Ooof. Me likey. Pop your headphones on, nod and smile to this bad boy.

Where and how do you listen to music? Silly question? Or important element of if/how we enjoy music? I’ll try not too bang on too much about having kids or not having a tv cause you’ve heard it all before … BUT ….

2 years ago I listened to music on my home system first thing in the morning till I went to or started work (at home). I used to drive long distances for work. This was 50% music time 50% podcast time. Evenings were then editing photos / webbing next to Stacey while listening to music. Basically, loads of time to listen to new things. When I was working at home I listened to instrumental or foreign language tunes as lyrics distract me massively. Hip hop being the worst culprit in the distraction stakes, lyrically and skit related.

Now I have a child, a TV and a new job with less long distance driving, much less. This means I have to fight to have music in the morning vs. Igglepiggle and Makapaka searching for the pinky ponk. I still struggle to listen to vocal music when I work and evenings are often catching up with work of flaking out in front of the TV.

My point is that this change has had a big impact on my music listening. Most of my car journeys are about 20-30 minutes long. This takes away my main showcase for listening to whole albums in one go, a real luxury these days. Trying to keep a calm relaxing environment at home means that child-unfriendly hip hop has almost disappeared completely. My main stay is instrumental or ‘vocals low in the mix’ (which admittedly represents about 80% of my CD collection) music which I can listen to while I work.

I have found myself making similar critical comments across the board on this blog and think the above is largely responsible. The Issues i have with First Serve can be largely explained by the issues above. When will I listen to it? When will I choose to hear 2 grown men pretending to be teenagers in the basement while ‘sweary mamma’ curses them? The tracks I would normally listen to in the car or perhaps while exercising.

I was in London for a wedding at the weekend. I have 5 albums that I always listen to on headphones while walking around London. This is not planned, its always the same 5!

My environment/lifestyle has a huge impact on my listening / critique of music. Does yours?

Reminds me of that kind of glorious late 90s/early 2000s RnB a la Lucy Pearl. It’s an absolute belter of a song. Brits too. Who’da thunk it?

This track is a bit special… 

Are we allowed to post about this, or is it Brother David’s kick off? Feel free to tell me to sling it and I’ll delete.

First impression, I’m really not sure. It’s pretty way out in terms of pop, even electronic pop. In fact it seems almost like an album of intersting electronic stuff where she’s a guest vocalist. The vocals are drowned in fx so much and sit back in the mix a lot so it’s difficult to to really work out what’s being said or what the sentiment is, so it’s not really connecting with me on the first listen. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some really cool sounds in there, and there’s a lot to love. I think it definitely feels like an album that needs some investment in time in order to appreciate it, but I thought I’d post this up either way, as first impressions are interesting when you look back. I’d go as far to say that I’m often surprised how much some I’ve abolsutely hated at first have gone on to be some real favourites (off the top of my head Hot Chip’s The Warning… yeah I know!).

Anyway, intriguing choice Brother David. I have read a few things about Grimes before I’d heard her music and I’ll be honest when I say some of it really grated. The whole “ooh, I’m so creative, and I express myself through my music, but I’m crazy and i’ve done lots of drugs and I make my own clothes… etc etc”. YAWN. So I’m fighting my own preconceptions here too.

I look forward to getting to know it better, and to see what everyone else thinks.