Music

Welcome to my music section. Here you can read reviews of my favourite albums, see my instruments and read about my music recording. Hopefully, one day, I'll have some tracks to download.

Random album review

Funeral by Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire

Funeral (2004)

Rock, Indie, Progressive

I came across Arcade Fire through David Bowie, as he gave Funeral considerable praise when the Canadian band had very little international fame, calling it the year's essential album. They probably owe him a lot for their commercial success, but the music speaks for itself. The opening track sets an atmosphere unlike any other I've experienced, due to excellent musical craft, unusual arrangements and Win Butler's tense and strangled vocals. Though it is often dubbed as being "indie", it is highly eclectic, and transcends genres within single songs. There isn't a weak track on the album, which flows from the operatic to the exposed in no time at all. I generally avoid indie music, on the basis that it's almost always boring, but this album blows everything else out of the water.

Track list

  • 1. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) 4:48
  • 2. Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) 3:31
  • 3. Une année sans lumière 3:40
  • 4. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) 5:12
  • 5. Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) 4:49
  • 6. Crown of Love 4:42
  • 7. Wake Up 5:35
  • 8. Haïti 4:07
  • 9. Rebellion (Lies) 5:10
  • 10. In the Backseat 6:20

Featured instrument

Taylor 310CE electroacoustic

Taylor 310CE electro-acoustic

I didn't expect to buy this. I naively thought I could go into "Sound Control" (now out of business) in Birmingham, try a few guitars in a detatched fashion, and leave safely. I failed, miserably. The main problem was that the salesman was brilliant: I told him the kind of price-bracket I was interested in, and he knew EXACTLY what I needed. And he was right, as I fell in love with the Taylor 310CE straight away. My innocent trip to Birmingham turned out to be the most extravagant shopping fling I've ever done, but, if you'll excuse the ridiculous Americanism, it was SOOOOOOO worth it. Every time I play this guitar I'm amazed by it, which is how it should be. When I plug it in I'm even more amazed. I love Taylor for creating this guitar just for me, which they quite clearly did.

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Hi, I'm Jon Cairns

I'm a web designer and graphic designer who likes to create good-looking, accessible websites with XHTML, CSS, AJAX and PHP. I'm also a musician, photographer and student, and I live in Durham, up north in the UK. Use the links at the top of the page or just above to navigate my site, or read my blog to find out what's going on in my life.

Updates

  • 22nd Aug Added a new blog, "The Great Synchronisation". It seems that all of my updates are blogs these days!
  • 21st July Added a new blog entry, the first in two and a half months! Join me in the celebration of this momentous occasion by reading it.

From the blog

28th Aug 09

The Great Synchronisation

A few minutes ago I was sitting on a sofa with nothing to do, thinking, "maybe it's time for my annual blog entry". You may be wondering whether you should bother reading something that's been created simply because I had nothing better to do, but I submit to you that all good things are created that way. Think about it.

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