits a gentle note that just feels like a breezy run through. It's not inconsequential, but there's less going on that makes it feel sweeter and simpler, a nice drift through things. The one thousand and third song: Angels – The xx Even for an indie rock band, this is such a sparse ballad - not much pushing it forward, more drifting again as a sweet and simple love song that celebrates its simplicity. The one thousand and fourth song: Doom and Gloom – The Rolling Stones This is a classic Stones song that could have fit in the seventies as much as it does here. It's a straight forward rock song, sound effects and all, showing how they can still bring that sound. The one thousand and fifth song: Where Are We Now? – David Bowie I don't know whether to read too much into this, but Where Are We Now sounds incredibly frail - from Bowie's…