Everyone has an opinion.

And many who think they know better, don’t.

And many who claim to be an expert, aren’t.

And social media amplifies all of this and puts it out there as a stark reality of the world we live in where anyone behind the veil of a device can write what they like. It’s not a new problem and has been going on a while now.

It’s always easier to be a critic than a creator. It’s always easier to sit back and judge those who do and most of the time, these people who do write in this kind of way are clearly expressing some form of hurt or fear they are feeling in themselves.

That’s not to excuse the abuse Latifi received for his DNF or that football players get for mistakes. The fact that these people can receive death threats is well beyond the pale and as usual more needs to be done to quash this kind of behaviour.

But for those participating in this kind of behaviour for now. A simple alternative would be to go for a walk, get some air and return to the state of being able to have a perspective on things. Such as sports really being a wonderful irrelevance.

By all means have your opinion, but if one directs it in a purposefully harmful way, that’s not acceptable and does no one anyone any good, least of all oneself.

Better to not contribute to the noise until you have something constructive or insightful to say.

Spoiler alert.

There was an expressed desire that the race would be won on the track.

So what we got was a safety car, a decision that cars would not be able to unlap themselves and then some cars could in the last minute, an 11 second advantage essentially wiped out by a crash, and replaced by another advantage in the form of fresh soft tyres against old hard tyres for a one lap show down.

Verstappen wins the championship and Hamilton loses out through no fault of his own and Mercedes protest twice, get rejected and are now appealing.

This is really messy and the victory for Verstappen is unfortunately, rather hollow.

Hamilton and Verstappen both drove and battled amazingly throughout the season. Red bull had the better car at the start but from the half way point, Mercedes tweaked some things, managed to find their A game and clawed their way back.

And as great a driver as Verstappen is, I was less than impressed with his aggressive tactics and standards. It’s the inner bastard that this kind of sport manifests in you and he won’t back out and is always in it for himself.

Hamilton’s experience and approach was much more dignified. He changed tact to avoid collisions and always puts the collective effort first above himself, hence why he always talks about the crowds or the teams first before himself. How he handled the loss with such dignity and grace is to be hugely admired.

But Hamilton didn’t deserve to have his 8th world title clinched away in such fashion by an FIA call that was at best, inconsistent and arbitrary.

For Masi to change his mind last minute puts a real dent in his credibility. Such a discussion with the safety car meant that he ended up dictating the winner. After all the work Hamilton and Mercedes did, there were no good options, including changing tyres due to losing track position.

So the lap cars could unlap themselves to let the battle take place for 1st but what about podium positions and Sainz? Did those positions not count for that kind of consideration in the last lap showdown?

And it makes you wonder how manipulated this situation was. It provided a last minute spectacle but that was that the expense of rules being consistently applied in the sport?

This needs to be questioned going forward.

And I don’t like the stewards constantly being badgered by team principals. Horner will especially use every trick in the book and to him, it’s NEVER his drivers’ fault. The Red flag situation at Saudi Arabia when Verstappen almost caused a collision at the second restart sounded like a negotiation as opposed to an enforced rule. The authority of Masi was always challenged and at times, it appeared he cracked under the pressure.

So many people feel that a world championship battle tonight and even the sport as a whole was tarnished by an arbitrary decision this evening, and they are right!

And whilst Hamilton may not be victorious for this year, he’s still a 7 time champion and captures the essence of a sportsman who is dignified, has an amazing attitude and stands up for justice and causes he believes in.

And it’s not new news that the deserving are victorious in F1, but that’s also the case for many other aspects in life.

Despite that, Hamilton’s maxim is the most fitting response.

‘Still we rise’.

My favourite records of the year are always usually incomparable to anything else.

Arroj Aftab’s Vulture Prince is an incredibly beautiful record and my favourite of the year. It is gorgeously performed, arranged, I love the use of harp and it sounds unlike anything else I have heard this year.

The culture of music and other art forms for that matter often presents an issue where gatekeepers and curators require the status quo, music that is generic and averse to risk, but every time, the truly outstanding work often comes from the outsiders.

There is something to be said for the solipsistic nature that artists sometimes pursue their work and there is much to be admired from this process. To only zone in that which is what you truly want to do for your own vision oddly often manifests in itself the best results, because you are pushing your ideas forward in a way that is pure and uninhibited. It is also courageous and brave.

I love the later Talk Talk records and it’s so obvious that Mark Hollis had a total disregard for audience and just stuck to his vision. Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock were commercial failures at the time but the legacy of the former record is especially enormous.

Sure, things need to be tailor made to an audience sometimes and as a result you need to quash some sense of authenticity in that situation, but my taste steers toward the roads less taken or formed entirely anew. There are opportunities aplenty with the resources and technology we now have and instead of playing it safe and the same as everything else, I welcome those who take risks because, in the long term, risk is what rewards you in the quality of being unique.

What kind of conversation is this?

I’ve come across the odd punter now and then who has a conceived notion in their minds of what real music is, as if you can incontrovertibly distinguish one type of music from another.

What does real music even mean?

Not much in short, and to summarise music, it is a combination of frequencies and silence, either prepared, captured, controlled or even just observed. Beyond that, anything goes.

And to often, we are so eager to categorise things that we end up creating a tunnel vision of what we accept as real or not and in some ways missing out on the opportunity to engage with different versions of an art form. In many ways, we compromise so much and as a result, the things that dominate become watered down mediocrity.

I’ve had some people argue the toss with me that instrumental music isn’t as worthwhile as lyrical music.

How about dismissing the entire history of classical music or film music or jazz records with one notion?

Real music is a non-concept and merely a sign of dogma when it comes to taste. And if you find yourself making this argument, it might be you who is missing out on what’s available to be experienced.

And music like life itself, is experienced better without any prejudice.

It’s been a while since I have written something. I’ve been wrapped up in my masters and whilst I’ve fallen out of the routine I set upon myself to write consistently this year, I have however been doing some exploring.

And composing for that matter too.

One thing that has been on my mind is how much time I spend on a seconds worth of sound…I’m talking hours, days, months and even years piecing this altogether in a carefully crafted way. Why!? Because the journey to get things sounding the way I want them to sound is the reward in itself. It’s of course nice when people hear it too.

I’m drawn to the little details and music that’s sophisticated in it’s detail. A unique and experimental production approach or a extraordinary level of rhythmic or harmonic language or a fascinating palette of orchestration or textures.

And beyond that is even more, the use of effects, the use of mistakes and incidental sounds, or things brought out within the frequency spectrum.

I’ve spent the last twelve months really delving into sound in a way I’ve never done before previously, and I appreciate sound more than ever.

And when we spend time listening to music, it can happen all rather passively, but it’s worth remembering that in an overwhelming world with so much going on visually, it might be worthwhile to immerse yourself in a musical piece, shut off the lights and really listen for there is many things you’ll likely discover if you zone in on it.

It was so good to be visiting London again to see a concert.

I had never been to the roundhouse before and it is a beautiful venue.

‘Pang’ by Caroline Polachek was released in 2019 and it is one of my favourite albums of the last few years. It is full of beautiful songs, that sound utterly gorgeous. It’s a masterpiece through and through. There’s an ethereal quality to each and every song, some of which relate to dreams, others of which capture the disorientation of a relationship gone awry or emotional pangs related to shock or grief. It is a deeply reflective and contemplative album and it’s albums like this that really resonate with me.

So I jumped on the opportunity to see Caroline live and the show had sold out in an hour.

Oklou opened to a very respectable crowd and ‘Galore’ is also a lovely album and one I’ve repeated since it’s release in 2020.

And by the time Caroline was on, the place was packed and you could barely move in the venue. Speaking of the audience…

The audience was very diverse. Loads of the LGBT community were there and Caroline Polachek, similarly to Charli XCX and Christine and the queens really strikes a chord with them. As a music lover, this scene is where some of the most exciting pop and electronic music is happening. So, I was impressed by the flamboyant fashion on display and the effort people had put in! There was also a few metal heads there as well! It was genuinely lovely to be part of a diverse and adoring crowd because as far as my love of Pang was concerned, I had been on my own with this for two years! Such is the world we live in, where weird and wonderful, and I also may I say more sophisticated music appeals to more niche audiences.

I don’t quite remember an audience this appreciative of an artist, it was great!

And Polachek can sing live. Her voice is amazing and the sound was amazing. It was great to see her backed by a drummer and guitarist as it’s often the case that pop artists just have backing tracks. She also had occasional guests on board including Sega Bogeda and Danny L Hare.

So the music itself was captivating enough but this was further enhanced by an absolutely gorgeous backdrop. A gate with an enthralling lighting design for the entire show.

So this concert was wonderful, and if you haven’t heard ‘Pang’, I thoroughly recommend that you do.

Paul Scholes is one of the best pundits out there when it comes to football.

I’ve seen enough former Manchester United players cranked up on emotions. I’m not particularly fond of Liverpool pundits doing it either, or any ex players of any team for that matter.

But Scholes saw how Manchester United played against Atalanta and straight away saw the warning signs and made an objective observation on BT.

And he was so right!

And I couldn’t be more delighted. I’m a Liverpool FC supporter in case that’s not obvious.

I watched the game in utter delight but also bafflement. There’s never been such a glaring disparity between the two rivals. 5-0 does say some of it but the manner in which Liverpool won and Manchester United lost is also extraordinary.

And the analysis has become more like a post mortem when it has come to the latter team.

You can certainly look at the tactics and take issue at the Red Devil’s half hearted attempt at pressing, gaping holes in defence, and calamitous errors but fundamentally, you have a team of individuals verses the best Liverpool team I have ever had the joy of watching.

And Man U supporters and pundits were rubbing their hands when they saw no Fabinho or Matip or Mane before the game but that didn’t matter, and here’s why.

Because Liverpool play as a team with a cohesive system, a well drilled squad so whenever anyone else steps into a position, they can fulfil the job. Henderson bossed midfield, Jota and Keita got involved with a goal and assist each and Konate was cool and collected in defence.

They have a world class manager in Klopp who I run out of words to praise his demeanour on and off the pitch.

And then there is Salah, who is currently the best player in the world and puts himself in a very strong negotiation position with his contract, courtesy of a hat trick, but that’s only part of the story. Every single player representing Liverpool yesterday made that win happen and no matter if you are the best player or were the best player in the world, you can’t win consistently without the collective in football. Everyone deserves praise at LFC for yesterday’s chapter for the history books.

Manchester United on the other hand need reflection, and I respect opposing sides but my patience ran thin when Pogba dives in for a red and plenty of other players were lucky to walk away with just yellows.

And Ronaldo’s sore loser antics with Curtis Jones is one of the reasons I have always rated Messi higher in my books.

I feel for Van De Beek and especially Sancho, who was chased by the club in comedically embarrassing fashion for two years only to be shafted by a veteran legend who steers the reins by emotion above all else.

Which leads me on to the wider point.

Ego and individualism is worth putting aside sometimes for the collective effort and reward involved with being a team. Objectivity is sometimes the better thing to consider than subjectivity. What’s the philosophy, what’s the plan moving forward and how do you (as in we) achieve it?

And if you can answer those with clarity, conviction and quality, you have a chance at being competitive.

I still don’t know what the conservatives mean when they say ‘levelling up’.

And I’m sick of our current government painting art as merely a trivial luxury.

Reading the Guardian article on the government’s desire to limit student numbers for creative courses for the sake of reducing student loan debt is profoundly infuriating.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/oct/23/ministers-could-limit-student-numbers-lower-earning-art-degrees?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It isn’t just about reducing student loans. It’s about limiting opportunity, discrimination against the poor (which they always do!) and quashing down any voices that speak truth to power.

The Fatima advert should still be prevalent in everyone’s memory about how tone deaf Boris Johnson and his crew are.

Not everyone is meant to be an engineer or a scientist.

And every single time I see a student, steered away from their love of the arts for the sake of pursuing science, it’s at the cost of regret, time felt as wasted and disillusionment. I’ve lost count of how many times I have had this conversation.

To any progressive society, the arts play a pivotal role in the culture. The arts besides providing the opportunity to entertain us, has every potential to enrich our lives, encourage us to think and see the world in different ways and make positive changes moving forward. And all of this can happen in tandem with EVERY profession.

Instead, the Tories would rather everyone be a cog in a system, exasperate inequality and have a country that is coarse and inward looking.

There is more to life than economic growth.

And you can’t sell the idea of levelling up if you plan on reducing the amount of opportunities for education.

Today, I had an awesome and very musical day collaborating with a friend of mine and we’ve not only worked together on one but two records this year…his and mine.

And after a good 10 hour session programming synths and exploring sounds I said that I wouldn’t have created these kind of ideas if he wasn’t in the room.

The modern musical adventure normally gives the image of a person working away on their ideas in their bedroom studio on their own.

But often, I get better results through collaboration and conversations with others that critically reflect on the material and make more informed decisions going forward. It’s also more inspiring and fun too.

Music certainly can be enjoyed in solitude, but the value of sharing ideas and bouncing of others should never be underestimated.

The top 50 charts of music today are filled with an endless amount of vapid drek. The music reflects the culture and for the most part, people don’t use music like they did in the 60s and 70s, as a means to find their identity, learn and discover about themselves and see what was going on in the world. Instead, people use music as a means for escapism, or passive noise to drown themselves in sound whilst other media forms have come in to the fray to take up our attention.

It’s a shame in some ways, and I can only see the music business as a race to the bottom. But I remember that that’s the music business and not music.

And I’ve gotten rather resourceful when it comes to finding the music for me. I go out of my way to discover new music I love and my favourite records of the last few years comprise of artists that no else I know directly, knows of.

Caroline Polachek, Arooj Aftab, Julia Holter, Natalie Prass, Steven Wilson, the list goes on. I love the work these people do, and so do a lot of others out there, but they are not popular by any stretch of the mainstream media focus.

But they resonate with a viable audience. And this can happen on an even smaller scale.

There are over 300 million people in America. Target 1% and you still have 3 million. Even 0.001% is a large audience to someone!

Sometimes, it’s easy to obsess over the stats and the numbers but we should never let that supersede the quality of that which we like and admire. And it doesn’t have to be popular for us to like or engage with it.