RIP Steve Martland 1959-2013

Bristol fashion

Prior to today, I'd have put Tricky in that small category of people filed under "could start an argument in an empty room"- others on the list include Lauryn Hill, American talk radio host Alex Jones and Sir Alex Ferguson.  People permanently aggrieved, with a supreme lack of awareness of how their own personality contributes to their perceived misfortunes.  So, it was somewhat salutary to see him positively radiating bonhomie, in a formal interview, no less, on Vice's Noisey channel (terrible name, good content).  Interviewed by the estimable John Doran of The Quietus, the interview is one of a series done with British iconoclasts, including Gary Numan, Luke Haines, Adam Ant and Bryan Ferry.  They're all worth looking at, especially the one with Adam Ant, but the one below has repositioned the Bristolian whinger in my estimation.

Record breakers

A nice piece from Record Collector about the record industry shooting itself in the foot.  Again.  I couldn't agree more, but I'd add that the parallel argument about mp3s ("you mean, Mr. Universal, that you want us to pay more for a digital artefact, with no warehousing or manufacturing costs, than for a CD? Ambassador, you are really spoiling us.") shows that time and again the sheer greed of these companies will ultimately be their demise.  For further elucidation, and for more examples of how the industry resists innovation, I highly recommend Louis Barfe's book Where Have All The Good Times Gone.