The Sunday CD Project (previously 52 Discs Per Year)

So, seeing as I've decided to buy my weekly CD on Sundays, I figured The Sunday CD Project is a more apt, and catchier, name.

This week's CD - which arrived on Friday so I apologise for the delayed review - is Sufjan Stevens' critically acclaimed Illinois:

Just awesome. A beautiful blend of gentle folk, well-written pop, and a singer-songwriter who clearly has a solid idea of how he likes to write, what he wants to write about, and how he wants all everything to sound.

Not much more to say about this without going into a blow-by-blow account, but I thoroughly recommend it.

~J.R.

24-7 Prayer in Ibiza

Brian Heasley, the head of the 24-7 Prayer movement on the island of Ibiza, Spain, spoke at Boiler Room tonight. He was very inspiring. This video is a few years old, but their ethos and the nature of the things they do is still very much the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvlKfiMRolY (embedding was disabled at their request, hence the link)

To read more about them, click here

~J.R.

52 Discs Per Year - What am I on about?

So, I mentioned on my other blog that I am starting up a concept of buying one CD week. It may sound a bit risky on a student budget, but I've been buying CDs anyway, and this way it budgets me quite well and not impulse-buying. I won't be numbering the weeks or anything like that, as it's a potentially endless 'project'. I'll try to write a brief summary of each CD, though calling it a 'review' probably won't be all that accurate.

Anyway, here's the first instalment:

The Recordings Of The Middle East by The Middle East.

There are certainly some things wrong with this band. For one, this longish EP is a re-issue of an album they released in 2008, only the re-issue has had 2 songs cut out of it. And one of those two was the song I first heard (and loved) of theirs (it was featured in the video blogged back in October). Also, their name is very awkward to Google. However, their music is superb, especially if you're into your Sigur Rós-/Jeniferever-esque soundscapey fullness. Go check them out on Grooveshark or something. There's a free MP3 download on their website as well I think.

Told you the summary would be brief.

~J.R.

Edit: Just as an aside, how nicely does the album cover fit with the aesthetic of my blog? Beautiful.

Poverty and Welfare

Two external blogs today. I will post short excerpts and a link to full articles.

Article One, concerning 'Poverty Porn', something I've noticed but never consciously thought about:

"Over the past few months in our perspectives on poverty column we have taken you inside the world of communicating the fight against poverty. Throughout this series we’ve looked at poverty pornography and how damaging this can be."

~The Global Poverty Project, [http://globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/257]

Article Two, concerning welfare reform a little closer to home:

"When I was a child I regularly used to holler, “It’s not fair, it’s not fair”. My Mum would reply in an instant “life’s not fair”. The reformed welfare system must keep people in touch with reality, no more no less. If it doesn’t do this – whether by not giving people the tools to rebound or by removing incentives to work – it fails to achieve its purpose. I am hopeful that the Coalition’s proposed legislation will strike the right balance."

~Nick Denys, platform10.org, via ResPublica [http://www.respublica.org.uk/blog/2010/11/fairness-reform-and-what-welfare]

~J.R.

Freedom of Censorship

So, a radio isn't exactly the most essential piece of equipment in the world, but in a country like Myanmar where the government censors everything, pirate radio broadcasts are the only way they can find out the situation from a non-government source. Unfortunately, radios are very expensive in Myanmar, so not many people can afford them. Amnesty are doing something to about this:

Read a bit more about it and/or buy a radio here: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11938&utm_source=onlinead&utm_medium=spotify&utm_campaign=burma2

Just as an aside, the country is called Myanmar, not Burma. Calling it Burma is a little like calling England 'blightey', which I think is just weird in serious contexts such as this one.

~J.R.

Edit: I penned this a few days ago, but wanted to wait before posting it as I was concerned about the wellbeing of those who were to be in possession of the radios. Amnesty got back to me with the following document: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_21026.pdf

P.S. Sorry this is the second post today; as I said, I wrote this a few days ago, but have only just been able to post it.

French short films

The following is one of a series of four short films by French film-marker Paul Mignot.

Caution: there is a brief moment of a nude lady on-screen, so this is your NSFW warning.

This was the most poignant of the series; the other one I really like was Reflections which portrays New York rather beautifully (again, NSFW). The South Africa one is a bit creepy, and Let Her is just plain pretentious.

But if you like his work, by all means check it out. Just click the 'Vimeo' button on the bottom-right of the video.

~J.R.

Stories from a fellow blogger

Tim Hughes is a friend of mine. He sings and plays guitar. No, it's not that Tim Hughes. As a musician, he is part of a collective in Southampton known as Resident Alien, and has (to my knowledge) released an album - Haberdashery, on which I did a bit of mixing while on work experience - and an EP - Songs In A Day, which is fantastic - and is next month releasing a new album, entitled Christmas is for life (not just for Christmas). It is because of the publicity for this album that I rediscovered his blog, which I previously ignored (not being a reading type of person), but have just had a little look at, and lo and behold, it turns out we both seem to share a passion for tackling poverty (albeit slightly different aspects).

Anyway, if you go into his archive, and go back to October and the start of this month, you can read a six-part commentary on some intriguing topics. I'm not saying I completely agree with what he puts forward, but I didn't disagree with anything on first read.

Read on:

http://timothyfacts.blogspot.com/

~J.R.