The Cold Cut

I know I posted about Interpol only a few days ago, but whilst trawling through the hype machine for the latest up and coming bands I saw a link to a blog offering the whole of Our Love To Admire as a zip file. Now, I don't agree with what this blogger did, but he will remain anonymous; posting a whole album doesn't build hype or promote a band- it just gives people something for free which should cost £10. I downloaded this zip file with a promise to myself that I would still go out and buy this album when it comes out in a few weeks.

Now that I've made clear how I feel about this, I can get on to the album, which I have to say is fantastic. Interpol have really picked up their game since their last album Antics, which didn't really have a lasting impression on me (I suppose you could call this Antics 2.0). With Our Love To Admire, they have produced an album which on the first play is as good if not better than Turn On The Bright Lights. That is quite a large claim to make at this point, but I am confident with my view on the album, even if I have only listened to it two or three times. It is at this point that I should probably mention that Our Love To Admire doesn't really shake up their basic formula; it's an Interpol album, through and through. However, that doesn't stop it from being great- despite the sub tones of sex, drugs and death which run strongly through this album, an inexplicably happy feeling accompanies each listen of the tracks. I don't have time today to run through the album track-by-track but special mention should be given to Pioneer To The Falls, the opening song, which features twinkly piano and a guitar riff I'm sure I have heard somewhere else, but regardless of the (possible) plagiarism, it is a fantastic song, and should be the next single. Another must listen tune from the album is No I In Threesome, which again shows that the band have decided to incorporate piano into their songs the third time around, something which they have mentioned in recent interviews. I have included a few lines from this track, which is obviously about sex, alongside other songs on the album such as Rest My Chemistry and Pace Is The Trick.

The 1st generation ipod was released in 2001, to mild acclaim. I reckon it was about the 3rd generation when it started to become the modern icon it is today. As the owner of a 5th generation ipod and the previous owner of a 3rd generation ipod, I am a proud part of this phenomenon. I should probably say now that I got a 5th generation ipod because my first one broke... so why do people keep coming back for more?

Well, I will first point out that the ipod is more than just an mp3 player: it is a piece of art. The looks of the ipod are striking enough that people wanted one just from the adverts. Initially, Apple was ahead of the curve in terms of its user interface as well, so they were giving the full package. In the time it took the other mp3 companies (Sony, Creative) to catch up with the ipod, it had all of us hooked.

Apple are very good at keeping up with technological developments; they release a new generation of the ipod yearly, keeping the consumers interested and willing to wait for the next version. For example, the rumour-mills say that a new widescreen ipod will be on the market within the year. The only current issue I can find with the ipod is the batterty; the quoted life on the 30Gb video ipod is 18 hours of music, and I get about 10 on a good day. Another problem is the fact that the ipod is essentially, just a nicely presented hard-drive. Hard-drives are made of lots of small components and a small rotating reel, and are likely to fall apart is moved around. So think about the fact that many people use their ipods for running: its no wonder so many of them break!

I'm sure many of you out there have ipods; have you had any problems with yours? Do you keep coming back for more? And if you haven't got one, whats your view on this iconic piece of technology?