ohtani's jacket

Relatively.

Antonio Sanches' Buli Povo -- what a cool album! I liked this a lot. Sanches was a musician from Santiago and was apparently emblematic of the Cape Verde sound at the time. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that he recorded much else, which is a bummer as I was ready for more. Ric Ocasek's Beatitude -- this was Ric Ocasek's debut album. I dug this. Ocasek was one of the vocalists from The Cars and much of the positive feedback surrounding this LP is that it would have made for a decent Cars album. Not a bad compliment for a solo album. Adrian Belew's Twang Bar King -- there's a bit of everything on this album from Belew. It was made shortly after he became the front man for King Crimson and his versatility is on full display. Belew was a new waver who loved art rock and liked to have fun with his music. You've probably heard most of the tracks done better by other artists, but this wasn't a bad listen. Wildfire's Brute Force and Ignorance -- this is a slice of NWOBHM that sounds like it came straight out of 1983, but that's not a bad thing. Sometimes you want to hear a record that was a product of its times. Ignore the album title, though, there's no brute force whatsoever. It's melodic not raw. Joan Armatrading's The Key -- this is the type of 80s album that gets instantly rubbished for the production -- adding synths to an artist who previously had a soulful folk sound -- but that snobbery has no place around here. Instead, I salute Armatrading for continuing to write and put her music out in the world. Good stuff. Steps Ahead' Steps Ahead -- easy listening jazz fusion music. Not bad as background music late at night. The Blasters' Non Fiction -- hmm, a lot of rockabilly is basically punk music, but this sounds like guys who take it seriously. Rock 'n' Roll will never die, I suppose. Tappi Tíkarrass' Miranda -- Did you know that Bjork was in a post-punk band called Tappi Tikarrass? You probably did if you're a big Bjork fan, but I had no idea. I remember her from the Sugarcubes, but not this group. Imagine my surprise when she starts singing. It's cool that her voice is instantly recognizable, though. Dalek I Love You's Dalek I Love You -- I liked this a lot. Dalek I Love You were a synthpop band with ties to Godot, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Teardrop Explodes. It's the kind of record I'd recommend to people who want more New Wave from '83 and are not too hung up on great albums. Just a chill record with decent grooves. Manfred Mann's Earth Band's Somewhere in Afrika -- this is in part an anti-apartheid album (Manfred Mann was born in South Africa) and a hybrid progressive pop record that includes traditional African music similar to what artists like Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon were compelled to record in the 80s. The rest is a mixed bag. I prefer to hear actually African records whenever possible, but I believe the artists involved were sincere about championing world music. Akina Nakamori's New Akina... who is Akina Nakamori, I hear you ask. She was a pop sensation in Japan during the 1980s, somewhat akin to Madonna. She was known for changing her image with each new release, and like Madonna, dabbled in acting. This record was straight pop, but not bad. Not as groovy as city pop, but interesting to listen to. The Tubes' Outside Inside -- every time I hear AOR from this era, I think I'm in a movie montage. A happy movie montage, but a movie montage nonetheless. I wonder if any AOR artists wrote songs with that specific goal in mind. Play Dead's The First Flower -- Play Dead is an amusing name for a goth band. Someone called this bog standard 80s goth music, and they're not wrong, but I'm not mad at it.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Egypt 80 Band's Perambulator -- you can't go wrong with some Fela Kuti and this is no exception. Funky, funky afrobeat. Good times. Lo Ta-yu's Master of the Future -- I know next-to-nothing about Mandopop, so this was exciting to hear. I have no basis for comparison, but I'm always interested to hear singer-songwriters from other cultures and I dug the overall feeling and atmosphere of this record. K. Yoshimatu's Commercial Romanticists -- this was a total surprise. It was a cassette tape packed with lovely, melodic minimal wave songs. This guy was releasing tapes throughout '83 and now I feel obliged to track them all down. This was a big hit with me. Anthony Braxton's Four Compositions (Quartet) 1983 -- I haven't listened to a lot of jazz from '83, or the 80s in general for that matter, and avant-garde stuff isn't my go-to jazz, but this wasn't a particularly difficult record to listen to. It didn't immediately make me want to listen to every other album the artist recorded like great jazz does but it was fine. Hamlet Gonashvili's Georgian Folk Songs -- that title is my own translation so don't quote me on it. Hamlet Gonashvili was a big deal in Georgia. He sang traditional Georgian folk songs and was dubbed the voice of Georgia. He died at the height of his fame falling out of an apple tree. This was cultural if nothing else. Riistetyt's Skitsofrenia -- this kicked ass! Finnish crust punk! Loved it! Ronald Shannon Jackson's Barbeque Dog -- weird title for a weird jazz fusion album. Not much else to say really. Pistones' Persecución -- I may have written about this before. I'm losing track of all these records. This is so peppy and upbeat. Fantastic Spanish power-pop. Mick Milk's Songs for Citizens -- I'll say this for Mick Milk, he was a happy chap. This manic electro stuff with a Devo feel to it. Okay if you like that sort of thing. Nihilistics' Nihilistics -- these boys were angry. This is some guttural hardcore punk right here. Good stuff if you wanna get revved up.

Feeling a bit empty after that. I had a bad feeling when I turned the game on and saw it was raining. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. We showed some fight with a man down and had some chances but couldn't take them. South Africa defended well, especially Pieter-Steph du Toit, and New Zealand made some costly mistakes inside the opposition 22 much like England had done the week before. I don't feel like getting into all of the controversy. I'll just say that the TMO being constantly involved is frustrating to watch. I never thought the All Blacks would get this far, but it still hurts that they couldn't get over the finish line. I really like the South African captain, though, so I'm happy for him.

I guess I should say something about this morning's game. England played perfect wet weather rugby for more than an hour and would have won the game if they had made the most of two attacking opportunities they had in the corner. I thought the game was out of reach for South Africa after Farrell's drop goal, but once they got a sniff at scrum time they were like a shark with blood in the water. It's a shame that England had to lose because of a single facet in the game when they outplayed South Africa for most of the match, but sport is cruel. England needed to be more clinical with those two scoring opportunities in the corner. It was a proper semi-final, but it was slow and there was so much kicking. Plenty of emotion and passion, though.

Definitely the best episode in a while.

Electric first half between France and South Africa followed by a slog in the second forty. France showed how inexperienced they are in the big games, and the overall feeling I have from the weekend, despite the shock that both Ireland and France have been eliminated, is a sense that neither team understands what it takes to win a World Cup whereas New Zealand and South Africa do. The lopsided draw ended up being brutal for the tournament. We knew that heading into the quarters, but it's particularly bad now that the French and Irish supporters have seen their sides tumble out.

Well, that lived up to the hype. One of the great World Cup matches. I thought New Zealand surprised Ireland with their work at the breakdown and were much better defensively than Ireland expected. New Zealand outplayed Ireland in the set piece battle and their kicking game was excellent. They made it hard on themselves with mistakes after the restarts, and I could have lived without Aaron Smith kicking the ball back to Ireland so they could have 37 cracks at our line, but at the end of the day it was defense that won New Zealand the test so it was a fitting end to the match. Ireland were gutted at the end. As a New Zealander I know how it feels. I want to make special mention of the sledged and much maligned Sam Cane who had the game of his life. Well done, Sammy. Didn't watch the earlier quarterfinal, but that seemed exciting as well.

Giffen & DeMatteis' Justice League was one of the first comics I fell in love with and remains one of the cornerstones of my fandom. Recently, I've been reading some of the other work they did together like their Defenders mini-series and their Hero Squared series, which are told in a similar vein. They never fail to make me laugh. I have mixed feelings about Five Years Later, but I think the next time I read it that I may feel differently about it. I actually loved it the first time I read it and disliked it the second time through. I might read some of his work I haven't touched on before as a tribute to him. EDIT: I just read the first issue of the Ambush Bug mini-series and it's bad shit crazy. It's as though DC published a self-published indie comic. Love the parody of the old DC Silver Age ads.

It's entirely possible that all four NH sides will win. South Africa have the best chance of upsetting the apple cart. They're built for tournament rugby and they're playing well. That said, they're facing an incredibly strong France side. The last three tests between the sides have been close -- 18-17, 29-26, 30-26. Don't be surprised if it's a one score game. Might be the match of the round. England ought to beat Fiji. Fiji have struggled since shedding the underdog tag. Some of that is because they don't have the depth to rotate their team against the lower tier nations. They may step it up in the quarters but I'm not optimistic. Wales have been impressive so far considering the shambles they were in prior to the tournament beginning, but their players are dropping like flies. Argentina started the tournament poorly but are on an upswing. If they play like they did against Japan, they will beat Wales. New Zealand will have to play at their absolute best to beat Ireland. They're capable, but it will take the best performance of the Ian Foster era to get it done. My concern is that it appears Ireland are handling the pressure and the weight of expectation on them like a true champion side. I figure Ireland will probably win.

Stains' Stains... this one left a big impression on me. I've already listened to it three times. The Stains were a hardcore band from East LA. They recorded this LP in '81, but it wasn't released until '83. I suspect the fact that it was recorded a few years before is why the music sounds like it's bursting out of the gates. Unfortunately, they didn't record anything else, but I believe there's some live stuff available. Highway Chile's Storybook Heroes... Highway Chile are a Dutch Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band. This was a pretty standard record for the era. It's perfectly listenable, but nothing that's going to make your hair stand on end. Siniestro Total's Siniestro Total II (El regreso)... neat Spanish punk record. "Siniestro Total" means your car is a write-off. That's cool! The tracks are 2 minutes or less, which I love. I'll definitely check out their other records on the strength of this. Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band's Bloodlines... this has to be the best country record from '83. I can't think of anything else that comes close. Outlaw country was pretty much dead by '83, but Terry Allen was still kicking and screaming. Nikki Sudden's Bible Belt... Nice. I liked this a lot. I've listened to The Swell Maps before but never delved into Nikki Sudden's solo career. Solid songwriting. Gets the thumbs up from me. Dougie MacLean's Craigie Dhu... Scottish folk music isn't really my thing. At least not on LP. If I listened to it live, I'm sure I'd have a better appreciation for it. I'm sure this is a lovely LP if you're a fan. Hitomi Tohyama's Next Door... feel that city pop. I wasn't awed by the production on this, but she had a pretty voice. I felt like I was in a karaoke music video from 1983, so there's that. The Square's Rainbow... this was so much fun! This was a Japanese jazz fusion record that's basically city pop. Man did this bop. Fun times. The Enid's Aerie Faerie Nonsense... So, The Enid were a British Prog Rock group that hit the scene around the same time as punk rock and did their own punk take on classical music by playing it with keyboards and guitars. They failed to find an audience and EMI scrapped this 1977 LP from their catalogue. The band were frustrated with the record being unavailable so they re-recorded it and reissued it in '83. It's okay. Like everything, I'm sure it has its fans. Models' The Pleasure of Your Company... not bad! It always amuses me when you see Kiwi and Aussie bands doing the whole New Wave thing with the hair and the suits, but hey, there's nothing that says you have to be British to be the real thing, is there? These guys supported Bowie, so he must have thought they were all right, and he was a man of impeccable taste. Kauko Royhka's Onnenpaiva... Finnish pop rock. Pretty cool. Apparently, this guy has a strong rep in Finland, especially as a lyricist. That part is lost on me, but everything else jelled. James White' Flaming Demonics... apparently, this is a lesser album from James White. If that's the case then I want to hear his better stuff as I thought it was a ton of fun. Great album cover as well. Sexual Harassment's I Need a Freak... I had to check this out. I was hoping it would be an underrated synth funk album, but nope. The title track is okay, but not good enough to play on heavy rotation.

Nardcore, nerdcore... I blame my failing eyesight!

NRBQ's Grooves in Orbit... Pretty chill pop-rock from this Miami outfit. This type of music was so far removed from what was popular in 1983 to the point that it may be deliberately retro, or perhaps it's genuinely authentic. In any event, if you like traditional 50s rock 'n roll, it's worth checking out. Nagamatzu's Shatter Days... this is a mix of Minimal Synth and Darkwave. I'm more of an up-tempo, "Just Can't Get Enough" sort of guy, but I'm slowly starting to appreciate this type of music even if it does drone on a bit. You can hear the influence of Joy Division in this type of record. Crystalized Movements' Mind Disaster... this was a lo-fi garage punk record. Cool sketch on the cover. Not gonna hail this as some lost masterpiece, but it was an interesting record and you can't beat that. Knutsen & Ludvigsen's Juba Juba... Knutsen and Ludvigsen were a Norway duo who made children's music. Not being able to understand the language, this sounds like quirky pop rock to my ears. I'd probably feel silly listening to it if I knew what they were singing about... or maybe not. James Ingram's It's Your Night... this was exactly what you'd expect a 1983 James Ingram album to sound like, complete with the exact production you'd expect from a 1983 contemporary R&B album, which I guess is exactly what his fans wanted. There is a dose of synth funk on the record, which is more appealing to me than 1983 R&B, though I have a hard time believing Ingram is the party animal he says he is. Fans of 60s and 70s R&B should look elsewhere. Dogs' Legendary Lovers... French power pop! This definitely gets cool points. The Dogs is a great name for a band. I liked this a lot. Will definitely check out their back catalogue when I get through the thousand other records from 1983. Satan Jokers' Les fils du metal... I'm not going to pretend I know anything about the history of French heavy metal, but I will say this was a decent take on NWOBHM with screaming, high-pitched vocals and hard rock style guitar playing. Fun record. Twice a Man's The Sound of a Goat in a Room... starts off very dark and atmospheric. There are times I'm not sure whether I like the sound of a goat in my room. Switches gears constantly, however, as though trying to prove a point that synthpop and darkwave can co-exist on the same record, even within the same song. Interesting. Gabinete Caligari's Que Dios reparta suerte... this rocked. It's a steady dose of Spanish post-punk psychobilly. Maybe not as crazy as you'd expect from that description, but I was down with this. Aggression's Don't Be Mistaken... not bad! I was expecting a hardcore record, but it sounded more like skater music. Then I discovered it's called Nerdcore, which is perfect. Seemed ahead of its time. I have plenty of buddies who would have happily listened to this in the 90s. The System's Logic... Interesting record. Kind of a low key synth pop cut. There were clearly better synth pop LPs in 1983, but I liked it.

Jimmy's hair is a vibe.

I will be super stoked if Japan prove the doubters wrong and qualify for the quarters.