John Stones' Paint Trophy

I don't have enough cans in anymore so I'm opening up whatever supplies of bourbon I have. Amazing performance from Newcastle United. That ref though, shine a light!

I'm away to the shop for cans. Paul Dummett at centre-half against Man City is something I can't handle sober.

I can't take a break. I'm well behind on 2014 albums as it is, not to mention the list of artists I need to check out from years gone by. This is a nice way for me to actually chronicle the former and keep up to date with it. I'll probably fire through a couple of more tonight as I'm doing some work.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) 14. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (13/10/14) 15. Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care 16. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz 17. The Weeknd - House of Balloons 18 - Sebadoh - Bakesale 19. Ganggajang - s/t (14/10/14) 20. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty (15/10/14) 21. Lee Fields and the Expressions - Emma Jean 22. Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End (16/10/14) 23. St Paul and the Broken Bones - Half the City 24. Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again 25. The Cars - The Cars 26. Arctic Monkeys - AM 27. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses 28. The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers 29. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium 30. Goodbooks - Control 31. St Paul and The Broken Bones - Half the City OK, let's call this a weekend megapost and I've almost certainly forgotten a couple. Cold Roses is long but brilliant; sounds like a compilation of some forgotten song-writer from the 70s. Brill Bruisers isn't quite a return to Twin Cinema form but it has some nice moments, usually provided by Dan Bejar. De-Loused may be my favourite album of all time, widdly-widdly pretentiousness, be damned. Goodbooks are a now forgotten band from around 2006/07 but their album is a good one; a nice mix of Teardrop Explodes' calmer moments and a more melodic approach. Half the City is a fine soul album but really not worth hearing unless you like the genre. Good singer though.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) 14. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (13/10/14) 15. Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care 16. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz 17. The Weeknd - House of Balloons 18 - Sebadoh - Bakesale 19. Ganggajang - s/t (14/10/14) 20. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty (15/10/14) 21. Lee Fields and the Expressions - Emma Jean 22. Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End 23. St Paul and the Broken Bones - Half the City 24. Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again 25. The Cars - The Cars 26. Arctic Monkeys - AM Been one of those days today. Weezer's new album is shockingly good from a band who have been shockingly bad for 10 years+ at this point. A return to the hook filled songs that they're good at. St. Paul is more soul but I'm not sure it's worthy of the praise it's getting, though the band are excellent, the songs just don't seem to be so strong to me. Joyce Manor is a glorified EP (10 tracks, 19 minutes) and it's alright; punkish pop with a bit of an emo slant to the guitars. Not for me but you might like it if you're into that thing. The Cars' debut is very much a perfect album and a true exercise in pop songwriting; what makes it great is how restless the arrangements are. No member can go a minute without switching things up slightly, throwing little accents and flourishes in that build everything and are their own little hooks. And, AM is Alex Turner's tightest songwriting and the first album where it all feels completely effortless. Ditching the verbose lyrics was a good idea and everything is wrapped up in lush production and spot-on playing. It's an album I'd tell you to listen to, even if you've hated their previous stuff.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) 14. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (13/10/14) 15. Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care 16. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz 17. The Weeknd - House of Balloons 18 - Sebadoh - Bakesale 19. Ganggajang - s/t (14/10/14) 20. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty 21. Lee Fields and the Expressions - Emma Jean My first Shabazz Palaces album and I enjoyed it well enough. A nice jazzy feel to the production and the kind of laid-back hip-hop I'm enjoying a lot of atm. The Lee Fields album is great though. A really enjoyable, smooth soul album with some lovely playing from The Expressions. they've rocketed up my "to-see" list because I'd love to watch them play live.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) 14. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (13/10/14) 15. Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care 16. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz 17. The Weeknd - House of Balloons 18 - Sebadoh - Bakesale 19. Ganggajang - s/t Australian 80s pop today and basically everything you'd expect from that sentence. "Gimme Some Lovin" is a great single.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) 14. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (13/10/14) 15. Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care 16. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz 17. The Weeknd - House of Balloons 18 - Sebadoh - Bakesale Decided to squeeze a couple more in as I was writing and doing some housework. House of Balloons is one of my favourite releases from this current decade and its filthy atmosphere still holds up really strong. I think his most immediate moments of brilliance are on this; the harsh transition in "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls" and the Beach House sample in "Loft Music" Sebadoh are awesome and you should hear them if you like guitar music at all. Listen with headphones to hear the bass playing because it really keeps everything moving at a break-neck pace.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) 14. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (13/10/14) 15. Irma Thomas - Wish Someone Would Care 16. Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz The Owen Pallett album is decent chamber pop, with some nice electronic touches but not much in the way of solid hooks. At least not on first listen. He reminds me of someone vocally but there's no chance that I can recall who it is now. Irma Thomas is soul from 1964 and it's amazing; perfect soul songwriting and her voice is immaculate on each track and can bounce from ballads to blues to energetic numbers with no problem at all. After all of the Owen Pallet, i had a hankering for Sufjan Stevens and Age of Adz is still as ridiculous a listen as it was 4 years ago. I saw him play the songs from it live and it was one of the biggest assault on my senses I'd ever experienced but good fun all the same. Part of me hopes it's his last album.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP (11/10/14) 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt 13. Aphex Twin - Syro (12/10/14) Syro is absolutely great. Obviously not quite as ahead of its time as his early stuff was but it's still exemplary dance music from a master.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia (10/10/14) 9. Blues Pills - Live at Rockapalast EP 10. Blues Pills - S/T 11. Elle Milano - Acres of Dead Space Cadets 12. Radio Moscow - Magical Dirt In the mood for some heavyish guitars today. The Elle milano album is one of my favourites of all time; discovered them at 16, the album came out when I was 17 and they disappeared into the night. Great youthful energy fed through some great, hook-laden tunes. Blues Pills are a blues/hard rock band with a really great female vocalist whose high notes don't devolve into unlistenable nonsense like a lot of male rock singers do. The band behind her are ridiculously tight too. The whole thing is lifted straight from 1971 but it's still a good listen if you like that sound. The Radio Moscow album is more of the same from them and is similar to Blues Pills. Psych rock with a bit more of a stoner rock lean to it. Not essential though, if you want to get into them, go with Brain Cycles.

1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator (9/10/14) 5. Darren Korb - Transistor 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams 8. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia Definitely a summer album. Psychedelic pop that seems a bit derivative but enjoyable Not much today thanks to work and my run through of Deadwood taking precedence.

I'd recommend Kno's 'Death is Silent' album too. A side project but quite similar in sound. 1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 (8/10/14) 2. Milo - a toothpaste suburb 3. Doves - Lost Sides 4. Ty Segall - Manipulator The falsetto in "Tall Man/Skinny Lady" is a frontrunner for hook of the year. Love the tight, dry drums. Probably a little bit on the long side as it becomes a bit samey toward the end but when he hits, he knocks it out of the park. 5. Darren Korb - Transistor Another long album and this time, unlike Bastion, I haven't played the game so have very little attachment to all of it. Some nice ideas though and the tracks with vocals keep the standard of Bastion's OST, albeit with a more electronic focus. 6. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away Took a break from 2014 albums to listen to this again. It's definitely the weaker of the first 3 (Port of Morrow is in its own poor category) and The Shins got worse as they got a bigger production budget but the one-two punch of Sleeping Lessons/Australia is as good as it gets in my heart of hearts. 7. Timbre Timbre - Hot Dreams Sounds like Nick Cave trapped IN a cave. Not sure I can get into it fully.

Sure, let's do this. 1. Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.3 Really great release from a group that I always find to be one of the most consistent, yet underappreciated groups/artists in hip-hop. Some great sampling, good guest spots (Del the Funkey Homosapien especially) and a good album to just leave on late at night. 2. Milo - A Toothpaste Suburb So great. Milo's verses are just...interesting to listen to. You can tell the guy is deep into Mira Gonzalez and it means he sometimes swings and misses but the general production and feel of the album is incredible. Another one to put on through headphones late at night 3. Doves - Lost Sides B-Sides from around the time of their first album but assembled as a cohesive tracklist. Expert dream pop, catchy and just gorgeous at times. Doves are an awesome band and you should all listen to them.

lol

Best missed the next couple of weeks with a hamstring injury as well.

Also, just about every game in our 02/03 season when we loved coming from behind to win games. Beautiful times.

If David Ginola is not the next manager of Newcastle United, I'll give up. I'll also accept Jonas Gutierrez.

BBC is just as bad with its constant crack about their team in the mid 90s. You'd think they invented football.

I think I played FFX for about 12 hours just the other day because I had nothing else going on. Other than that, I probably went through some serious FF8 sessions as a kid

A good centre half would be Rock, of Gibraltar. He's very solid.

You should ready a Gibraltan(?) record fee of £1000 for him,

Shit, Wolfenstein on 360 is four discs and it has been installing for about 3 and a half weeks. If nothing else will make me get a PS4/Xbox One, this will.

On 13, I had a game with Wolves where I let the DOF handle my transfers. So, he signed us the players to get us out of the division, survive in the Premier League and even finish in the top 8 by the time I decided to leave and go elsewhere. It's interesting since it allows you to focus on the tactical side of the game. Want to play a 4-3-3 with lots of possession around the box and strikers running in behind? Tough, here's Jordan Rhodes and Steven Fletcher and we've spent £14 million on them so they're going to have to play. One thing the DOF tends to do is overpay but at the same time, he often gets really good prices for the players you're trying to shift on. To go one further, you let him hire your staff members too to end up with 15 coaches who are all good at the same thing. Letting your head of Youth Development sign the younger players basically takes all the control out of your hands but yeah, means you can concentrate on slagging other managers off and complaining when they don't sign the centre half cover you need.

I can't whittle this down in the slightest so here, have a year-by-year RUNDOWN. Bolds are my favourites 2010 Yeah, I'm doing the rest later because that took a lot of searching through hard drives.