Hawk

Perched on a gloved hand
Hooded, patient, unruffled
Waiting for the hunt

Boy In Da Corner by Dizzee Rascal

American rappers all have aggressive names, emphasising how tough and gangsta they are whereas the British equivalents have names that sound more like a loveable character from the Beano. Musically, grime is more interesting than basic hip-hop beats, having more in common with electro and dance with some interesting bits of sonic experimentation.

Lyrically, we’re still back in problematic territory in places though, even though this does sound like it’s based in the harsh reality of growing up on sink estates in London at the turn of the millennium. I get that he’s good at what he does, and I do find this more listenable than gangsta rappers, but it’s really not for me. Sorry.

Cool Morning, Candle

Night's candle gutters
Let in the cool morning air
Cobwebs blown away

Truth and Soul by Fishbone

Hey, what’s your favourite musical genre? Blues, right? Definitely funk or soul? No wait, heavy metal for sure! Or maybe ska-punk? I dunno, they’re all good genres, Brent. This album manages to combine just about everything without feeling forced or overblown and the end result is a whole lot of fun, opening with a Curtis Mayfield cover before jumping into bouncy ska, hard rock and more.

The lyrics have a nice range, from the cheeky humour of Bonin’ in the Boneyard, to a proper on the nose political broadside on Subliminal Fascism that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dead Kennedy’s album, assuming that they played ska at a sweaty 90 miles an hour with a mad calliope fairground organ in the background.

What larks!

Melon, Freezing

I have just googled
Frozen melon daiquiris
They look amazing!

Street Life by The Crusaders

I remember the single version of Street Life as sung by Randy Crawford from back in the day, but always assumed that it was her song. It was a pleasant surprise for this album to turn up with a whole 11 and a bit minutes of it to enjoy. The rest of the album is shorter, mostly instrumental jazz-funk pieces, but it’s an enjoyable listen. Worth it for the title track alone.

Of Tasty oranges and Wormy Pumpkins

We arrived at the base of the obsidian keep to see a ruined tower at one side of the former gateway. Lava was flowing from the windows of the keep and oddly, a stone cottage was floating in the air just inside the courtyard. Even more strangely, heavy rain was falling from ominous dark clouds, just on the keep itself.

As we contemplated the scene a dwarf warrior ran toward us complaining that some bastard had sunk her boat. Krisanna offered her a biscuit while Aodhan examined the runes on the warrior's battle worn hammer and realised that they were part of a family name. She introduced herself as Mint.

Krisanna found the secret entrance but the lock was just too well constructed for her (frankly amazing) lock picking skills. She was now angry and frustrated, sensing that there were riches to be had inside the tower.

As she was huffily trudging back to the group we noticed a flock of red ravens perched around the walls who seemed to be watching us even though they were all eyeless.

We approached the ruined gate and the smashed remains of a posh looking carriage, with the remains of a dead horse and driver and a similarly dead passenger inside, wearing a porcelain mask. Inside one pocket was a blue pearl key, a box with red powder and threatening letter addressed to the fleet.

We clambered over the gate and Krisanna entered the intact tower to the left, finding seven bodies clad in black iron armour with black longbows (clearly not as good as elf bows, sniffed Orla). Krisanna shimmied up to the roof and jumped across to the floating cottage, with Bastonn holding a safety line. As she touched the stonework the sparks discharged, giving her a nasty jolt and nearly zapped Bastonn too.

She steadied herself against the rocking and found some cobblers tools, but unfortunately the motion left her feeling rather queasy and she barfed on the ceiling. She pressed on and found a rather stylish looking leather jacket which she donated to the fashion conscious Orla after lowering herself to the ground. Opinions were divided as to the sexiness of the jacket.

We investigated the stables, with Krisanna petting a skull headed horse and a strange mutated hound that seemed very friendly even if it was bigger than the halfling. The hound joined the party and was named Blinky after its three eyes.

The next cottage contained a blacksmith called Silvo who seemed convinced that we were ghosts until we demonstrated that we were in fact alive. He told us how the duke had fallen under the influence of the red priests who had appeared from the north one day, and they seemed to be the cause of the rift with the duchess. He gave us the long sought after black key and Krisanna quickly dismissed any talk of boiling death and magical traps.

The final room on this side was a strange garden with tasty oranges, wormy pumpkins and the gardener who had been transformed into a walking bush by the rogue magic.

The kitchen on the far side contained a confused cook who seemed to think that we were the duke and duchess and very nearly baked us some biscuits before throwing us out.

We returned to the hatch to test the key and Krisanna climbed down with Aodhan holding a torch to light the way. The tunnel led east under the wall of the keep to another hatch to find a large open space that looked like an underground reservoir releasing gouts of boiling steam severely scalding us all. Oh no!