I was kind of horrified by reports on Monday that the government are planning to inject billions into a new high speed rail system known as HS2- set to be completed in 2032. It's the most ridiculously British of announcements- a gigantic audacious plan set to be completed far off into the future and obviously involving trains.
Just thinking about what my life will be like in 2032 makes my stomach turn- married, kids and an annoyingly steady job; scary stuff.
The building works aren't even set to start until 2017 ( so why announce it now??) and already villages stretching from the Midlands to Northumberland are in uproar at the thought of year upon year of road works and eyesores.Alongside this, even though HS2 may well halve journey times, the stations which make up its route are miles outside the cities they're stopping at. The train to Sheffield from Birmingham will stop at Meadowhall, half an hour away from the city centre, therefore rendering the faster journey time virtually obsolete unless you're taking a train to a smaller city a hundred miles away just for a spot of shopping.
Our economy is by no means stable and I reckon the government would do better to be pumping money into unemployment schemes so that recently-graduated university students aren't all competing for ludicrously over subscribed graduate jobs. We take up enough of our time moaning about trains as it is; the building of the HS2 would leave us Brits with virtually nothing else to discuss up until at least 2032.
I might have mentioned last week that I've finally had a request for a band so without further ado I thought I'd follow up on the request which oddly enough came from a metal head on an alternative/indie band... here it coooomes.
Screaming Maldini have been present on the Yorkshire music scene for quite the while now but it's only recently that they've really hit the heights. Their steep rise in popularity can basically be attributed to the release in October of epic release, 'Summer Somewhere'. The song is reminiscent of Arcade Fire at their absolute best. Multi-instrumental, multi-gendered bands throughout the world are currently undergoing a revolution of aiming to be as close to Arcade Fire as they humanly can be but this single has really achieved the goal. Gina Walters vocals are fantastic and are backed up by crooning backing vocals from the rest of the group alongside a wholesome piano riff which keeps the track steady. It's now been re-mixed twice, had 12,000 YouTube views on its excellent video (shot on location in the Peak District of all places) and been described by the fussy Guardian music section as, 'The poppiest, most energetic sound'. Fun fact- one of the remixes was by Matt Berry a.k.a. the boss from the later series of the IT Crowd.
The band are made up of Nick, Gina, Annie, Tim, Jonny and Ben who I believe are all part of the Maldini clan and are soon to be releasing their self-titled debut album and embarking on a UK tour. Things really are on the up and considering that these guys look like the nicest people on earth and have worked their fucking socks off to get where they are, I reckon they just about deserve it. I must confess I'm not a huge fan of their older stuff, mostly off their 2010 EP, but it's highly quirky and definitely worth giving a listen. Their description on twitter as playing 'orchestral indie' rings truer with every play.They released a new single, 'The Awakening' yesterday afternoon which I've linked at the bottom and they have a competition on their Facebook to win a signed copy of the album.
Here's a photo of them at their absolute peak of masculinity.
Through a friend of a friend I also came across Temple of Coke the other day. A humorous rock band from Sheffield, their cover of 'Pure Shores' provided at the bottom is particularly enjoyable. With over 6,000 YouTube views, it's wholly worth a watch. Their website exhibits some of their other stuff and it's pretty damn good.
Cheers as always for reading.
***
***
***
No comments:
Post a Comment