This is the hour.

Greetings true believers (to quote Stan Lee).

It's been a while since my last post. I'd like to say that I've been too busy working on a secret project, but that would be untrue. The truth is that after moving house I was infected with a summer lethargy. But now I'm back, hopefully for more regular posts, and possibly one or two sister-blogs which I have in the mental pipeline.

For now though, gentle reader, let me take you back one week. After an evenings work I am in The Stile, my unbelievably local local, drinking a couple of beers and playing a bit of pool. Vicky is working behind the bar. In the other room aging musos bash out some covers on acoustic guitars. Sunday night is open mic night.

Fast forward to the end of the night, Faye, Tony and I are drinking in the front bar. Vicky is still working, and talking to one of the bearded muscians. I am beckoned. We discuss my being a bass player, and by the end of the conversation I have agreed to book the next sunday off work and come along to the open mic. The harmonica player stands in the doorway and has a nosebleed.

So, here I am. Due to arive at the pub in under an hour for half a pint of dutch courage. Unfortunately my summer lethargy extended into what I jokingly call my practice routine. I've been working to make up for it this week but for some reason I can only remember three songs well enough to feel nearly comfortable playing them in public. And one of those is seven minutes long and requires a saxophonist.

I thought it wise to prepare myself for public humiliation. Friday was Faye's Twenty-first. Sort of. It was also kareoke night at the style. If I can do that in front of people, I'm sure I can fumble my may through Eight Days a Week and Sweet Home Chicago.

Apologise for the weird typography. Blogger seems to have no problem switching to bold or italics, but doesn't appear to like changing back again.

Tea break over. Toodle pip.

What happens when a rolling stone looses momentum?

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, so apologies if the details are a little sketchy. Hopefully Google will help me fill them in.

A few weeks ago, in an attempt to keep up with the election, I was reading the Guardian. I found an article about a Burmese musician who fuses traditional Burmese music with hip hop. He uses music as a way of protesting against the military government in Burma, to the extent that nine out of twelve songs on his most recent album were banned, including one where the only lyrics translate as 'Hey, how are you?'

I wish him the best of luck, but neither he nor the plight of the Burmese people are the main purpose of this post. The musician, Thxa Soe, came into contact with hip hop while studying in Britain. He chose hip hop because 'there's not much freedom in rock'. This statement surprised me. I had always thought of rock as one of the freesest forms of music. I mean, nothing says freedom like the opening riff of Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower, does it? Then I started to wonder, has rock music perhaps gone stale?

When rock started in the late sixties and early seventies it was an explosion of new sounds. As it started to get more pompous and 'prog', there was freedom for the artists to experiment, even if it was at the expense of listenable records. Meanwhile, less experimental rock bands started slip into their own cliches.

The rule book has been re-written a few times since, with movements like punk and britpop, but again once something works well it becomes a formula. A few years ago indie rock and pop looked like it was going to start a new revolution, but what we ended up with was a ream of Libertines and Franz Ferdinand soundalikes. And now, commercial pop looks set to reign supreme again, albeit with a newly indiefied aesthetic.

On the other hand, there are, and always have been a few stand out bands out there doing something different. In the 80s we had the Cure and the Smiths. Now try this, or this. In all honesty, I think all types of music have both great innovators and stale cliches. In hip hop, how many 'bitches and hoes' types are there to every thing like this?

Incidentally, I've been listening to a lot of American alternative stuff in the past few years. Which includes a good deal of folky stuff.