The Tepid Take

For the past couple of years, I've kept a record of the best albums that I've listened to throughout the year. In a time where we appear more at odds than before with our various "wrapped" playlists as composed by the streaming sector, it's more important than ever to redefine this behaviour and develop our own relationships between music and events. I pick out 7 albums that I can tie back to time; performing echolocations against the street. Only a couple of these are 2021 natives, sat apologetically among the melodies of lighter years, coded by the presence and absence of their music alike. But each and every one is my choice, a declaration of independence against someone else's view of my year, against favouritism, against bad graphic design and against the morbid generalisation of everything, for everyone. 1. Plans by Death Cab for Cutie      I start in the coldest place, a good album for January. Wintery walks in the lead-up to my return to London, going

In one episode of Taskmaster, where the contestants are invited to bring in the "most spectacular picture of themselves", Hugh Dennis wears a picture of his face, on his face. He says he wears it because Hugh Dennis would never wear a mask of himself - so people assume that it must be someone else behind the mask. Hugh Dennis's admittedly banal picture of himself turns out to be an effective demonstration of the difference between comedians and people: the Hugh Dennis out doing his shopping, wearing the mask of Hugh Dennis, actually isn't the same person as the person he's wearing a mask of. He's wearing a mask of Stage Dennis; he's wearing the mask of character comedy. Hugh Dennis came last in the round for most spectacular picture. But his mask is a perfect demonstration of the wider context. Character comedy is very popular in the UK. The gist of the idea is that the comedian is playing a character that the comedian has created. Some of the most famous