The Chronicles of Bearded

Why am I starting what seems to be my twenty-third blog? Well, because I was asked to.

Not exactly ‘asked’, more encouraged. It seems people get interested in my tales of woe surrounding a magazine I started.

Perhaps not ‘woe’ (I hate inverted commas and I’ve used them plenty in this first post), perhaps tales of the rollercoaster of running a project set up out of love and a desire to help the people who matter most in this world get a break from the advertising hungry, big label hugging music publications of yore without any tiny element of business sense.

This sudden burst of inspiration could be triggered by a desire to get said magazine wider coverage, it could be a result of my own personal narcissism, to get more relevant results when you type my name into Google (although if you look at Google images, the first result is of me clearly telling a fabulous joke – I come in ahead of Gareth Gates too, which is nice).

Searching for myself on Google, aside from the obvious personal insecurities this may or may not highlight to the casual reader, it gives me a chance to take a glance back at my personal triumphs and tribulations of what <John Peel Quote>we’ll laughably call my career</John Peel Quote>.

For example, I noticed that in 2006, when I did the odd bit of scribing for the still excellent music website Twisted Ear, there is a list of what we/are my favourite albums of that year. They were, in a particular order:

1. Joanna Newson – Ys
2. Scott Walker – The Drift
3. Kazoo Funk Orchestra – Midnight Finger Painter
4. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
5. The Flaming Lips – At War With the Mystics
6. Fucked Up – Hidden World
7. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
8. Coachwhips – Double Death
9. Calexico – Garden Ruin
10. Venetian Snares – Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms

Which, although I tend to wildly vary my musical tastes at times, is a pretty accurate reflection of how I feel 2006 probably was for music – not that great. If I were to rewrite the list, the lovely Joanna would still come first as Ys is probably one of the greatest records ever made. No ifs, no buts, any record that has an orchestral score written by Van Dyke Parks is well deserving of greatness.

What I feel would change is Calexico and The Flaming Lips would drop off to be replaced by Alela Diane’s The Pirate’s Gospel and Trunk records’ amazing compilation Fuzzy Felt Folk would rocket up the chart to number three (because The Drift is a phenomenal piece of work).

As much as it pains me, the genius of Venetian Snares would probably drop off the list too, if only to squeeze in Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s quite astounding Osaka Bridge. Other notable mentions from 2006 go to David Shrigley and his spoken word record Forced to Speak With Others, Grandmaster Gareth’s The Party Sounds of Grandmaster Gareth, Wisby’s Dirty Fan Male and Yppah’s You are Beautiful at all Times.

In fact, what do all these changes tell us about music in 2006? That is was pretty good? Or is there a different lesson to be learnt? The fact that no matter how forward thinking you are, the more you look for the next great record, there is probably a huge trail of ingenious music lying hidden in the past.

Currently listening to: Dawn of the Dead – unreleased incidental music (Trunk)