So you steal- they’re your parents, it doesn’t count - you take all food from the fridge before leaving so that you’ll have something to eat for the journey but nothing, nothing can prepare you for a day of travel on trains in the East Midlands.

Knowing for well that I would have a mammoth book-ridden load slowing my already sullen arse down between the 3-4 connections I had to look forward to that day, I came to realise that there’s no point in hoping, most of all in England, for a good day on the trains.

My old-man pessimism spoke to me; I missed my first connection from Ipswich to Peterborough because the train taking me there was 30 minutes late. ‘East Midlands is sorry to inform you that there has been an unexpected…..’ oh joy. When getting into Ipswich I was astonished that we had to stop outside the station to let my train to Peterborough pass!

‘Tickets please….’ I had to ask him whether the train had a plug socket I could use to send an important email. I saw one on the way in saying ‘Not for public use.’ It bared the question ‘what is it for then?!’ Vacuuming?! Doubted it by the look of the floor… I waited until the station.

Paying £30 pounds to get home (railcard discount) and back is madness. I paid £170ish last year travelling round France Spain Italy and Switzerland for one month on one ticket. You can’t help but think ‘where is this money going?’ The prices, speed, cleanliness efficiency are all pathetic compared to rail travel on the continent.

Decorum on trains is a laughable matter too. In Japan it is frowned upon to have a loud conversation or answer your phone. I had a guy shouting to his mate, in my ear, why he wouldn’t go over and talk to his mate the other end of the carriage (which was only a single and consequently heaving). If it weren’t for the immense strain in my back lugging books platform to platform I swear I would have flattened him.

However, when I got into Lincoln my mood was lifted as I discovered that the music blaring out the earphones of the girl sitting next to me was Ben Harper. ‘Fantastic,’ I thought, ‘escapism doesn’t just apply to my UK psyche when I’m on a train!’ Then she answered the phone ‘Cou Cou! Qu’es ce tu fais ce soir?’ Oh…

It really has been a while, a year or so, since an album has grabbed me like this has. Mr. Scruff – Ninja Tuna.

Tickling you with its funk-filled soundscape this album is in a league of its own, then again, when hasn’t Mr. Scruff? Ever since the massive hit Get a Move On his career has gone from strength to strength; the song even being used in commercials for France Telecom, Lincoln and Volvo cars.

Musically, the sound he gets from Moog synthesizers and programming is unreal; sublime chord progressions the likes of Monk and even Hancock would be proud of. He samples real sound like rhythmic footsteps and further overuse of percussive timbre to mimic the world around you and your iPod. It relates to real life and the sounds you might hear everyday walking down the street; you won’t be able to put your finger on it though, in terms of genre. One time you’ll think, ‘alright, this is definitely hip-hop of some sort’ and then all of a sudden this South American rhythm hits you hard, like in Kalimba. It will catch you off guard since all of the tracks seem to merge into one another.

The sleeve of the record is made of recycled material; a cardboard hand drawn cover. Just goes to show that he does not have to insist upon himself to be heard. You see this across the Scruff’s style, even in his music; reusing a few samples from past records. A few Foxfire records and even excerpts from Dancin’ Fever. I can’t help but think that the independence of this record, creatively and from the label’s point of view, is a plus. You certainly wouldn’t think the likes of EMI or Sony BMG would pick up on this, thank God! ‘No creative control mate sorry, the masses won’t want to hear this. We want 4/4 time with a bit of a bluesy feel thrown in…’

I played this to my dad the other night, sneakily playing it after a vinyl-stint of Head Hunters and he couldn’t relate; ‘Is this Dr. John, with a turntable… and a Hammond?!’ It’s so subjective. I honestly don’t think that anyone will dislike all the songs on here, it’s a safe bet. Even in an entertainment sense; ‘Pop on Dave Brubeck Harry…’ ‘How about Ninja Tuna instead?!’

It’s so varied, easy going but at the same time giving your neighbours a headache with your tapping foot coming through their ceiling. There isn’t a bad song on this album.

]]> http://www.thelinc.co.uk/harrylincoln/2008/10/ninja-tuna-mr-scruff/feed/ http://www.thelinc.co.uk/harrylincoln/2008/07/another-music-piracy-scare/ http://www.thelinc.co.uk/harrylincoln/2008/07/another-music-piracy-scare/#comments Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:48:16 +0000 Harry http://www.thelinc.co.uk/harrylincoln/?p=14 This has been in the news for some time now, well, ever since the matinee P2P sharing version of Napster was shut down. Music companies are losing billions of pounds yearly and artists are making less and less because of it. I suppose you could argue it’s raising a question in relation to ethics, ‘is it right?’ Well, no, it’s illegal but there is some stigmatic-give; its becoming more socially acceptable because a large percentage of files owned by the common teenager are obtained illegally. Is it too late to do something about it?

Major ISP’s have banded together to try and rid the problem of illegal file sharing, along with backing from the government. One Guardian writer said that the scheme was a ’smokescreen’ in the effort and feud to try and wipe out the problem simply because the problem has been around so long. ISP’s are going to have to do something about it as they are accountable to the Department for Business and Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, meaning that they could eventually receive a slap on the wrist for not doing something about it soon.

These letters that will be sent out ‘to the worst offenders’ are questioned as to whether they say that they will face criminal charges or just a warning.

Either way, it’s a bit half-arse isn’t it? What they should do is get round their house and arrest them, go in hard, publicise the whole thing as to scare off others?

Thoughts?

This starts with a friend of a friend; it’s not what you know, luckily….

The person, who I probably shouldn’t name, starts his round and collects from the local post office to deliver on foot. But before all that he has to take a trip in a taxi to get there. Fair enough if it’s not walking-distance. But it’s not. In fact the postie in question has to travel to Norfolk from Woodbridge, Suffolk to start his round! A good hour and a half there and back already puts RM in the red as the fare there and back, regardless of pay to the postie whilst in the taxi too, is much greater than the money earned during the round - £80 each way. Subsequently, this could be a ploy to head off the pension deficits by employing external labour instead of taking on more staff in the short term. Thoughts?

Additionally, because post offices are becoming more short-staffed and recent changes to the way the offices are run it means that postmen/women have to start later in the day (less time for rounds) and the so called ‘innovations’ (such as improved frames to speed up initial post sorting) are apparently resulting in increasing problems. Problems such as larger rounds, logic being that one can do more of a round if there is time saved on sorting.

There are also talks of handheld computer trials on rounds. Surely money wasted and blatant abuse of government subsidies when money could be better spent, according to my contact, on waterproofing bags. It’s a big problem as employees are just asked to use plastic bags within plastic bags which just fill up with water.

When I asked what the Royal Mail thought of this in relation to the employee’s round feedback was quick and concise but not so much in the way of relevant… When I wrote to them I included the source to where I found my information about their financial year, I then discussed it and asked simply why they were so drastic. I got a reply ‘perhaps you should look at this press release….’, it was only the same one I had used in the email I sent to the press office in the first place! They threw it straight back at me! - “This is regurgitation, and positive propagandish regurgitation at that”.

They sent another meant for the Independent Review of the UK Postal Services Sector. This simply outlined goals and achievements in a ‘we’re sorry for messing up’ kind of way. I won’t quote directly, as i probably shouldn’t, but an objective was to secure ‘a stable financial future for Royal Mail.’ Easier said than done.

I am currently looking to corroborate these findings with local postmen/women and other managerial postal workers to see what they have to say; ‘is it the same in your area? Do you feel that these schemes are pointless? Would you like more input; how could your job could be made easier?’ I mean, if they were to have more of a say, like my postie here, surely money wasted is money wasted, it’s surely going to pre-empt more strikes?

Get it together Royal Mail. I see privatisation just around the bend, ‘you know, where that post office once was….’

Radio 1’s Rhys Hughes interview

There seems to be no news like bad news, perpetual spin of pessimism in the lines of the autoque. I suppose bad news is all that people will ever talk about. God forbid; ‘did yer hear about that tree that didn’t fall on anyone in the storm last night?’ If something contraversial doesn’t happen, it isn’t news.

Is it irresponsible, journalistically, to over-report stories? Hearing too much of the same thing can lose public interest. For example, some may suggest that the Madeleine McCann case was over-reported. Over-reporting here lead for a need of information, any scrap of new information, even if sources turned to were those who were leaking it and weren’t official. I’ve never seen the phrase ‘a source said’ so many times in conjunction with one story.

Music can be overplayed. Anyone sick of ‘Bad day’ - Daniel Powter, ‘She will be loved’ - Maroon 5 etc.? It’s because they haven’t only been played on the radio to death but they are now being played over the top of advertisiments on television. I wonder how record sales for those singles are now compared to then?

So, in conclusion, news/current happenings; do you think the nation is becoming de-sensitised to national stories such as the Burma crisis, Mugabe developments, Gordon Brown-outs? Would we act differently if it were 20 years ago? Do we sit bolt upright when we hear of the 10’s of thousands of people that have died in a disaster anymore?

Discuss! …