Music

Kadhim's totally hot album of the week #6

Real Estate – Days (2011)

Kadhim's totally hot album of the week #6

It was cold this morning, wasn’t it? Like most students, myself included, you’re probably a bit suspicious of the thermostat and slightly paranoid that if you turn the heating on your next gas bill will be enough to bankrupt you. (I’m not talking about you, “1%” students; you know who you are…)

The summer is dead and we’re quickly approaching those days where you get to the library before it’s light and leave well after the pathetic sun has scuttled off in fear of the overwhelming dark.

But there is some hope in the face of this November malaise; Real Estate’s second album, Days [spotify]. It’s happy in a rueful sense; a chilled out, surfer-rock ode to the summer that’s stopped answering our calls. It washes over you with simple, wandering lyrics about the kind of love that only really exists in nostalgic hindsight (preferably while wearing chunky black hipster glasses…)

Admittedly the album doesn’t require a lot of hard work to get into it. But as much as music snobs want to believe that all the best albums require “repeat listens”, Days works just as well in the background as it does when you need music to tease out feelings that you can’t otherwise verbalize.

If you’re feeling cold this week and need a cuddle, tweet me @kadhimshubber. A better idea would be to tweet @BritishGas and say, “Dude, it’s like cold and shit. Like, what the fuck?”

Read more

Of kleptons and kerplunk (Tales of the Unsung Wilderness)

Environment

Of kleptons and kerplunk (Tales of the Unsung Wilderness)

If you were a fish in Permian Brazil, Prionosuchus was your most formidable foe. This gargantuan, vaguely crocodilian creature belonging to a group known as temnospondyls is thought to have ruled the waters of its time.[1] These impressive animals are no longer with us, but their successors (direct or

By Shreyas Kuchibhotla