Concourse Issue 4 Online Now

Well it is – HERE (My work’s on page 19 this time)

Article #3 Up On TGR: The Race Against Quality

Last night my third article for The Game Reviews went live. Called “Exclusive!” Games Journalism and the Race Against Quality”, it’s a bit of a milestone for me as this represents the first time I’ve written about games journalism in any detail, rather than just games themselves. I think inescapably, my inexperience in this field of writing shows a bit – the article’s a bit of a rant at times, which is always a mode worth avoiding – but practice makes perfect. It’s struck me after the fact that in a way, the article is an example of its own argument. I argue in it that every piece of writing (about games in this case) is a sacrifice between the meticulous research and consideration that perect quality requires, and the rapid turnaround that timely publication, and sometimes competition with rival publications, requires. In order to meet my deadline to get the article ready, some shortcomings have inevitably crept into it – ideally, I’d have interviewed some industry luminaries, both developers and journalists, to get their views. But alas, time pressures precluded that, and so at the very least I guess I can be satisfied that my points hold up in at least one case – their own. Have a peep at the article and let me know what you think, it’s always appreciated.

Just as there might be a race against quality in games journalism, there’s a serious race against time in my life at the minute, as I’m incredibly busy. Next week I have two 2,500 word essays to hand in (one on the political party systems of Germany and France, and one on the failure of the West Indies Federation in 1962, if you must know), three presentations to give, and stacks of reading to do. Getting ready for all this goes a long way to explaining my lack of posts here, as well as my lack of generally having a life lately. Thank goodness for the strict time pressures provided by TGR, getting me to do a bit of games writing, eh? Just as a reminder, Concourse Issue 3 is out now for all those in the Keele neck of the woods, and incidentally I’ve submitted my copy for Issue 4, which will include reviews of Local Natives, Them Crooked Vultures, and Annie as well as a brief retrospective of The Clash’s London Calling, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on December 14th. Keep your eyes peeled.

I’m Alive! Concourse Issue 3 (Finally) Out

After a pretty lengthy absence, I’m just sticking my head up over the parapet for a minute. I’ve been really busy lately, trying to crack on with research for my essaays, which I’m doing much earlier than I would have done a year or two ago. The first bit of news is that on Thursday, Concourse Issue 3 finally came out, eight days late. It fell victim to some issues behind the scenes but is now available all around Keele’s campus, including in the students’ union. For my part, the music section this issue features reviews of the new Editors album, In This Light and On This Evening, the latest Dead Weather single “I Cut Like A Buffalo” and the latest Passion Pit single “Little Secrets”. In other news, my third article for TGR is ready for posting – this month it’s about the time pressures and their threat to quality games journalism, and the article should be up on Wednesday.

Eurogamer Expo Coverage At Resolution

As I described in my last post, I wasn’t able to make it to the Eurogamer Expo because of various inconvenient life-things. But given that the rest of Team Reso was in attendance at the Leeds branch of the Expo on Tuesday and Wednesday, I thought that the least I could was to draw some attention to their efforts in bringing content from the event to the site. So far they’ve produced four hands-on previews of major upcoming games, as well as a podcast. Whilst I haven’t listened to the podcast just yet, I’m sure it’s a world away from the hilariously badly put together ones I did with Lewis a while back… maybe.

Here are those hands-on pieces, though – firstly there’s Mass Effect 2, then there’s God of War III, then there’s Star Trek Online, and finally there’s The Saboteur, one of the games I was originally going to cover. Bravo to the good ship Reso for their efforts so far!

Busy October at TLOBF

Yes, I haven’t posted for a while again – I’m a terrible person. I’m also terribly busy, which is why I had to call off going to the Eurogamer Expo in Leeds this week. It’s a real bummer, and a loss of something that I wanted to be able to put on my gaming CV, so to speak, but what really gets me about it is that I’m missing out on an oppurtunity to finally meet my colleagues at Reso. Nevertheless, I’m sure another chance will turn up eventually and I’m equally sure they’ll do a great job of covering the expo – which they’ve already started doing with Lewis’ hands-on preview of the upcoming BioWare sci-fi RPG sequel Mass Effect 2. Look out for more excitement on Reso over the next several days.

Fortunately, I’ve been pretty productive lately too, which makes me a bit less bitter about missing out on the Expo. In fact, in terms of music writing for TLOBF, I’ve had my most productive month since May. By the end of October, ten reviews will have been posted in my name, so I thought I’d do a little roundup… it’s after the cut.

Eurogamer Expo Leeds Less Than A Week Away!

This is exciting. Next week, I’ve rather suddenly been reminded in the last couple of days, is the Eurogamer Expo. This is a games show put on by damn fine Europe-wide games site Eurogamer – I’ll be at the Leeds edition of the event, covering it for Resolution. Most of the Resolution massive will be in attendance, so besides having a good oppurtunity to actually meet each other, we should be able to provide heaps of exciting content about various games that are months away from release. Personally, it appears that I’ll be covering The Saboteur and Split/Second, so keep your eyes on Reso to see my words about those, and everything else we cover! It’s another big thing for me to be able to go and cover a prettty major games event, and it’s always nice to be able to get out and do something to write about, rather than merely be given something to write about. Maybe – just maybe – it’s all another step towards becoming, you know, a proper writer of some kind!

As a brief aside, by the time this post is up on the blog there’ll be a review of the second album by Norwegian songstress Annie up on TLOBF here, and also on the subject of female pop, expect a review of the new Natalie Imbruglia record in the next little while, complete with a couple of songs written by Coldplay…

Games on TV Up On TGR

This is just a very quick post to say that as promised, my article on the lack of videogames programming on TV has gone live on The Game Reviews. As always, comments here or there are much appreciated…

Concourse Issue 2 Available Today

Good news! Issue 2 of Keele’s student magazine Concourse is available in all its shiny papery glory today – well, actually it was available yesterday afternoon, but it’s too late for you to pick up a copy yesterday, obviously. It’s really exciting to be able to get a few of my words into print, and to have them being read around campus by the good citizens of Keele. The issue includes my reviews of Mumford & Sons debut Sigh No More, the new Massive Attack EP Splitting the Atom, and At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea by The Voluntary Butler Scheme as well as an interview with Muel Gonzalez from Esteban. In addition, other writers for the mag have contributed a host of news and views, as well as other juicy nuggets like a review of Peter Jackson’s new film District 9. If you’re at Keele, grab yourself a copy! If you’re not, you can still see the issue online here – my section’s on page 13!

My second article for The Game Reviews is also finished and should be up on the site some time in the next 24 hours – it’s about the lack of TV programming about videogames, and it’s partly inspired by the recent success of Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe. I’ll let you know when it’s available, as ever… oh, and last but not least as far as new writing goes, there’s a new TLOBF Recommended Listening article available on that site today. In it, I wax lyrical about “Not So Pretty Now” by Nine Inch Nails, which means that two-thirds of my contributions to multi-writer articles for TLOBF have been about NIN. Erk. The article is here.

Also in TLOBF news, the site, erm, hasn’t been declared one of The Independent’s top 25 music sites, which is a little disappointing. However, TLOBF’s friendly rivals MusicOMH and The Quietus did, so congratulations to them! Read about those two lovely sites and 23 others at the Indy’s site here.

An Ode to Left With Pictures

Today my review of a pretty momentous debut album went live on TLOBF. It’s the debut of London-based folk pop band Left With Pictures, who stole my heart with the very first song I heard by them. Writing for TLOBF has introduced me to tons of great bands, but LWP rank among the best and most personal of these discoveries – it was by reviewing their brilliant EP Secretly that I first came into contact with them. Since then I’ve reviewed their double A-side single, I’ve interviewed their main man Stuart Barter, and now – the album review. It’s been a bit of a journey actually.

In my review of their album Beyond Our Means (which is here), I talk a little bit about the experience of covering a band as they develop and grow towards that huge milestone of the first album. You can really develop a connection with a band sometimes, and this is one such example. And yes, I’m a tad disappointed by the record – but I still like it a lot and it’s a testament to it and the rest of their back catalogue that I consider myself a big fan. This post is really just an oppurtunity to give a shout-out to a band on the cusp of a wholly new and fascinating part of their existence, I am quite sure. Their intelligent, glittering folk pop deserves a wider audience. In that vein, here’s a page with everything TLOBF has written about the band (including the crisp prose of Mr Rich Thane, the beautiful photography of Sonny Malhotra and… my stuff) and also, here’s a link to their myspace. Hmm, do you think that’s enough to repay them for quoting me on their banner now? (joke – I noticed the banner afterwards, honestly)

Thoughts On The New Foo Fighters Single…

When I wrote my retrospective of Foo Fighters’ back catalogue, I had no idea that a greatest hits record was about to come out, and even less that the band were going to release a brand new single to support it. It’s another reminder, along with all this hype about Them Crooked Vultures (featuring Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame) that Dave Grohl is an almost unbelievably massive and busy figure in music. Even if he were only, and had only, been a drummer, his stature would still be enormous. Amazing bloke. My thoughts on the new single, and the video, are below the cut…