A to Z - What the F's

So I've been chilling out for the last few days. There's been Le Mans to keep an eye on, the cricket to be transfixed by and the football to ignore.

It was a decent Le Mans this year, the way they organise it is to have a massive field for the 24 hour race, split into two types of prototype cars that lead the way and many GTE cars split into Pro and Am categories. There was always something happening in this year's race, whether it was the prototypes tripping up over each other or the GTE cars going at it hammer and tongs. My big cheer of the weekend was for the Aston Martin Vantage driven by the Danes. It was good to see them win :

Brit car !
And as a tribute to Allan Simonsen who died at Le Mans last year.

The cricket turned into a good game and I think a draw was the rightful result. And then there's been the football to ignore. I was really tired so I didn't stay awake for the whole Le Mans 24 hours, a lot of that was due to going ZZZZzzzzzz as soon as the England game was warming up ready to start.

But the real news is ... I'm healing. Finally. It's coming slowly but steadily. Hopefully it'll keep going over the remains of my time off. I'm still shredded but it's definitely improving. I've been out the house once (needed supplies) and may venture out again to Bristol centre tomorrow. We shall see.

To the main event ... I've almost got through the F's ... Well. Saying that, there's still remnants of an E album (Eve soundtrack) and GoG's sale saw me buy Age Of Wonders III which comes with an A soundtrack. But that's just catching up. Music ?

We start off with a few albums called "The Fall". There's the album by Gorillaz, not one of their best but still ok for a listen. There's not much of the famed Gorillaz character here.

Norah Jones just keeps popping out excellent albums and The Fall is definitely one of those. There's a few highlights here but for me it's the closer, Man Of The Hour.

Evanescence burst onto the metal/pop scene a few years ago with Fallen. It's an album full of raw emotion and that tends to get me really engaged. My Immortal is definitely the track that caught me here, although Hello is also outstanding.

Snow Patrol are also quite prolific, with Fallen Empires coming out a few years ago. It's honestly one of their better albums for consistency. Final Straw is in here too. I'll keep getting Snow Patrol albums. They're not my favourite (wink-wink-no-female-singer ;-) but they're consistently good.

Lisa Miskovsky is one of those singers I don't have enough of. Definitely. I have her Falling Water album, which shows off a stunning voice but ... the songs are a little bland. Her singing is amazing but there's something missing with the writing. Still want to find more of her stuff though. Take Me By The Hand is currently leading the way with 11 plays since the random number generator discovered it.

Here come the soundtracks ...

Fallout was a post-apocalyptic role playing game that's gone from the older top down view type to a first person type. It's come from its beginnings into the modern age with Fallout 3. It's worth a look, although Bethesda gameplay mechanics are questionable. I've somehow ended up with soundtracks for Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout New Vegas (3.5).
Far Cry 3 was an interesting shooter, I didn't engage with it as much as I did the first game. There were strange mechanics in here with how big your inventory could get.

Arctic Monkeys have earned a place in my library with their quirkiness and that's shown in their Favourite Worst Nightmare album. There's distinctiveness all the way through and a fantastic finish in Old Yellow Bricks and 505.

Norah Jones pops up again with Feels Like Home which starts off with the excellent Sunrise.

Goldfrapp aren't for everyone and Felt Mountain is definitely their strangest album. But that's all forgiven when tracks like Lovely Head and Utopia show up. Alison Goldfrapp truly has one of the most remarkable voices I've ever heard.

I did a random "that's cheap, let's try it" with Birdy's Fire Within. It's ok. Not particularly brilliant but listenable to. Highlight was No Angel.

Firefly ! I acquired this one a while ago. The incidental music matched this series well but what really set the tone was the theme tune. Burn the land, boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me.

The Cardigans - where would a Sleepypete music post be without a Cardigans album ? They pop up here with First Band On The Moon which sees them start to go into depressive mode. Still, there's happy stuff here like Happy Meal II and a cover of Iron Man which I love.

Old albums ! They Might Be Giants are another group I don't have enough of. Here they are with Flood, which includes the immortal Birdhouse In Your Soul. Floodland is another old one, done by Sisters Of Mercy.

Franz Ferdinand are another that hold my interest. They're fairly mainstream but just different enough to keep my attention. Their F is their self titled album.

Last one - if there was a game highlight for me last year, it was FTL - Faster Than Light. It's a star ship game where you're racing across 7 sectors to stay ahead of the rebels. Fantastic soundtrack by Ben Prunty and the link is to a cover of the opening music.

How many to go for G ? iTunes is telling me 271 tracks to go. That won't be this holiday period, cricket will be back on the telly from Friday so I won't be listening to music while that's on. I'll hold it for football time.

PS When I'm collecting the links up, I'll often listen to a few extras ... this time it was Goldfrapp's Voicething and A Camp's beautiful Song For The Leftovers (not many songs make me emotional but that's one - perhaps I identify with it ?).