I've flown alone twice this week. I was a little hesitant Monday because the ceiling was 1500 feet and it was hazy. They were calling it as 6 mi visibility and since 3 mi is the legal limit, I went up. Well, once I was airborn I knew it was a mistake. The ceiling may have been 1500 but there was thick haze gradually fading down towards the ground. I couldn't make out the true horizon and at 600 feet on the climbout I knew I was not venturing far. I simply turned back torward the downwind leg and headed back. As I did my decending turns toward the runway but I felt like they were all off because of the lack of a true horizon. I landed and that was the end of that lesson.
Today however was my first TRULY solo lesson. For the first time, Jeff didn't even show up to the airport. I showed up, unlocked the hanger and pulled back the doors to reveal that beautiful flying machine. Today was different, today Jeff had entrusted her to me and my mission was to fly her out to the practice area and bring her back safely. This would be the first time I left the pattern alone.
I pulled her out and did the longest most thorough pre-flight I've ever done. I took my time checking every bolt, even stopping to hear the small creakings as the frame seemed to settle on the wheels. Had I ever heard that before? I must have, it stopped after a few minutes.
I got in and took two deep breathes... Only one month ago, TO THE DAY I had soloed. Now I was pulling it out and flying out to the practice area on my own!
I started up the engine and configured the cabin. The wind was almost direct crosswind at 6 knots. It should veer around to down the runway when I get back and crosswind takeoffs are easy, I decide it is acceptable. I took off with nobody in the pattern... the airport was quiet except for me. Then instead of turning into the downwind leg, I depart. I set a course for heading 21 and keep climbing. I look out the window and the view from 1500 feet has never been sweeter.
As I flew away from the airport. I started to hear people on the radio. There was somebody in the pattern and someone 11 miles out in the southwest. Hey I'm going to the southwest, where is he? It's tricky because people are never where you think they are and sometimes not even where they called out to be. A little while later I saw a small white plane about 4 miles away off my left wing zoom by. How did I see that? Thankfully I've been pretty good at spotting planes. I hear more traffic at the airport so I decide to just fly around. can you believe it? I had the plane all to myself and just flew around, it was an amazing feeling of freedom. I pulled a sharp turn and soaked in the view. For all the grief I give southeast texas, it is gorgeous from above.
I flew around for a while and when it quieted down at the airport I turned back. I had a little moment of panic when I didn't immediately see the airport. Eventually though at about 6 miles I picked it out. I called my position and headed in. I joined the downwind leg pretty close to the runway though. As I was correcting I noticed I had lost 200 feet as well. I was coming to the landing steps and was not at my prescribed hieght... what to do. I proceed to base leg and when I turn to final I find I have overshot by alot and am closer than I thought. With the crosswind I decide not to try and save it, I radio I am going around and give full power and push in carb heat. Flaps go up and I am climbing above the runway. I rejoin the pattern and its all nominal from there.
As I pull off the runway after landing I still think I have it in me to get in one more landing. I take off again and run through the pattern. Everything was right on down to about 20 feet. Then wheels hit and a bounce.. a big bounce. SHIT! I was high again but she was coming down. Then a gust from the left and I'm yawed now, with my nose off to the left. I remeber applying controls but they were sloppy, they always are when I'm slow like this. Especially the rudder and ailerons.
I manage to save it with the rudder and pull back again for the second big landing hop. I land a little sideways and use up so much runway I have to taxi to the far end. UGH, it was bad. I wish I had a video of it, it was my worst landing in a while. I was bummed but still on a huge high from all this. It's a good day when you tell yourself, I can't believe I did that!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Ode to the Airplane
Blogging about flying doesn't do flying any justice. All I can really do is share my enthusiasm for it. I can't think of anything else that brings together so many of my interests. It feeds the engineer in me, the adventurer... the poet. It polarizes and motivates me in a way few things ever have.
This weekend I can say nearly all of my activities somehow related to flying. I even built an AM radio receiver to pick up aircraft communications in the area. It was a labor of love... I don't think I've soldered that much since college. I had my windows open the entire weekend to get the smell out of my apartment. Anyway, I'm amazed it worked the first time I applied power! I played with it at the airport today.
I also taught myself how to use the circular slide rule flight calculator... that thing is such an amazingly clever device. It is so fiendishly clever! With just the turn of a dial almost any quantity related to flight and flight planning can be "dialed" up. I love it.
Today was beautiful. I flew with Jeff to the practice area and did some ground reference maneuvers at 1000 feet. I can't decide what I like best, the view from high altitude or low. Oh who cares they are equally awesome. Ground ref maneuvers are fun because I'm always peering out the window flying to cues located on the ground. I never realized how many cows there are laying around this place. I even did one of my turns around a cow.
Then we brought it back and I did 4 touch and gos with him in the plane. I nailed them all. I was on today. My hour lesson however was up and we went to the gas tank to fill up. After that Jeff asked if I had a wanted to do a few solo runs. I couldn't resist. I was off and got in two solo landings.
He even told me what I have been waiting to hear. The time has come for me to make my first solo ventures to the practice area and back. I can't stray too far, 25 nautical miles is the legal limit. Still though, this is a great time.
This weekend I can say nearly all of my activities somehow related to flying. I even built an AM radio receiver to pick up aircraft communications in the area. It was a labor of love... I don't think I've soldered that much since college. I had my windows open the entire weekend to get the smell out of my apartment. Anyway, I'm amazed it worked the first time I applied power! I played with it at the airport today.
I also taught myself how to use the circular slide rule flight calculator... that thing is such an amazingly clever device. It is so fiendishly clever! With just the turn of a dial almost any quantity related to flight and flight planning can be "dialed" up. I love it.
Today was beautiful. I flew with Jeff to the practice area and did some ground reference maneuvers at 1000 feet. I can't decide what I like best, the view from high altitude or low. Oh who cares they are equally awesome. Ground ref maneuvers are fun because I'm always peering out the window flying to cues located on the ground. I never realized how many cows there are laying around this place. I even did one of my turns around a cow.
Then we brought it back and I did 4 touch and gos with him in the plane. I nailed them all. I was on today. My hour lesson however was up and we went to the gas tank to fill up. After that Jeff asked if I had a wanted to do a few solo runs. I couldn't resist. I was off and got in two solo landings.
He even told me what I have been waiting to hear. The time has come for me to make my first solo ventures to the practice area and back. I can't stray too far, 25 nautical miles is the legal limit. Still though, this is a great time.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
indie for the red states
I heard that Sup-Pop and Matador Records are going to put out a compilation of various highly popular indie bands. (For all that don't know indie is short for independent- usually meaning a small self financed record company). Think of every cool song you've heard on a commercial, it will probably be there. Indie heavy hitters like Bloc Party, the Shins, Bright Eyes, Air, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, M. Ward, Ted Leo, Cat Power, Silversun Pickups, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Sonic Youth.
The goal is to put the record on the shelves in the Wal-Marts of the midwest and throughout the land. Is this a good thing? I think its a stupid move to put it in Wal Marts. Will Joe-Big Gulp like The Shins?
I think if they put the record in the Targets it would sell though. Getting good music out there is a good thing.
I'm an admitted music snob but indie can't be so underground that nobody can hear it. I think its a good thing if the bands themselves don't sell out. That is to say, doing what EVERY band who becomes popular does. They stagnate creatively sticking with only what sells. Remember Metallica? They were musical geniuses up to and including And Justice for All... after that it was bubblegum crap.
The most forgettable music is stuff that was written to fly off the shelves.
The goal is to put the record on the shelves in the Wal-Marts of the midwest and throughout the land. Is this a good thing? I think its a stupid move to put it in Wal Marts. Will Joe-Big Gulp like The Shins?
I think if they put the record in the Targets it would sell though. Getting good music out there is a good thing.
I'm an admitted music snob but indie can't be so underground that nobody can hear it. I think its a good thing if the bands themselves don't sell out. That is to say, doing what EVERY band who becomes popular does. They stagnate creatively sticking with only what sells. Remember Metallica? They were musical geniuses up to and including And Justice for All... after that it was bubblegum crap.
The most forgettable music is stuff that was written to fly off the shelves.
Urchin - self titled or Ode to XM and Itunes my musical messiahs
I have an xm radio subscription and I don't see how I could live without it. I mean I don't even live in Houston, I live in a bland suburban cultural desert. I have to drive an hour to hear a symphony play, to see a museum or even see a baseball game. The only thing to do here is go to a restaurant really, or go flying. My only link to the creative output of my fellow humans is through my space radio and itunes. How sad is that. I'm thinking my life act III is going to be set in New York.
Boo hoo, I brought this on myself. My point is I would never have heard of band like urchin without my space radio. It is electronic ambient music, full of bassy beats and highly polished electrono-sonic wizardry.. Yet, despite its repetitive nature, it never gets old! It's pretty much the opposite of the Beatles... trying more to establish a mood through gradually changing grooves. It is great driving music and will probably be playing in a Starbucks soon. The music is very atmospheric and almost creepy. The whole thing plays out like watching a memory.
Boo hoo, I brought this on myself. My point is I would never have heard of band like urchin without my space radio. It is electronic ambient music, full of bassy beats and highly polished electrono-sonic wizardry.. Yet, despite its repetitive nature, it never gets old! It's pretty much the opposite of the Beatles... trying more to establish a mood through gradually changing grooves. It is great driving music and will probably be playing in a Starbucks soon. The music is very atmospheric and almost creepy. The whole thing plays out like watching a memory.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Leaving the Cradle
This lesson really caught me off guard. I have been flying around in the pattern for the past 9 lessons. 9 Lessons!! That is to say 76 take off and landings all in a row. TOL has been my life and life has been good. (As of now I've done 86 landings but who's counting?)
Today however we left the pattern. He explained I was to do 4 maneuvers and bring her back for a handful of crosswind landings. Ok I told myself, I have just found myself in my most challenging lesson ever... stalls and crosswind landings. I haven't even thought about stalls in months and crosswinds have just been off the radar lately. Now, it was go time.
I performed the crosswind takeoff and climbed out to the southwest up to 2500 feet. First thing was a steep turn to the left. I bank it over to 45 degrees and in watching that attitude indicator with an intense focus I made the cardinal sin for steep turns. I let the nose drop. This starts a decent and I found myself in a really in a steep decending turn. Jeff points it out as I shallow out a bit and pull up feeling some Gs push me down into the seat. I keep in the turn and do a full 360 about face. Ok, that was a rookie mistake, I have to save face. I start another turn to the right and this one is right on, less than 100 feet of altitude loss. Bring it on.
Next is slow flight. I love slowflight. It is a technique to significantly slow the airspeed of the plane. In fact if there is a stiff headwind you can get the thing to practically hover! Slow flight is possible with a suitably high angle of attack and power setting. A high AOA is needed to create the required lift due to the reduced airflow, the high power setting is to overcome the drag induced by the larger cross sectional area presented to the airflow. I slowed her down perfectly... and captured a mere 45 knots with almost no altitude loss. Textbook! I was feeling good.
Now it was stall time. I am not ashamed to say stalls have made me uncomfortable since I met them. This is probably because the second time I performed one I got it into something called an incipient spin. Look it up, its bad. Good thing Jeff was in the plane because I freaked.
So a power off stall is just what it sounds like. It is a maneuver to pitch up the plane high enough to make the airflow separate from the wing, thereby causing a loss of lift. To recover all that is needed is to pitch the plane over to pick up airspeed and get the plane flying. Easy enough right? Just pitch the plane over as it falls from the sky. Piece of cake.
I reduced power, and threw in 30 degrees of flaps. I watch as the airspeed needle quickly sank and then against all instinct pulled the power. The plane quieted to hum and I began pitching up. The sky is all in the windshield and the stall horn began to cry out its horribly high pitch squeal. The frequency went even higher and silence... I was falling and the plane was pitching over. Ok, give it full power and presto! I'm flying agin.
The power off stall went perfectly... he even made me do a turning power off stall. It was awesome, I felt in control the entire time. I wonder though if I'd ever do one alone in the plane.
The power on stalls were less awesome. I had trouble getting them to "break". I'd just kind of hang in stall territory where the deck angle is high, the p factor is high and my speed is slow. It's not a good place to be. We called it off and headed back to the airport.
The entire time he was getting me to be more aware of my location relative to the airport. Pretty soon I'll be able to take the plane away to the practice area by myself and it'd be nice to know how to bring it back. It's amazing how tiny that airport looks from 5 miles and 1500 feet in the air.
I entered the pattern and got ready to land her in a gusty 9 knot crosswind. My first approach was good until the final 20 feet. I didn't apply enough rudder to align the body of the plane with the runway. I ended up placing on the ground slightly sideways. I correct once on the ground but that isn't great for the plane. I gave it full power and lifted up off with the yoke turned into the wind. I was off again.
For that entire set of landings I just was not compensating for the wind the way I should have been. I was being blown off course during the climbout and landing hard. Maybe my brain was full but it was a good experience. I got in 5 landings that night. It was a big lesson and I plan to do better this Sunday for my next. If all goes well he plans on giving me the combination to the hangar this weekend. I will be free to take the plane out, preflight it and fly it to the practice area and back. I am almost as anxious as I was for my solo!
Today however we left the pattern. He explained I was to do 4 maneuvers and bring her back for a handful of crosswind landings. Ok I told myself, I have just found myself in my most challenging lesson ever... stalls and crosswind landings. I haven't even thought about stalls in months and crosswinds have just been off the radar lately. Now, it was go time.
I performed the crosswind takeoff and climbed out to the southwest up to 2500 feet. First thing was a steep turn to the left. I bank it over to 45 degrees and in watching that attitude indicator with an intense focus I made the cardinal sin for steep turns. I let the nose drop. This starts a decent and I found myself in a really in a steep decending turn. Jeff points it out as I shallow out a bit and pull up feeling some Gs push me down into the seat. I keep in the turn and do a full 360 about face. Ok, that was a rookie mistake, I have to save face. I start another turn to the right and this one is right on, less than 100 feet of altitude loss. Bring it on.
Next is slow flight. I love slowflight. It is a technique to significantly slow the airspeed of the plane. In fact if there is a stiff headwind you can get the thing to practically hover! Slow flight is possible with a suitably high angle of attack and power setting. A high AOA is needed to create the required lift due to the reduced airflow, the high power setting is to overcome the drag induced by the larger cross sectional area presented to the airflow. I slowed her down perfectly... and captured a mere 45 knots with almost no altitude loss. Textbook! I was feeling good.
Now it was stall time. I am not ashamed to say stalls have made me uncomfortable since I met them. This is probably because the second time I performed one I got it into something called an incipient spin. Look it up, its bad. Good thing Jeff was in the plane because I freaked.
So a power off stall is just what it sounds like. It is a maneuver to pitch up the plane high enough to make the airflow separate from the wing, thereby causing a loss of lift. To recover all that is needed is to pitch the plane over to pick up airspeed and get the plane flying. Easy enough right? Just pitch the plane over as it falls from the sky. Piece of cake.
I reduced power, and threw in 30 degrees of flaps. I watch as the airspeed needle quickly sank and then against all instinct pulled the power. The plane quieted to hum and I began pitching up. The sky is all in the windshield and the stall horn began to cry out its horribly high pitch squeal. The frequency went even higher and silence... I was falling and the plane was pitching over. Ok, give it full power and presto! I'm flying agin.
The power off stall went perfectly... he even made me do a turning power off stall. It was awesome, I felt in control the entire time. I wonder though if I'd ever do one alone in the plane.
The power on stalls were less awesome. I had trouble getting them to "break". I'd just kind of hang in stall territory where the deck angle is high, the p factor is high and my speed is slow. It's not a good place to be. We called it off and headed back to the airport.
The entire time he was getting me to be more aware of my location relative to the airport. Pretty soon I'll be able to take the plane away to the practice area by myself and it'd be nice to know how to bring it back. It's amazing how tiny that airport looks from 5 miles and 1500 feet in the air.
I entered the pattern and got ready to land her in a gusty 9 knot crosswind. My first approach was good until the final 20 feet. I didn't apply enough rudder to align the body of the plane with the runway. I ended up placing on the ground slightly sideways. I correct once on the ground but that isn't great for the plane. I gave it full power and lifted up off with the yoke turned into the wind. I was off again.
For that entire set of landings I just was not compensating for the wind the way I should have been. I was being blown off course during the climbout and landing hard. Maybe my brain was full but it was a good experience. I got in 5 landings that night. It was a big lesson and I plan to do better this Sunday for my next. If all goes well he plans on giving me the combination to the hangar this weekend. I will be free to take the plane out, preflight it and fly it to the practice area and back. I am almost as anxious as I was for my solo!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
2nd Solo
Even when flying is bad, it's good. Today I was able to pilot that little Cessna 150 1000 feet into the air and bring her down safely 3 times. It was solid, but far from perfect. I just wasn't hitting on all cylinders and generally felt "behind" the plane the entire time. This is no more evident that in my second landing. But to explain Ill have to give a little background.
So there are 4 things to keep in mind during the decent and final approach of a small airplane. The first is something called carburetor heat. Its basically a work around to fix a quirk about carbs, their inlets ice up! They may even ice up on a perfectly nice sunny day since what matters most is humidity. To protect for this a knob in the cabin is pulled to duct warm air from the engine into the carburetor. Simple enough. It works except it robs the engine of power. The warm air is less dense and produces a leaner fuel/air mixture. I learned this first hand today.
The next thing is flaps. Flaps are awesome. They are slowly lowered throughout the decent to lower the airspeed and the stall speed. Like everything it has its drawbacks though. They can be summarized in this cheesy sentence. Flaps make the wing more lifty at the price of being more draggy.
Then there is engine power. It must be adjusted to account for the vertical speed or decent rate. This keeps the so called glideslope in check. If you are to high come off on the power to come down... to low then bring it in to climb back up.
The final thing is AIRSPEED. Airspeed is the key to everything and must be monitored very carefully. Unless you were born on a plane, it comes as a shock that airspeed is controlled primarily through attitude. If you nose the plane over you speed up, pull up and the speed quickly bleeds off.
Ok so the carburetor heat knob is pulled when the decent is initiated. On my first time up by myself that day I pulled the POWER all the way out instead. The plane went abruptly quiet and the plane nosed over. SHIT I said out loud and over my headset. This is an amateur mistake. I knew exactly what I had done and quickly pulled heat out as well. On hindsight this wasn't so great since that robbed the engine of even more power and sure enough I had nosed a little further down... causing airspeed to build further. I pushed the power back in to the approach setting of 1700 RPM and threw in 10 degrees of flaps. I look back over my shoulder and the runway hasn't drifted too far back. I'm still on schedule.
I make my two turns and now I'm on final. I have 30 degrees flaps by now. There is a little right crosswind and I turn my nose into it to counter it. I'm now tracking the runway in a "crab" sort of manner, flying more out of the side of the plane. The runway is in the same position in the window but getting bigger. That's a good sign, my approach angle is right on. The speed is perfect too... 60 knots.
I get down to about 20 feet off the runway and I notice I still have power in. I normally would have chopped it a little before. No biggie, I chop it then. And then a gust from the right. No problem, i stomp on the rudder to align myself and start to pitch up for the landing flare. I pitch up to high and the plane balloons. This is a term for being to aggressive during the final pitch up maneuver causing the plane to zoom upward. Remember, I don't have power so any zoom will cause my airspeed to drop. It rose a little higher than expected and now I'm 40 feet above the runway and airspeed is bleeding off. In that split second I decide to abort the landing. I have to mentally transition to takeoff and impliment it.... and fast.
I give the plane full power and she responds by pitching up further. This is ok and expected but my speed is not building at all. No wonder, I'm still in landing configuration. I have my flaps hanging out in the flow and I hit the flaps up switch. I lose all 30 degrees in 20 seconds. It is unfortunate that this is a 3 position switch which brings them up all at once because now I'm losing lift. It is not comfortable to see the runway gently coming closer when fully expecting to climb out.
In this time frame I'm still not seeing the climb performance I expected. The flaps are almost to the top though. Why the HELL isn't my airspeed building faster.
That damned carb heat knob is still pulled out. I let out an audible UGH, and shove it in with a hard smack. I immediately feel a burst of power from the engine. It was kind of like somebody hit the turbo button on a racing game. Finally speed is building and I am climbing comfortably out.
The moral is that a go around is much more intense when it is NOT planned. I know now to give it carb heat along with power, maybe even holding both knobs and advancing simultaneously. Also, those flaps should be added incrementally. Throwing them all up is a drastic wing shape change and all the precious liftiness can't afford to be given up when that low and slow.
If anything I feel that I handled the situation well, adapting quickly to my own mistakes. Did I mention I love flying?
So there are 4 things to keep in mind during the decent and final approach of a small airplane. The first is something called carburetor heat. Its basically a work around to fix a quirk about carbs, their inlets ice up! They may even ice up on a perfectly nice sunny day since what matters most is humidity. To protect for this a knob in the cabin is pulled to duct warm air from the engine into the carburetor. Simple enough. It works except it robs the engine of power. The warm air is less dense and produces a leaner fuel/air mixture. I learned this first hand today.
The next thing is flaps. Flaps are awesome. They are slowly lowered throughout the decent to lower the airspeed and the stall speed. Like everything it has its drawbacks though. They can be summarized in this cheesy sentence. Flaps make the wing more lifty at the price of being more draggy.
Then there is engine power. It must be adjusted to account for the vertical speed or decent rate. This keeps the so called glideslope in check. If you are to high come off on the power to come down... to low then bring it in to climb back up.
The final thing is AIRSPEED. Airspeed is the key to everything and must be monitored very carefully. Unless you were born on a plane, it comes as a shock that airspeed is controlled primarily through attitude. If you nose the plane over you speed up, pull up and the speed quickly bleeds off.
Ok so the carburetor heat knob is pulled when the decent is initiated. On my first time up by myself that day I pulled the POWER all the way out instead. The plane went abruptly quiet and the plane nosed over. SHIT I said out loud and over my headset. This is an amateur mistake. I knew exactly what I had done and quickly pulled heat out as well. On hindsight this wasn't so great since that robbed the engine of even more power and sure enough I had nosed a little further down... causing airspeed to build further. I pushed the power back in to the approach setting of 1700 RPM and threw in 10 degrees of flaps. I look back over my shoulder and the runway hasn't drifted too far back. I'm still on schedule.
I make my two turns and now I'm on final. I have 30 degrees flaps by now. There is a little right crosswind and I turn my nose into it to counter it. I'm now tracking the runway in a "crab" sort of manner, flying more out of the side of the plane. The runway is in the same position in the window but getting bigger. That's a good sign, my approach angle is right on. The speed is perfect too... 60 knots.
I get down to about 20 feet off the runway and I notice I still have power in. I normally would have chopped it a little before. No biggie, I chop it then. And then a gust from the right. No problem, i stomp on the rudder to align myself and start to pitch up for the landing flare. I pitch up to high and the plane balloons. This is a term for being to aggressive during the final pitch up maneuver causing the plane to zoom upward. Remember, I don't have power so any zoom will cause my airspeed to drop. It rose a little higher than expected and now I'm 40 feet above the runway and airspeed is bleeding off. In that split second I decide to abort the landing. I have to mentally transition to takeoff and impliment it.... and fast.
I give the plane full power and she responds by pitching up further. This is ok and expected but my speed is not building at all. No wonder, I'm still in landing configuration. I have my flaps hanging out in the flow and I hit the flaps up switch. I lose all 30 degrees in 20 seconds. It is unfortunate that this is a 3 position switch which brings them up all at once because now I'm losing lift. It is not comfortable to see the runway gently coming closer when fully expecting to climb out.
In this time frame I'm still not seeing the climb performance I expected. The flaps are almost to the top though. Why the HELL isn't my airspeed building faster.
That damned carb heat knob is still pulled out. I let out an audible UGH, and shove it in with a hard smack. I immediately feel a burst of power from the engine. It was kind of like somebody hit the turbo button on a racing game. Finally speed is building and I am climbing comfortably out.
The moral is that a go around is much more intense when it is NOT planned. I know now to give it carb heat along with power, maybe even holding both knobs and advancing simultaneously. Also, those flaps should be added incrementally. Throwing them all up is a drastic wing shape change and all the precious liftiness can't afford to be given up when that low and slow.
If anything I feel that I handled the situation well, adapting quickly to my own mistakes. Did I mention I love flying?
Monday, April 2, 2007
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
I was waiting for this album. I waited all this year and the night it came out I downloaded it. I couldn't even wait to go to Best Buy to buy one of the thousand cheap copies they were sure to have.
I listened to it straight through that night. My experience with this record is similar to my romance with Taco Bell. I crave those grilled stuffed burritos for like a month and when I finally get them, it's shark week on discovery. I devour them in frenzy. I end up paying for it the rest of the night and am generally embarrassed about the whole thing the next day.
This album has just lost its charm over the last few weeks.
That said, the single Intervention is amazing. It is worth a quick dollar download from itunes or wherever. The only other tracks I still like are Ocean of Noise, and My Body is a Cage.
Thier first album, The Funeral is perfect.
I listened to it straight through that night. My experience with this record is similar to my romance with Taco Bell. I crave those grilled stuffed burritos for like a month and when I finally get them, it's shark week on discovery. I devour them in frenzy. I end up paying for it the rest of the night and am generally embarrassed about the whole thing the next day.
This album has just lost its charm over the last few weeks.
That said, the single Intervention is amazing. It is worth a quick dollar download from itunes or wherever. The only other tracks I still like are Ocean of Noise, and My Body is a Cage.
Thier first album, The Funeral is perfect.
The Good, The Bad And The Queen - self titled
Am I the only one who got that Gorrilaz album Space Monkeyz vs. Gorillaz - Laika Come Home? I bought it in Havard Square one cold winter only because the cover had a picture of a monkey with a space helmet. It is a remix of the Gorillaz debue album with trippy dubbed bass lines. It reminded me of monkeys and tropical islands, brilliant.
Anyway, lead singer Damon Albarn has created the skinny hipster equivalent of this album in the The Good, The Bad and The Queen. And it works. It is brimming over with BASS LINES! Bass lines that have been so shunned lately. Basslines to piss off the people who live under you. F U Jack White.
So I give this album a 7 out of 10. It's good but I don't remember individual songs. It all kind of blends together as a slowed down reggaeish mess with Damon kind of whining over it. It's a genuine performance at least. (though a far cry from his Blur work) I recommend it for lazy drives and background music while at work.
Anyway, lead singer Damon Albarn has created the skinny hipster equivalent of this album in the The Good, The Bad and The Queen. And it works. It is brimming over with BASS LINES! Bass lines that have been so shunned lately. Basslines to piss off the people who live under you. F U Jack White.
So I give this album a 7 out of 10. It's good but I don't remember individual songs. It all kind of blends together as a slowed down reggaeish mess with Damon kind of whining over it. It's a genuine performance at least. (though a far cry from his Blur work) I recommend it for lazy drives and background music while at work.
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