The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[The Batlord]

I've seen your capitalization go down the tubes recently, so go **** yourself. And don't come at me bitching about your phone cause it's no excuse. You're not Roxy.

[Ol’ Qwerty Bastard]

i don't hide it, i'm legitimately too lazy for the caps lock/shift button.

[Trollheart]

I'm sure it's just coincidence, but for my first update after my return last week there was comparatively little to write about. Now suddenly, over this week we've had the return of several journals, new ones and even new outside-the-box ideas! If I've played any part in this revival then that's great, but if not who cares? Things are starting to move here again in Journaltown!

Mind you, all this work updating could make Trollheart something something...



Ah, who am I kidding? I can handle all this work, I'm used to it. What: did you think it would all be too much and I would suddenly...


Woops! Call Technical Support! You guys just go ahead and read the update while the techs make some vital repairs...

1blankmind has decided to start talking about his other passion, wrestling, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-whatever.html, and fair play to him. Not of interest to me, but I bet he gets a lot of views, particularly with his top ten wrestlers article.

Batty's back! Hooray! This place has not been the same without him, and I'm only back a week and a bit. http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-oblivion.html and check out his hilarious review of Youngblood.

Innerspaceboy is talking (and possibly dancing to also, though I'm not quite sure that's something we all want to see!) about a rare song called “The Peanut Duck” while also enthusing about his time spent at the Vinyl Mania show in Buffalo and, um, “Electronic Love”. Read all about it in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html

Reaching the top ten in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...puc-scale.html, and I won't spoil it for you by telling you what's in her list, but rest assured there are some very good albums there.

Ki has a new and unique journal beginning this week. Share http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-ki-story.html with him, but be aware this is very personal stuff. For that reason I will almost certainly not feature any excepts from it, as I'm sure he would rather keep it private, at least, privately within the confines of his journal. So if he wins (as he surely will) an award for an entry I will not be using any excepts to display why he did. I'm sure you'll all understand once you read what he's writing in there.

Mondo began his journey through his own albums earlier this week, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-saladica.html, where so far he's got through talking about six Trouble Salad albums including the demo, Rough Stuff, Battle of Worlds and We Are Animals, We Eat Meat. Also Maximumannihilation (I already know I don't want to review that!) and Space Mall. While over at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-my-life.html there's a look at Aphex Twin.

Continuing http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...c-odyssey.html, Mordor is checking out Sia, Regina Spektor, Magma, Prince, Moulettes and Clapton, and a whole lot more, while also revealing his top ten for this year. And when I say a whole lot more, well – Bowie, Stones, Terry Riley, Sufjan Stevens ... and that's not the half of it!

Paedantic Basterd has started up a new journal, so check out http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-gallery.html, where she's reviewing Colleen Green and the movie The Darjeeling Limited. Keep an eye on this one. For a sneak peek, see further on...

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html checks out a rec from Batty, by Stamping Ground, two from Mondo including his own new album I Know It's The Trees, Volapuk and Ki's current crush, The Weeknd, and then we're back to me. No it is not narcissistic! I just have a lot of work to catch up on, okay? It's not my fault if I happen to like it!

The old, venerated original of my journals, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html has by now been completely assimilated and taken over by the Great Discography Project, and we've moved on to Robbie Williams and Rush. The history of prog rock continues as we make our way through 1969 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ive-metal.html with a short detour to explore the delights of Brainbox before getting back to it with The Beatles and Soft Machine. Speaking of history, yet another new journal makes its debut this week, as I trace the history of my home country in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-ireland.html. My other two new journals, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...k-journal.html has reviews of albums by Willowglass, Elephants of Scotland and Evership (don't you just love these band names?) while in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-journal.html there's some Love and Hate ... I'm also resurrecting http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-showroom.html, where those of a musical bent can have their albums, EPs etc reviewed. One of Mondo's is up first, followed by Plankton, with more to come.
Praise the Lord! There sure is a whole lot of resurrection going on this week!


Violet has resurrected http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ancefloor.html with reviews of the first two Iron Maiden albums. Yeah! And in a two-for, he's also breathing new life into http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-endeavor.html. kicking off with a review of From Under the Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy.

A new journal (I think it may be his first one but don't quote me on that) from Xurtio, as he explores the mechanics and technical bones of music in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ds-timbre.html. Comparing Hendrix to Dylan and Gilmour to King (that's Albert, not Kerry!) already.

And now it's time for the return of


This week's slot goes to someone who has not posted here for a very long time, but when she did she wrote a fascinating journal. Now she's back, and this is an extract from Paedantic Basterd's
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-gallery.html

Originally Posted by Paedantic Basterd

[CENTER]The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
Director: Wes Anderson
Writer(s): Wes Anderson / Roman Coppola / Jason Schwartzman
Starring: Adrien Brody / Owen Wilson / Jason Schwartzman / Anjelica Huston
Comedy / Drama

[LEFT] The Darjeeling Limited is Wes Anderson’s least popular film. It was never critically panned. It’s not considered a directorial mistake. It’s enjoyed by fans for what it is, but it’s seldom identified amongst his best work. It is, for the most part, just there. It merely exists, an afterthought in his catalogue of classics. I believe this to be a terrible shame and a tremendous oversight, and I hope to convince you so in this overview of the film. You see, Darjeeling Ltd. is my favourite film, and not just from Anderson’s resume. From the first painstakingly intricate shot to the last, I fell in love with the characters and the world he designed. Like any Anderson film, the visual quality of the film is stunning. Each shot is meticulously crafted. The colour palettes are vivid and evocative. The set design is as carefully-considered and detailed as a beaded tapestry. The camera movements look like choreography. But these are our expectations for a Wes Anderson film. None of these qualities are the reason this film is criminally underrated. These trademarks are mere tools Anderson uses to convey this story of enlightenment, communication, and loss.

The film opens with Peter Whitman (Brody) sprinting and narrowly catching a departing train where he is to meet his brothers, Jack Whitman (Schwartzman) and Francis Whitman (Wilson). Peter finds Jack in their cabin, and they are joined in short order by Francis, who explains why we are all here on this train. It’s been a year since their father’s funeral, none of the three of them have spoken, and Francis is determined to haul his family back together, with or without their help. It is fitting that the film should open with Peter attempting to catch up to wherever his brothers are, for I believe his narrative to be central to the story, and it will be the focus of this analysis. The motif of Peter lagging behind Francis and Jack is repeated throughout the film and symbolizes where he is in relation to his brothers in the grief process.

In the first significant scene, the brothers converse over soup and whiskey highballs in the dining car. Francis outlines the major beats on the spiritual journey he has planned for the three of them, and Anderson quickly establishes exactly who these people are. Jack, the youngest, responds to Francis’s strategy for enlightenment with curiosity and openness. Peter, the middle child, reacts with suspiciousness and hesitance. This is important, because it shows us that Francis and Jack have both committed to moving forward by the time they reached the train. Peter hasn’t. The brothers talk idly in a conversation seemingly about nothing: casual opioid use, the dinner menu, what each of them has been up to in the past year. But the dialogue in this scene is deliberate and purposeful, and yields a tremendous amount of information about the characters and their relationships to one another.

I'm not going to reprint the whole thing, just give you a taste of it, so if you want to read the rest (and why wouldn't you?) head to her journal. Like, now-ish.

And that's it for this week. Getting closer to Christmas, so there'll only be two more updates before then, with the one after next week being posted on Christmas Eve, as even Trollheart takes a break on Christmas Day! It may be a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 25th December, but it's a great excuse to switch off the PC and watch some crappy Christmas TV!

See ya next time!
Toodles!

[Trollheart]

Thought we might start off this week with some statistics. Everyone love stats, right? But I thought it would be a good way in future of getting a quick overall view of what's happening here in Journaltown for those who might not have the time to read all my guff. Anyway, here they are, and I'll be doing this each week in future from now on.

Journals updated this week: 24
Total posts made (including comments): 269
Total new articles posted: 79
Members who updated this week: 10
New Journals opened this week: 2
Older Journals resurfacing this week: 2

Here's a chart of actual author posts vs all posts including all comments, even one-liners or GIFs.


What does all this mean? Let's break that down, shall we?


http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-pleases.html, and in among all the wrestling still finds time to review albums by Helmet, Zao and Brant Bjork.

Goofle is here to remind us, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...obably-dl.html, another of which is Sophie's Product (sound vaguely rude!)

while Innerspaceboy is making some “Introductory nomenclature” about Ghostly International in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html, as well as looking into “Shoegaze, Noise Pop and Early Dream Pop classics".

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...iii-story.html continues with some more personal revelations and stories (look, I'm not going to go into any detail unless Ki gives me the go-ahead, as this is intensely deep stuff) while over at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...usic-hall.html there's a whole lotta Synthwave with Pertubator, Lemon Demon, Arcade High, Hail Mary Mallon and more. Oh yeah, and Kanye. This man is putting a lot of work into his journal! And now he has a new one: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...016-prior.html, so keep an eye on that.

The plan is still http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-my-life.html and some of those albums that helped shape Mondo's life include Priest, Purple and, um, Kim Wilde? He's also putting the finishing touches to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...im-leavin.html, so check out the thrilling conclusion. Then head over to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-saladica.html to catch the last of the Trouble Salad albums, a collaboration with Frownland (the mind boggles) and the beginning of his reviews of the Peaks of Thok albums.

Still http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...c-odyssey.html, Mordor is looking at albums from among others Don McLean, Sufjan Stevens, Yeasayer and School of Seven Bells again.

Returning to us for the first time in a year, see further, is Plankton. Twice. In http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...listening.html there's words on The Scorpions, while the life story of a young guitar virtuoso returns in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...um-bucket.html. Ooh yeah!

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...e-gallery.html is gong well, with a new review of Kathleen Edwards while over at

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html there's Jute Gyte, Animal Collective, Reprisal and more. And a new journal, too, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...bums-year.html, where he's counting down with Death Grips, Touche Amore and, well, more.

That brings us back to me. http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html has moved on to check out Nine Inch Nails, while there's a re-evaluation of Carcass's classic Heartwork in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-journal.html. I'm trying to get into Riverside properly in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...k-journal.html, starting off with their debut, and speaking of prog rock, we're checking the debut from Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ive-metal.html. Other journals you may have seen me in include http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-showroom.html, where we have another album from YorkeDaddy in his guise as Daydream Society under the microscope, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...heme-park.html, where we're now into serial killers and trains, and http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-ireland.html, chronicling the advent of the Vikings in Ireland. Oh, and http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-2000-ad.html returns, with new Dredd stories and an announcement about Excelsior! What is it? Think I'm going to do all the work for you?

Finally, rounding things off for this week, Violet is checking out Truckfighters in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-endeavor.html.

There's only one candidate this week for

and that's this little guy, who has not updated any of his journals in almost a year, but whose writing is always welcome. Obviously, his new duties as a mod, to say nothing of real life intruding, have kept him busy, but it's nice to see him back before the year ends.

Check out his new entries above.

As for

I'm going to go a little out on a limb here and choose someone who, though he's a fantastic writer, never seems to have had the time/inclination to put pen to paper (so to speak) and start his own journal. He does, however, make an impassioned plea for Batty to get up off his arse and restart a journal I think we were all enjoying, so well done

for this timely and quite funny call to action. Hopefully it won't receive the standard two-word answer from Batty...

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

I've enjoyed reading your song reviews here, especially your attack on All Kinds of Everything. After hearing that song, who isn't tempted to go out and commit an act of senseless random violence? I know I always was.

Anyway, Batlord, time for you to dig out High Fidelity again, turn to page 43, and start skimmin' !

And so say all of us!

So who has the most activity in their journal this week? How many people have been commenting and where have they been commenting most? In other words, who deserves to be awarded

Well to be honest, leaving aside Ki's personal journal, which has been getting a lot of traffic and quite rightly – got to support the guy – it's still more or less between him and Qwertyy, and given that Ki has in the past been a multiple recipient of this honour (his mantlepiece is probably stuffed with them. Or maybe his attic. Probably holding up broken table legs, who knows?) and the big Q has never won anything here, I'm going to give it to him for his sterling work attracting interest to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ramblings.html. With a total of 5 pages of comments (including, of course, his own posts) and 7 different members apart from him commenting, the prize this week goes to Qwertyy. Well done, son!

That concludes part one of the update. We'll be right back with more after these messages from The Batlord's Premium Cathous - oh, sorry: that should be "Exclusive Dancing School for Young Ladies". How silly of me.

[Goofle]

You never commented on my AOTY entry

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Goofle

You never commented on my AOTY entry

Sorry, these old eyes sometimes miss things. I'll include it in the next update ok?

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Sorry, these old eyes sometimes miss things. I'll include it in the next update ok?

Why's it gotta wait?

[Trollheart]

We're a bit thin on the ground here, guys. Nobody coming to the matches anymore?

Before we get going, big shout-out to Goofle, whose update I missed right at the end of the year. His list of AOTY for 2016 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...63-2016-a.html include Lemon Demon, Carly Rae and Xiu Xiu. Sorry we missed ya out Goof! I'll be using Trucker's Choice stay-awake pills in future!

Those who did turn up this week lined out as follows:

Most gurus specialise in one thing that they've become very good at, which is why they're the guru of whatever, but innerspaceboy is no ordinary guru. Now adding the ability to spot an ambient record at 350 feet to his already considerable list of powers, he's revealing the fact that he's also a musician, and is dispensing advice on how to set up a recording studio in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html. Oh, and hopefully he's also getting into the podcast business. Plenty of willing and interested listeners here, dude!

Having been absent for the last update, Ki is back and he's defending Travis Scott to the death in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...usic-hall.html while there's a list of anticipated releases in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...is-arcade.html including Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Outlast 2. There's finally some closure in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...iii-story.html, which I think we're all happy for him about.

Seems Mondo Bungle hates the title http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-my-life.html, but until he gets a mod to change it this is how it remains I guess. Talking about the Kinks and Megadeth this week.

A year after his last post Neapolitan is back exploring http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...dern-rock.html where he's looking at Model Citizens, Suburban Lawns and Lora Logic while

we're finishing off (for now) Robert Wyatt with his third album in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html, catching up with Strontium Dog in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-2000-ad.html, checking out Mondo's opus in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-showroom.html and returning to the world of the Moody Blues in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-showroom.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...gy-legend.html makes a return after an extended hiatus, with Sir Gawain, Zeus and the big guy himself, Satan.

This week's award can only go to Neapolitan, for his return to his journal after a full year. Hopefully it won't be another twelve months before we hear from him again!

And equally there could only be one recipient of this week's award for

and it is of course http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nnerspace.html where there are so many and varied entries it's hard to keep up with them. And so helpful, too. If I decide to set up a Music Banter Philantrophy Award, man, you'll be the first one up on stage, no doubt about that.

Okay, despite the “threat” I made to YorkeDaddy last week, I note that his journal promises to update in early January (which is now) as soon as he has finished his new album, so I'll refrain from berating him over the lack of updates to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...tasy-epic.html, and instead will ask when we will see the return of yet another of the

and it's by this man:

How long must we wait for a new chapter in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sible-man.html
is what I want to know? One of the finest pieces of writing on this site, with interesting music (not to me but certainly to others) and a narrative that takes a special kind of talent to produce and keep going in concert with the musical sections. The last time Jansz properly updated this was in 2015, so I think we're about due. What about it Jansz? You see my point? (Pun definitely intended).

That's it for this week, bitches! See you all in seven!
Toodles!

[Mondo Bungle]

I put my name in the title in the heat of the moment. Now I think it's whack

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by Mondo Bungle

I put my name in the title in the heat of the moment. Now I think it's whack

Decide what you want it to be and ask a friendly mod to change it for you.