Tyler, the Creator

Yeah, I'm totally obsessed.

Tyler the Creator

Tyler the Creator, and his crew of lyrical murders Odd Future, are simultaneously the most interesting and terrifying rappers to emerge from anywhere for a long time. We're talking scarier than Tempa T here. While Mr T will smash up your CD rack, Mr Creator wants to mutilate Bruno Mars and do all sorts of other things that will make Goblin something you won't be listening to around your Grandma's house anytime soon. 


Refusing to be put in a genre, ("we don't make horror core you fucking idiots" clears that one up nicely), Tyler seems to be floating around between the mainstream and underground scene. You can hear his songs on Radio 1 after dark, but only 20 seconds is safe enough for the daytime. He was on Jimmy Fallon with Hodgy Beats, but rapped with hysterical fury in a green balaclava surrounded by gnomes and dead girls in hospital nightgowns. He then proceeded to leap on host's back like a 4 year old child, wagging his tongue behind his head. 


His videos are far removed from the arse waggling and fast cars of other rappers.  Whilst Mann and 50 Cent release boring, predictable '90s throwbacks that sound like the Fresh Prince theme tune starring coconut-boobed women, for Yonkers, Tyler eats a cockroach, vomits and hangs himself. This is tame in comparison to some of his own home-movie type creations that can be found on Youtube. 


What's  most disturbing is he's only just turned 20. 


He is a terrifying breath of fresh air, like being given an oxygen tank by a possessed clown wielding an axe at the scene of a car crash. 


Goblin is released in the UK May 9th.

The Hundred in the Hands - Dressed in Dresden

 The song from the new Elle advert.

Arctic Monkey - Brick by Brick

Here is the new song by the Arctic Monkeys that was sprung upon the world yesterday afternoon (Friday 4 March) with little warning.

The video clearly hints that the song was recorded at Hollywood's Sunset Sound Studios, by James Ford, member of Simian Mobile Disco and longtime producer of Arctic Monkeys albums. However, their new album currently doesn't have a release date. It would be interesting to know what people who bought tickets to V Festival where the band are performing think of this new effort from the Sheffield four-piece.

It's hard to ignore how different this song is from past Arctic Monkeys efforts. It sounds like the band have been listening to a fair amount of Queens of the Stone Age recently. Unfortunately, this would be a good song for a lot of lesser bands, but the absence of Alex Turner's usually sharply perceptive lyrics is sorely felt.

What do you think?

Filling my ears at the moment...

I think this song is amazing, but I also love the video. It's like a voyeuristic trip around England, from old people reliving their youth in the dance hall to metal heads going mental at a concert.

This song is spine tingling on her record, and she manages to maintain that on stage too. When you hear her speaking she has such a tiny voice, and then sings and it's like she's possessed! Incredible.

Plan B - Darkest Place

I can't stop listening to this song even though I'm not a huge fan of this album. On the whole it's good and there are some decent tracks but at times the concept is scraped a little thin. Regardless, I think this song really stands out. I love me a miserable song in a minor key with some strings and a cheeky chromatic chord progression.

Diary of a Fresher - Week 2

The second article from the Diary of a Fresher column.

Freshers week is over, lectures have started and it’s time to figure out whether you really are as passionate about the subject you’re taking as your personal statement, screeching with enthusiasm, made you out to be.

However, this is not the case for all students. For some, Freshers has just begun, and the more settled you become in London, the more you feel like the mother hen of all of them. 

Moving in are you? Ah, yes, I remember the days of moving in. Of course, it was different in my day. You feel nervous?  Yes, I felt nervous too but you will be fine, trust me, I’ve been there. You have an odd flat mate that doesn’t want to talk to you yet finds it acceptable to eat the rotisserie chicken you bought? Well, that didn’t happen but you should sort that out.  You ruffle their hair and your wisdom continues.

Be warned though, young student. With the week comes a monumental amount of pressure to party. Hard. All the time. One guy I met made it his single purpose to be as enthusiastic as possible for the entire duration of Freshers week, to the grave detriment of his liver, just so everyone felt involved all the time. He devoted himself to this because you only get one chance to be a Fresher.

Alongside this thought comes more stress. Neurosis sets in. I’m partying, but I’m almost definitely partying less than everyone else. I’m heading home at 4am, isn’t that too early? I’ve not been struck down with illness yet, is there something wrong with me?  Will I look back upon a younger version of myself in years to come with resent, wishing I hadn’t wasted my youth?

Being the Freshers mother hen gives you time to reflect upon this. Yes, of course I went out enough. I have some nice blurry photos with unidentifiable figures in to prove it. I’m not ill, but not being a disgusting spluttering mess can only be a good thing. 

That’s until you see photos of your friend’s events from around the country.

We went to Ministry of Sound, but that other uni got comedy t-shirts! There was a night at Fabric, but Tim Westwood was there and my friend’s uni got Facebook night. No one is certain what that is, but I’m sure it’s infinitely better than what we had.

Even in one university, Freshers seems to have a different timescale for students with different subjects. Picture this: your course starts on the Monday and you are suddenly suffocated under that pile of books you put off reading; but for everyone else the party continues.

Who would have thought the joys of student life would include chain smoking and reading (an undisclosed text incase my lecturer reads this) at 4am. They didn’t mention that in the prospectus.

This is while literally the whole entire world seems to be having an incredible, extraordinarily mind blowing and unforgettable knees up. While you fleetingly attempt to absorb something and anything as your eyes close and re-open of their own accord, there is a balcony of people screaming with laughter in the next flat. Upstairs shrieks and jumps along to Lady Gaga above you, topped off with the sound of two people rolling on the floor directly outside your window, the boy dribbling and desperately pleading for the girl to go back to his flat.

But Freshers isn’t just about partying. It’s about milestones in your life. You may be able to write a fantastic essay on the complexities of modern literature, but that doesn’t mean you know how to cook anything more complicated than a boiled egg. It also doesn’t mean you won’t make an arse of yourself and fall over onto your seminar leader in your first lesson. These things come with time, young fresher.

Block Fringe

Krysten Ritter.

Anna Karina.

Zooey Deschanel.

Marianne Faithfull.

Radiohead - Lotus Flower

This song needs no introduction, it's Radiohead, they haven't need an introduction in years.

All I'll say is watch this and imagine Thom York doing normal day-to-day things like the shopping or visiting his grandma.

The Great Gatsby Game

WARNING: CONTENT OF THIS POST HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. 

Don't worry though, it's the sort of addiction your year 9 English teacher will be proud of you for having! We're talking about The Great Gatsby game where the classic American novel has been transformed into a 8-bit 1908s style video game. What's not to love here? For the Fitzergald fan there are cute details like the drunks and flappers of Gatsby's infamous parties. For everyone else, i.e. the chronically bored, it's a highly addictive platform game that beats a spreadsheet at work any day. 

Despite the website declaring a San Fransisco developer bought the game at a yard sale for 50 cents and discovered it was unreleased, Charlie Hoey actually spent a year creating the game with his friend Pete Smith. 

They dabbled with the thought of creating a full literary classics arcade.  Instead, they put the source code online for any other developer wanting to have a go at creating another classic NES game.


So, either play this game (and tell me what happens after the garden level that I can't get past) or make another game yourself if you're handy with that sort of thing. 


http://greatgatsbygame.com/