Tw-it tw-at

If you're a music journalist, watch out - Calvin Harris doesn't like you. In fact, he's pretty darn mad at you. Well, one of you. Which one of you isn't quite clear, but he's certainly not happy. He's posted about it on Twitter and everything - http://twitter.com/calvinharris - so it must be a pretty big deal.

There are several things which spring to mind upon reading Harris's rant, which is spread across several tweets (damn that 140-character limit). Firstly - learn some punctuation, mate; you're making yourself an easy target here. Secondly - putting EVERYTHING IN CAPITALS does not give the impression of shouting; it merely looks like you accidentally hit capslock. A little goes a long way on the internet - bear that in mind.

More importantly, though - who does Harris think he is? He certainly seems to think that he ought to be immune from criticism. I can imagine that it must be irksome to spend "2 years of your life making a record. on your own. every single day, long hours, working to get it sounding right" and to then hear criticism of it, but that's ultimately what he's laid himself open to. If you put something out in the public domain, you're putting it out there to be criticised. There is no record that will be liked by everyone; no matter how good you think your album is, there will be people who disagree with you. Learn to live with it. Welcome to the real world, Calvin.

Okay, so "BECAUSE OF THE FUCKING RICH PEOPLES KIDS there are people who will like the album who wont get the album because they saw a shit review". Which 'RICH PEOPLES KIDS', exactly? I'd love to know who this mystery journalist is, who has slated Harris in such a fashion. Do we know for certain that their parents are genuinely affluent, even? If the commercial concerns of the artist are the prime concern of the reviewer, then there can be no honesty in the criticism; every artist wants to sell, so is this to say that every album should be reviewed in a positive fashion, even if it's not worthy of a good review?

I've not heard Ready for the Weekend yet, and, frankly, the main thing discouraging me from doing so is Harris himself and his attitude. Anybody who lies about their record being lost at an airport simply to buy themself more time needs a reality check - man up and 'fess up. But it's fine, because he gets all the girls, yeah?

Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me

A little behind the technological times, perhaps, but yesterday I acquired an iPod Touch. I'm the first to admit to skepticism when it comes to touch-screen gadgets; I made the mistake a while back of getting a touch-screen phone when changing contracts, and hated it so much that I eventually exchanged it for a downgrade, just so that I could have buttons.

I was pleasantly surprised, though. To be honest, I'd only really got the iPod as it was pretty much free with the MacBook I was buying - there was an offer on meaning that if I got both, I got £145 off. So the iPod was £20, and I thought that 20 quid for a brand-new iPod wasn't really something to be argued with. Now, I love it.

iPods have always been user-friendly and nicely designed, but the Touch takes this to a new level; it really is a bit of a joy to use. And the Apps are amazing fun - I don't expect them to revolutionise my life (as an article I once read claimed that they would), but I enjoy being able to pop virtual bubble-wrap on a boring car journey. I'm currently also addicted to the Coldplay edition of 'Tap Tap Revenge', which is basically a dance mat for your fingers, set to Coldplay songs. And to think, I once derided the idea of band-related Apps as for sell-outs. Hell, to think that I actually like Coldplay. Should have kept quiet about that one, eh?

I've had an iPod before, but my last one was just a normal black 30GB one, whereas the new one is 8GB. Allowing space for hardware, or software or whatever it is that automatically takes up X amount of space, as well as space for Apps, that's about 6.5GB of music, give or take. In musical terms (as well as in life in general), I'm a bit of a hoarder; why get rid of something that you may, possibly, potentially, at some distant point in the future, wish to listen to again, even if just the once?

Having only limited space to fill has made me somewhat cutthroat about what to add to my iPod and what not to. I've had to make careful decisions about what is, to my mind, essential listening.

There were certain things that were necessary: Morrissey, Belle and Sebastian, Bright Eyes, Nick Cave (barring a few albums, as I had too many), Ash (again, barring a couple of albums and a mass of b-sides). Some things had to be added whole - for example, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't live without having all of Pulp's 'Different Class', The National's 'Boxer or Bon Iver's 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. Some albums just deserve to be listened to in their entirety. I could slice off half of albums by The Sounds and Graham Coxon, though. I needed the whole of the first Long Blondes album, but only half of the disappointing second one.

I've been meaning to streamline the music I carry with me (though not that which is kept on my computer) for quite some time; this has finally given me the impetus to do so. While partially liberating - there was a hell of a lot of dead wood on my old iPod - it was also way more difficult than I was expecting it to be. On the plus side, it's a much more pleasant experience to listen to everything on shuffle, with much less skipping past songs to be done.

I'm not gonna lie, though - 'Tap Tap Revenge' is still the best thing about it, though.

This song definitely made its way onto my new iPod: