In November 2006 the news reached me that legendary Shelflife Records, the record label which had become my favourite one in less than a year, would start releasing records again. Shelflife's founder Ed Mazzucco was ready for the difficult second catalogue.
I looked forward to Shelflife's comeback with joy, but I feel greatly disappointed now that I have listened to the first five releases of the new LIFE1000 series. I soon realise that the old LIFE catalogue was made of bands that were unique "once in a life"-gems gathered under one roof. I need to accept that the old bands were much better and still give the new bands a chance. I see potential in The Ruling Class. At the same time, I can not help but wonder why the band's development has stood still since the demo of Umbrella Folds was posted on their myspace last year.
The key words of the new catalogue appears to be "talented but boring". You can not live on old merits forever, not even if you once were the best in the world.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
You Say Party! We Say Die! - Monster
What kind of music do you listen to?
A common question that means different things to different people. I previously tried to explain how my favourite pop bands sound, but now I will just give one answer in the future: "I listen to music that either tells me something or hits that I can dance to on a Friday night.
You Say Party! We Say Die! play elegantly arranged punky pop that brings thoughts back to fall 2005 and Tralala's debut album. Not quite as good, but still lovable. My favourite song is probably Monster in fierce competition with Like I Give a Care.
A common question that means different things to different people. I previously tried to explain how my favourite pop bands sound, but now I will just give one answer in the future: "I listen to music that either tells me something or hits that I can dance to on a Friday night.
You Say Party! We Say Die! play elegantly arranged punky pop that brings thoughts back to fall 2005 and Tralala's debut album. Not quite as good, but still lovable. My favourite song is probably Monster in fierce competition with Like I Give a Care.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Global Fussball
The 2008 European Football Championship begins on Saturday and I want to say a few words about my relationship with the beautiful game.
I was seven or eight years old when I started playing football. My story begins several years later. I grew up with the Swedish football show Tipsextra which broadcasted English football. I dedicated the Saturday afternoons to English top football unless I played a match myself. There was something incredibly fascinating about football which really appealed to me, but I had not chosen a favourite team yet. Some people would say that it is unhealthy for a Swede to develop emotional ties to an English football club, but those who say so do not understand that admiration even in its most idealised form can be limitless. Arsenal FC of London was my first love.
In spring 1993, Arsenal played the FA cup quarter final against Ipswich. Arsenal's captain Tony Adams came out with a bandage around his head. Ipswich took an early lead, but Tony Adams scored a decisive headed goal on a corner. Blood came through the bandage, but it was worth it as the ball had found the net. Tony Adams became a hero for me at that moment, and later scored another important goal on the way to the FA cup triumph. My interest in Arsenal got more intense during the 1997-98 season. I have been a proud supporter and followed the team in prosperity and adversity ever since then.
My football interest should had lasted all my life, but the spring of 2008 made me question the meaning of being a football fan for a long time. Many people think it is childish to blame the referee and believe that things even out in the end of a season. With some distance to the season, I can only say that such opinions are naive bullshit. Things do not even out during a season because that is statistically unlikely.
In the summer of 2007, the prospective league winners Manchester United spent more than £50M on transfer fees for new players despite having bank loans of hundred of million pounds to pay off. Arsenal on the other hand showed a positive balance sheet in the same transfer period. I may be biased, but this is something unique to Arsenal thanks to the vision and integrity of our manager Arsene Wenger. While other top clubs buy established superstars from lesser clubs for amounts higher than £15M, Arsenal generally recruit young players, often for prices below £2M, and then give them both playing time and confidence in their abilities. This environment allows several of our players to develop into superstars.
After a brilliant first half of the season, Arsenal had taken the lead in the league with a five point gap down to the second placed team Manchester United. It could have been, and should have been, an eight point gap after the league game away to Birmingham in February. Our striker Eduardo (who during the season scored goals like this) had gotten his leg broken after a mad tackle by a player in the oppposite team, and our players looked shaken in a way I have never seen them before. Our young midfield conductor Cesc Fabregas, who has been regular in Arsenal's starting line-up since age 17, looked like he had seen a ghost and all of our players were obviously scared to challenge for the ball after that. That was a very human reaction, but we (the Arsenal players on the field) somehow managed to pull ourselves together and turn a 0-1 deficit to a 2-1 lead. The tragedy occured in the 93rd match minute when referee Mike Dean incredibly blowed for a penalty to Birmingham. Dean somehow spotted a foul where neutrals noticed a fair and correct tackle by Arsenal's left back Gael Clichy. I would like to add that supporters of rival clubs felt that this was a referee scandal and absolutely horrible. Officials have certainly made mistakes before, but the last straw was when it was repeated two league games later against Middlesbrough. The Arsenal striker Emmanuelle Adebayor got a correct goal ruled out as offside although the ball came from a defensive player of the opposite team. The Middlesbrough player accidently set Adebayor free with an unfortunate backward pass (the offside rule simply means that a free kick is awarded to the defending team when the attacking player is on the wrong side of the last player of the defending team - not counting the goalkeeper except for special cases - at the very moment a teammate in the attacking team passes the ball forward. A player in the attacking team can never be offside if the pass comes from a player of the defending team, ie the opposite team). Another two league games later we met Chelsea and took the lead 1-0. Then two Chelsea players were offside by over a meter (which is very much in this context) when a pass from a Chelsea player set one of their strikers free to score. The goal should had been ruled out as offside but stood anway. The officials' mistakes in those crucial games cost us seven points in the battle for the league title. In the end we ended up four points behind the prospective league winners Manchester United. Sour grapes, said the fox.
The dream of winning this year's Champions League ended when the officials robbed us in the quarter final against Liverpool. Arsenal had a crystal clear penalty situation in the first leg turned down whereas Liverpool were awarded a penalty after a situation with minimal body contact in the second leg. Achievments such as 19-year-old Theo Walcott's world class run across the whole field counted for nothing after the referees gave decisive decisions against Arsenal. Again. In defense of the European referees, we do not have a story with the referees in Champions League and I regard the decisions in the quarter final of Champions League as bad luck only.
I know that I am a bad loser when it comes to football, but I have followed Arsenal closely for more than ten years and still not experienced anything like this spring before. I have of course seen individual matches with shocking referee decisions, but not a whole serie of games with highly dubious and very decisive calls against Arsenal. On the last day of the league, Manchester United's central defender Rio Ferdinand covered a shot with his arm in his own penalty box. According to the rules and normal refereeing, it would had been a penalty for the opposite team and a red card for Rio Ferdinand. Manchester United and Rio Ferdinand, however, got away with it. It was now obvious to me that some of the referees were heavily biased and I seriously came to think about how rigged this year's Premier League was. Referee scandals occur each year in Italy, and several clubs across Europe have also been found guilty of being involved in referee scandals and corruption. Why could it not happen in England? It was a rethorical question if anyone wonders.
Being a fan is a lifestyle. Key matches can throw you between indescribable happiness and sadness in less than a minute. We have the camera technology to correct referee mistakes which occur when the game is too fast for the human eye, but we do not use this technology for some stupid reasons. I feel very bitter about the fact that Arsenal did not win any title this season when we actually deserved to win the league if the referees had treated all teams equally, but you have to move on. And I do that here and now. The world has never been fair so why would football be?
It took me several weeks to get over it, but I know I will follow my beloved Arsenal from the first second of the next season. Football is a wonderful sport and another great tournament begins on Saturday. Let us live for the beauty in the world (but if you hear someone yell referee bastard it may well be me).
I was seven or eight years old when I started playing football. My story begins several years later. I grew up with the Swedish football show Tipsextra which broadcasted English football. I dedicated the Saturday afternoons to English top football unless I played a match myself. There was something incredibly fascinating about football which really appealed to me, but I had not chosen a favourite team yet. Some people would say that it is unhealthy for a Swede to develop emotional ties to an English football club, but those who say so do not understand that admiration even in its most idealised form can be limitless. Arsenal FC of London was my first love.
In spring 1993, Arsenal played the FA cup quarter final against Ipswich. Arsenal's captain Tony Adams came out with a bandage around his head. Ipswich took an early lead, but Tony Adams scored a decisive headed goal on a corner. Blood came through the bandage, but it was worth it as the ball had found the net. Tony Adams became a hero for me at that moment, and later scored another important goal on the way to the FA cup triumph. My interest in Arsenal got more intense during the 1997-98 season. I have been a proud supporter and followed the team in prosperity and adversity ever since then.
My football interest should had lasted all my life, but the spring of 2008 made me question the meaning of being a football fan for a long time. Many people think it is childish to blame the referee and believe that things even out in the end of a season. With some distance to the season, I can only say that such opinions are naive bullshit. Things do not even out during a season because that is statistically unlikely.
In the summer of 2007, the prospective league winners Manchester United spent more than £50M on transfer fees for new players despite having bank loans of hundred of million pounds to pay off. Arsenal on the other hand showed a positive balance sheet in the same transfer period. I may be biased, but this is something unique to Arsenal thanks to the vision and integrity of our manager Arsene Wenger. While other top clubs buy established superstars from lesser clubs for amounts higher than £15M, Arsenal generally recruit young players, often for prices below £2M, and then give them both playing time and confidence in their abilities. This environment allows several of our players to develop into superstars.
After a brilliant first half of the season, Arsenal had taken the lead in the league with a five point gap down to the second placed team Manchester United. It could have been, and should have been, an eight point gap after the league game away to Birmingham in February. Our striker Eduardo (who during the season scored goals like this) had gotten his leg broken after a mad tackle by a player in the oppposite team, and our players looked shaken in a way I have never seen them before. Our young midfield conductor Cesc Fabregas, who has been regular in Arsenal's starting line-up since age 17, looked like he had seen a ghost and all of our players were obviously scared to challenge for the ball after that. That was a very human reaction, but we (the Arsenal players on the field) somehow managed to pull ourselves together and turn a 0-1 deficit to a 2-1 lead. The tragedy occured in the 93rd match minute when referee Mike Dean incredibly blowed for a penalty to Birmingham. Dean somehow spotted a foul where neutrals noticed a fair and correct tackle by Arsenal's left back Gael Clichy. I would like to add that supporters of rival clubs felt that this was a referee scandal and absolutely horrible. Officials have certainly made mistakes before, but the last straw was when it was repeated two league games later against Middlesbrough. The Arsenal striker Emmanuelle Adebayor got a correct goal ruled out as offside although the ball came from a defensive player of the opposite team. The Middlesbrough player accidently set Adebayor free with an unfortunate backward pass (the offside rule simply means that a free kick is awarded to the defending team when the attacking player is on the wrong side of the last player of the defending team - not counting the goalkeeper except for special cases - at the very moment a teammate in the attacking team passes the ball forward. A player in the attacking team can never be offside if the pass comes from a player of the defending team, ie the opposite team). Another two league games later we met Chelsea and took the lead 1-0. Then two Chelsea players were offside by over a meter (which is very much in this context) when a pass from a Chelsea player set one of their strikers free to score. The goal should had been ruled out as offside but stood anway. The officials' mistakes in those crucial games cost us seven points in the battle for the league title. In the end we ended up four points behind the prospective league winners Manchester United. Sour grapes, said the fox.
The dream of winning this year's Champions League ended when the officials robbed us in the quarter final against Liverpool. Arsenal had a crystal clear penalty situation in the first leg turned down whereas Liverpool were awarded a penalty after a situation with minimal body contact in the second leg. Achievments such as 19-year-old Theo Walcott's world class run across the whole field counted for nothing after the referees gave decisive decisions against Arsenal. Again. In defense of the European referees, we do not have a story with the referees in Champions League and I regard the decisions in the quarter final of Champions League as bad luck only.
I know that I am a bad loser when it comes to football, but I have followed Arsenal closely for more than ten years and still not experienced anything like this spring before. I have of course seen individual matches with shocking referee decisions, but not a whole serie of games with highly dubious and very decisive calls against Arsenal. On the last day of the league, Manchester United's central defender Rio Ferdinand covered a shot with his arm in his own penalty box. According to the rules and normal refereeing, it would had been a penalty for the opposite team and a red card for Rio Ferdinand. Manchester United and Rio Ferdinand, however, got away with it. It was now obvious to me that some of the referees were heavily biased and I seriously came to think about how rigged this year's Premier League was. Referee scandals occur each year in Italy, and several clubs across Europe have also been found guilty of being involved in referee scandals and corruption. Why could it not happen in England? It was a rethorical question if anyone wonders.
Being a fan is a lifestyle. Key matches can throw you between indescribable happiness and sadness in less than a minute. We have the camera technology to correct referee mistakes which occur when the game is too fast for the human eye, but we do not use this technology for some stupid reasons. I feel very bitter about the fact that Arsenal did not win any title this season when we actually deserved to win the league if the referees had treated all teams equally, but you have to move on. And I do that here and now. The world has never been fair so why would football be?
It took me several weeks to get over it, but I know I will follow my beloved Arsenal from the first second of the next season. Football is a wonderful sport and another great tournament begins on Saturday. Let us live for the beauty in the world (but if you hear someone yell referee bastard it may well be me).
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