Author Archives: guymillon

Show review: Wild Beasts at The Phoenix, Exeter (14/3/12)

Wild Beasts are an indie musical anomaly, and I mean that less in the oh-cool-they’re-bringing-post-rock-to-the-mainstream kind of way and more in the literally-all-their-songs-are-about-fucking kind of way. Taken as a unified body, indie music is a genre generally terrified of sex. … Continue reading

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Breast Coast

Weaning and whining with Snacks the cat The latest fine idea to be targeted by Sarah Palin’s hunting rifle of righteous indignation, in her customary enthusiastic and ignorant fashion, is that of Michelle Obama’s plan to award tax breaks to … Continue reading

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Free Scene: jj

Swedish dream-pop act, jj, just put out a free mixtape (http://sincerelyyours.se/yours0159.php). How generous. It includes re-imaginings of stuff by M.I.A, Jay-Z and a couple of cuts from the new Kanye record. If you wanna space out, maybe do some focusing, … Continue reading

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This Year’s Kisses

My favourite lyrics from the past year, arranged into a narrative. Instead of making a list of my favourite records from twenty-ten, I decided to write down my ten favourite lyrics of the year. I’m sure you don’t need me … Continue reading

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All My Friends and LCD Soundsystem’s live show

London, Alexandra Palace, 10/11/2010 The unmistakeable percussion that heralds the opening to ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ sputters to life on the wide stage of Alexandra Palace and moments later the gentle, shambling frame of James Murphy appears. His opening lines of … Continue reading

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Free Scene: A Sunny Day In Glasgow

A Sunny Day in Glasgow just released their new record, ‘Autumn, Again’ as a free download (http://www.autumnagain.org/) and it’s really worth hearing. It’s full of hazy synthesizer loops and lilting female vocals. What I love about dream-pop is how the unintelligible … Continue reading

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Configurations of the self and of Montreal’s live show

Manchester Academy 2, 5/10/2010 The experience of seeing of Montreal on tour is rather akin to watching a multi-headed psychedelic animal tear itself to pieces on the stage in front of you, the dismembered body parts grappling and struggling, before … Continue reading

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Basic Space: Focusing, James Blake and The XX

Recently on my counselling psychology course I learned about a procedure known as Focusing, which is sometimes used in the Person-Centred Approach (PCA) to therapy. Focusing is a technique used to bring attention to an internal feeling that is directly … Continue reading

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Kicks in the Schoolyard #1: The Person-Centred Approach and Animal Collective

‘Open up your, open up your Open up your throat And let the all of that time All of that time, all of that time go.’ ‘Brother Sport’ by Animal Collective . ‘In my early professional years I was asking … Continue reading

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Hand in Unloveable Hand

Freud’s Death Drive and The Mountain Goats A key concept in psychoanalysis is the innate human drive towards self-destruction. Freud wrote about this unconscious instinct towards annihilation and death as an opposing force to the drive for life and growth. … Continue reading

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