The last blog of the year...

Nearly a month since I wrote a blog you say? Surely not! I would definitely never go that long without writing something down. Unless I was in the third year of my degree and doing several other side projects, in which case I'd probably want to spent the free time I have doing bugger all. Or imbibing copius amounts of alcohol. I don't mind which.

In any case, I will once again make the somewhat empty promise of attempting to write more often. If I make it my New Year's resolution it has more chance of happening right? I hope so. I just need some motivation. I think I left it right next to all the work I have to do...

But it's not New Years yet, and actually much closer to Christmas! Since it's Christmas, and the season of giving, I'm going to dedicate this post to sharing a few things I've found this year, in the hope that you can enjoy them too.

Now being Christmas, you'll probably be more tired than Santa must be these days with the world's ever growing population. Probably the last thing you're going to want to do is read a blog, but I felt a little bit guilty that I haven't delivered anything in quite some time.

"Look at my beard. It's better than yours."

This hasn't been helped by a certain friend of mine posting frequently in the past few weeks on his new blog. And I'm also a little bit jealous, as he's rather a funny chap.  If you fancy a gander at stuff to do with "music, politics and popular culture", then give Tom Moyser's The Drive-in Bingo a read.

There's a little picture of him, isn't he a sexy fellow? I sincerely urge you to have a look, even if you're not interested in anything he writes about; his writing style is the right mix of humour, solemnity and just that little bit of whimsy.



The next place I'd like to direct you in is also a blog, this time written by another friend of mine but with a slightly different angle.

He certainly does have 'la rage'.

This blog is one written by a man who goes by the pseudonym "Nous Avon la Rage", known simply as Fan... Brilliant. It is, in his own words, "a sweary, left-wing version of one of those tabloid opinion pages".

He writes about anything political, in the lovingly-crafted rant style I have come to admire. Maybe it's just because I also like a good rant, but I assure you the content of this blog is well worth the read, whatever your views; similar to Mr Moyser's contribution, the style of writing makes whatever is presented highly enjoyable.

It doesn't hurt that he's a bit of a socialist, a philosophy some of you may be aware that I support. Just a bit.

That's all on the blog front, but I've got a couple of other things I'd like to share with you. They're both musically related, and were brought to my attention by a friend of mine at university. One is a band his friend from home is in, and the other is a duo which his girlfriend is in...so he might be a little biased. But still, I've given them both a listen, and they're both fantastically brilliant musical acts.

Let's start with the first, the band. They're called Zigo, and they hail from the South East. They have recently released their first album, "This Is How It Ends", and after initially giving them a listen as a favour to my friend, I went on to actually purchase the whole thing from iTunes. I'm not much of a music critic, but I know what I like, and this band feels at once familar and yet at the same time innovative and fresh. There are elements of old school rock, indie and even a little synth-pop. A highly diverse batch of recordings, each with its own angle while at the same time keeping an element of similarity that can only be defined as Zigo's unique style.

Second on the musical agenda is KP and Squizz, a duo labelled on Myspace as indie, by my iTunes as folk and by me as downright enjoyable music. They've just released an EP, also available on iTunes. Again, I initially listened to this act as a favour for my friend, and again I really enjoyed what I heard. It would be easy on face value to assume there isn't much original about the modern acoustic performance, since seeminly anyone can learn a few chords a write a few lines. But this duo brings something different to the genre for me; not only are the voices harmonious and pleasing but the quality of the guitar playing is top-notch. It's good to hear an acoustic act that can both sing and play well at the same time, and these two do not disappoint.

So there you have it, a few recommendations from me to you, I hope you like them. The blogs are definitely a good read, and believe me when I say the albums are thoroughly enjoyable. I urge you to go out and support these fantastic upcoming acts.

That's all from me for today, I'll be back in the new year with a hopefully more regularly updated blog. Until then, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Toby