Jimmy E's Music List Mania

Traditions whose absence would mean Christmas would just not be Christmas: The Coke advert (“holidays are coming”), Starbucks’ Red Cups,   the two week special edition of the Radio Times, and of course my end-of-year music best-of list One way or another I have acquired (and no, that’s not meant to be as dodgy as it sounds) over 90 studio albums released in 2014.   As great as some of the reissues (Nas Illmatic XX), hip-hop history lessons (Wu-Tang Clan, Dr Dre, Notorious BIG, The Roots, Mos Def, Public Enemy) and Record Store Day releases (Life Without Buildings, The Pogues With Joe Strummer, singles boxed-sets of Soundgarden and The Dead Kennedys) undoubtedly were, well it’s all about the here and now, innit?   One day I’ll get old, draw a line, refuse to listen to new music and dismiss whatever the young people are listening to these days, but given I only managed to pick up 63 new releases last year it would appear I’m not heading to that place quite yet. Goo...

How school does not prepare you for work At school I was one of the high achievers.  One of the highest in fact.  Top of my Maths class, 8 A*s (and an A) at GCSE, 4 As at A-level.  I just about managed a first class degree from university, but it was clear from a few weeks into my very first year that no more would I be top of the class, or anywhere really near it. Now, seven years into my career, as I struggle with things that 3rd years have long mastered, as I watch my more talented junior colleagues get promoted ahead of me, it becomes ever clearer that my mediocrity is not going anywhere.  There is no-one and nothing but myself to blame for this, and no I'm not ragging on the system, but my story shows quite plainly how being academic and good at exams is but a small part of what it takes to succeed in the workplace. A shining example of this is a colleague of mine, my age, albeit a school year above me, who failed nearly every actuarial exam at least once, (I f...

The what, why and which of giving to charity If I give money to charity and don't tell anyone about it, does it count?   Obviously, but as self-promoting as advertising one's philanthropy might initially appear to be, there is surely something about raising the awareness of others and inspiring them to a) donate themselves, and/or b) spread the word to others. Do I need to film myself pouring water over myself in order to give money to charity and inspire others? No, but the damn thing's worked hasn't it? The campaign has raised millions (in whichever currency one cares to name) and made internet video stars of many.  It's one (somewhat easy) thing to criticise the stupidity (and it IS stupid, Sir Patrick Stewart aside) and seemingly self-serving nature of the enterprise, but entirely another (and, I suspect crucially, much more difficult) to suggest what we should be doing instead. It must be better to have some "fun" and donate the cost of a couple of b...

Why Ellen Page coming out both does and doesn't matter On Valentine's Day 2014 Ellen Page, best-actress-oscar-nominated star of 2007's Juno, at the Human Rights Campaign's "Time to Thrive" conference, came out as gay.  Subsequently she has been supported and lauded both by her peers and the public at large.  Rightly so.  Some may dream of a world where inclusion and tolerance are the rule rather than the exception but we ain't living in one yet.  So yes, absolutely, it was a brave thing for her to do. But why brave ?  Why not just "good" or "rad"?  Courage is needed in the face of adversity, to push oneself to do something that might not turn out well or backfire.  Why wouldn't coming out publicly turn out perfectly fine?  Is it because Page now won't make the top 100 FHM sexiest women lists anymore?  Will mean people hiding behind their keyboards in deep dark corners of the internet say nasty things for no reason?  Will sh...

Jane Doe, a lyrical masterpiece I have read it said that there are two types of Converge fans.  Firstly, there are those who were there in the beginning, who dig 1998's When Forever Comes Crashing and what came before it, and those of us hooked by and on 2001's seminal Jane Doe and everything that's followed.  It is certainly not true that the early material only has merit purely for historical reasons (in the same way a visual artist's rough sketches and student drawings become interesting), but one year into the new millenium, the Salem, Massachussets five-piece (as they were then)'s fourth studio album showed the world just how intelligent really heavy music could be.  Converge pushed themselves kicking and screaming above their peers and have remained out on top ever since.  Often imitated but never bettered, indeed. This is hardly news.  The band still opens its shows with the one-two sucker punch of Concubine/Fault and Fracture, the shirts in the crowd...