• Native instruments online store. Epic fucking fail. They can't even liaise with my bank. And their customer support is non-existent. #Fail #
• I'm at Rex Whistler restaurant, Tate Britain (Tate Britain, London). http://4sq.com/aBZKTg #
• I'm at Starbucks (Angel) (4 Upper Street, Pentonville Rd, London). http://4sq.com/6eZBmG #
• I just became the mayor of Starbucks (Angel) on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/6eZBmG #
• @thehomme winter olympics is a beeb spesh so they have to do good stuff. I WANT the beeb to do MORE quality stuff like that. in reply to thehomme #
• @cheeseandegg oh C&E don't you know nuffin? 7Magpies = a secret never to be told. So I can't tell you. But it will be good. LOL in reply to cheeseandegg #
• I'm at Virgin Active Islington (333 Goswell Road, Islington). http://4sq.com/6a3MBt #
• Toyota recalls 'up to 1.8m' cars – that's the myths of quality control and 'zero defects' out the window then. Up to 1.8m times. #
• What do I have to do to get off the crappy Apple spamming list? Tried unsubscribe and emails. Maybe I'll just forward it all to Steve #FAIL #
• 10,000 tunes and all of them winners… http://bit.ly/auR9L7 #
• I'm at Tribeca (50 Sackville Street, Manchester). http://4sq.com/bKw3SJ #
• About to enter the Manchesters. Be afraid. #
• Up and ready for a day trip to the Manchesters. Sadly not long enough to see The Diva, Pignon, Ratter and Craig. Curses. #
• @thehomme @criticalflare disagree. The i is great branding. You know instantly it's Apple but with 4 fewer characters. in reply to thehomme #
• ran 2.29 km @ a 06:33/km pace with Nike+ on 01/26/2010 (run time: 15:02) http://bit.ly/cnUabM #nikeplus #
• iPad vs Boot-licking Moron fever. Aaaaaaaaah! Can brain cope? #AppleorFootball #
• Gone all nostalgic as Apple announce a new thing that reminds me of the house sized mobile phones Yuppies used to have. Yup, it's a brick #
• And really looking forward to the Man U City bunfight Tevez vs Boot-licking Moron #
• Currently at that magic 9966 songs on LastFM. Will no doubt broach the 10k hurdle tomorrow. #
• black market clash – Awesomely completist guide to every single Clash gig ever and details of more Clash… http://tumblr.com/xyy5u0fk1 #
• So far Gowalla is ruling in the Great Geolocation app trial Qype is fully the most rubbish. 4square and Yelp battle it in the Race for 2nd #
• I'm at Starbucks (Angel) (4 Upper Street, Pentonville Rd, London). http://4sq.com/6eZBmG #
• Subtle message to marketing wankers at Apple. STOP SENDING ME FUCKING SPAM YOU TOSSERS. #Apple #FAIL #

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• All the ingredients for shit film of the year http://bit.ly/54L2JR Gerrard Butler, Jen Aniston rom com adventure. Disaster movie no doubt #
• Fantastic poll in the Graun. Is Gary Neville really a boot licking moron? http://bit.ly/7pRckq You, the people decide… #
• I'm at Institute of Contemporary Arts (12 Carlton House Terrace, London). http://4sq.com/5je7BN #
• Off to see OSS117 part Deux with @vancam. Should be awesome. #
• ran 1.67 km @ a 05:41/km pace with Nike+ on 01/21/2010 (run time: 09:29) http://bit.ly/7lp9LX #nikeplus #
• Photo: Steve Bell’s take on the new Senator from Massachusetts http://tumblr.com/xyy5pyv9b #
• Ben Phillips Photography: A Brixton proposal – This is pretty awesome. Love is good. http://tumblr.com/xyy5pynrn #
• I am experimenting with location specific apps – Yelp, Qype, Gowilla and 4square. So far it's Gowilla by a length. #
• Had to put this up. It's superclass http://twitpic.com/z248h In every way. That was a very naughty tackle William. #
• I uploaded a YouTube video — Thu, 21 Jan http://youtu.be/jxjGr3w7PW4?a #
• listening to NME's 100 tracks of the decade on Spotify http://j.mp/4PZCvZ #spotiChart #
• Still trying to link everything together. So far it's Frustration 1 – 0 universal theory of everything #
• Arsenal are top of the Prem. This is goodness. We do over Bolton (again) which is very positive. #
• Apple Bad – keeps sending me spam promo mails. Apple Good – triple finger back/next browsing rules. But STOP THE BLOODY SPAM EH. #
• Photo: Cool infographic thingy from Gigaom http://tumblr.com/xyy5oz61u #
• @thehomme you are somewhere where the arse cracks are huge and gaping. Nowhere civilized. Soho or the South Bank Wagamamas in reply to thehomme #
• And after all that malarky http://tweetphoto.com/9086613 It's DIYtastic #
• Home again. Round trip 3 hrs. Hatred for all things Ickea + several million. They are on serious minus points. #
• Even though I rushed thru Ickea and got most everything I need, I end up hating Ickea more than I did this morning. They are bankers. #
• Now officially in the arsepit of the world. Portillo country. Just think in the hour it's taken I could be halfway to Paris. #
• The 341 bus route is like a heinous trip back in time past houses I've lived in. #
• Perfect timing for bus on pt 1 of endless journey to hellpit of Ikea. #

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• @CriticalFlare you crazy fool! Hope you like the vid(s). in reply to CriticalFlare #
• About to see the Superbad Henry Rollins. Rawk! #
• Morgan Stanley announce $3.3bn profits. What could that do for Haiti? Time for bankers to show their worth (or not) #Haiti #
• RT @lesteph @simond Nicely done. DFID web team's response to Haiti. http://ow.ly/Wstu nice to see our money put to good use. #
• Rex The Dog rules. As does Simian vs Justice old but great #musicmonday #
• @wilcallaghan @thehomme Less (or better still no) service is the new 'Regular'. If you actually want service you'll need 'Premium' in reply to wilcallaghan #
• Another spastic cakedusting of snow. Way less impressive than Feb 09. #uksnow http://tweetphoto.com/8624450 #
• ran 1.67 km @ a 07:00/km pace with Nike+ on 01/06/2010 (run time: 11:42) http://bit.ly/7MnF7f #nikeplus #

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• Photo: What I really like about this are the clearly visible line markings to ensure effective typography…. http://tumblr.com/xyy5dn7nz #
• Photo: Design by the super-cool Jonny Wan. He lives here on t’ut interweb and in Sheffield in real life. http://tumblr.com/xyy5d145d #
• RT @bengoldacre: Baroness Greenfield made redundant: she's horrid and a menace to science http://bit.ly/6HA5xV too bloody right #
• @jamesowendesign If they can handle Witchita Lineman, they can surely handle the White Stripes… in reply to jamesowendesign #
• @jamesowendesign That'll be America's loss then – it ruled at the Real Football World Cup in 2006. It is on Spotify http://bit.ly/89CDXP in reply to jamesowendesign #
• @jamesowendesign I'll see your Kernkraft 400 and raise you one 'Seven Nation Army' by White Stripes in reply to jamesowendesign #
• Twitter page banned due to shit script failures #
• This is Genius. I'm up for the coffees. RT @PSFK: (Pic) Disloyalty Card http://bit.ly/8Rs44F #psfk #
• Apparently we're now in a Grit emergency. Won't bother Islington as they're NOT BLOODY USING ANY. Bankers #
• @newscientist What use is a Smartbook? At least twice as useful as a Stupidbook (or one of those there Kindley things) in reply to newscientist #
• http://bestc.am/vDzes #
• Twitter's stupid script really f-ing up my pages in Firefox Script: http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.0/jquery.min.js:19 FAIL #
• Awesome. I am apparently in the greater Big London area. #
• Experimenting with new Tweetdeck features. This should geotag me. Or not. #
• halfway along the road to becoming a real Laird (possibly not of Scunthorpe) thanks to @vancam and Marie #
• @thehomme well done. Are you up for a celebratory 'leaving' drink then? in reply to thehomme #
• @sophyk now you need pram with New SnowPlough technology. Snow in London officially 'shit' – a thin patina of filth over layers of black ice in reply to sophyk #
• If I see that goddamn NASA UK covered in snow from space pic one more time… #
• Avatar. Wow! #
• @Wendy_Roby Whatever happened to the velcro trainaz? alternatively, 5th pair of socks over top of shoes. in reply to Wendy_Roby #
• Grit, er great to experience Islington Council's 'can't be arsed to grit pavements' policy. It's black ice dance-tastic out there #
• Some nice tracks from good friend @Dr_rosen_roseN » Happy New Year – REMIXES 2009 COMPILATION http://bit.ly/7VJfLM #
• @guymurphy – 2010 = 'F**k me we're bankrupt' #
• I like this – Half of the country's rock salt comes from a mine in Cheshire, where the roads are disrupted by the snow – so British #uksnow #
• Snow commences in a desultry cake dusting stylee #uksnow #
• ran 3.26 km @ a 09:08/km pace with Nike+ on 01/04/2010 (run time: 29:48) http://bit.ly/5pV744 #nikeplus #
• Is it wrong to be looking forward to this http://bit.ly/90X9L0 ? #

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2009 was about getting back into music in a pretty big way. Not only in listening to a whole lot more, but actually buying and even making some. I’ve pretty much dumped the idea of buying CDs from old skool shop type places and moved to buying it online or simply downloading it. I suspect this is because my music playing system(s) are all now digital. I haven’t had a CD player that works (aside from the laptop) for well over a year and my 30 year-old amp is fast becoming an anacronistic desktop weight rather than a well-used piece of music equipment. So I’ve started downloading stuff, which goes straight to the iTunes library and there to the numerous iPods/Phones that I have. And while purists might diss the quality of the mp3s and even the lossless compression versions, I really can’t tell the difference.

I even went back and saw some live events! And not just bullshit cello/turntable catastrophies. Seasick Steve in Manchester was great, the most superbly refrained standup audience I’ve ever been in with the exception of the devastatingly drunk lurching Chav Family, who found the experience so horrifying they had to stumble to freedom halfway through. But Daedelus at the ICA in July was awesome. Superb ninja shape cutting dancing and excellent music.

My own music is still in a very basic shape, but it’s slowly coming along.

Downpipe single cover

So what was I listening to and what did I like in 2009. One useful side effect of digitising my entire music listening experience is that it can all be measured. Unfortunately, none of the various measuring elements link to all my devices, which is a pain. Anyway, of all of them, the iTunes list is probably the most comprehensive. According to this, my top tracks for 2009 are:

• Blue Skies (Rabbit In The Moon) – BT feat Tori Amos
• Downpipe – Mark Knight & D Ramirez vs Underworld
• Theme From Long Good Friday – Francis Monkman
• Surf Solar – Fuck Buttons
• Gaia (Kaiser Souzai Remix) – Kaiser Souzai
• Come Into My World (Fischerspooner Mix) – Kylie
• Behind The Wheel – Susperia
• Hazy/Crazy – Da Hool
• Heaven Up Here – Echo & The Bunnymen
• Shattered In Aspect – Faith & The Muse

All of which gives a somewhat skewed view of 2009. However, if you look at just the music that was released in 2009 (or was new to me in 2009), a slightly different picture emerges.

• Downpipe – Mark Knight and D Ramirez vs Underworld
• Tarot Sport (album) – Fuck Buttons
• Temporary Pleasure (album) – Simian Mobile Disco
• The Resistance (album) – Muse
• Moon Soundtrack (album) – Clint Mansell
• My Way (album) – Ian Brown
• Tonight (album) – Franz Ferdinand
• It’s Not Me, It’s Doctor Rosen Rosen (album) – Lily Allen
• Runaway – Ladytron
• Hands (album) – Little Boots

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