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This year's Rolex Fastnet Race has an all-star line up with some of the most exciting racing yachts in the world taking part. We pick out 10 Fastnet boats to follow

Its hard to imagine a more diverse and intriguing fleet line up than this years Rolex Fastnet Race entries, making it hard to pick out which Fastnetboats to follow.

The fleet is, once again, vast in both size and scope. At last count 355 yachts were preparing to take on the 49th edition of the offshore classic, ranging from the enormous, brand new 140ft ClubSwan 125 Skorpios, to the altogether more petite 11m classic, Le Loup Rouge Of Cmn, and the diminutive 9.33m long T3 Trifoiler LAlbatros, racing in the MOCRA fleet.

Within the huge range of entries are some of the worlds best professionals, family boats, first timers, and everything in between. We pick out 10 Fastnet boats to follow:

Another huge fleet will be lining up for this years Rolex Fastnet Race with dozens of intriguing boats to follow. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

The breath-taking new ClubSwan 125 is the biggest yacht ever to take part in the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Recently launched out of Nautor Swan in Finland, Skorpios has been working up to speed in the UK butonly recently arrived in Cowes yesterday, as with 24ft draught her manoeuvrability in the crowded waters around the Solent is limited.

Designed for offshore record setting, skipper Fernando Echavarri and owner Dmitry Rybolovlev are here for line honours.

On the eve of the Rolex Fastnet Race, we got an exclusive sail and tech tour aboard this monster of a racing yacht:

Owner George David has a history with the Rolex Fastnet Race like few others.

His Rambler 88 won back-to-back monohull line honours in the last two editions, but in 2011 his Rambler 100 supermaxi capsized just past the Fastnet Rock all crew were safely rescued, but its an emotive race for David and his team.

This time Rambler 88 goes into the Fastnet after a light year of sailing due to pandemic-related travel restrictions having a big impact on the grand prix racing circuit.Nevertheless, Ramblers 19 crew have all made it into the UK, while the boat arrived on a ship from the USA in June.

This week the silver maxi has been out for a training sail. We just want to make sure we can still sail it in anger after a year of not sailing, tactician Brad Butterworth. Ramblers last race may have been the Rolex Middle Sea Race in 2019, but her crew is one the most experienced around.

The late Eric Taberlys name is ingrained in the history of offshore racing and one of the iconic entries in this years Fastnet is his Whitbread Round the World Race maxi and 1976 OSTAR winner Pen Duick VI, now skippered by his daughter Marie.

Pen Duick VI is switching back into offshore racing mode in preparation for the 2023 Ocean Globe Race, a nostalgic tribute to the original Whitbread. Check out the October issue of Yachting World magazine for a closer look at this world famous yacht.

Pen Duick VI competed in the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-74. Credit: Ocean Frontiers OGR/ GGR

Alex Thomsons black and hot pink Hugo Boss needs little introduction and is always one of the most popular boats to follow.

This is the British Vende skippers first outing in his foiling IMOCA with its radical inside cockpit since it suffered structural and rudder damage during the last around the world race.

Now fully fixed, Hugo Boss will be co-skippered by Swiss racer Ollie Heer, who is the boat captain for the complex design.

Anyone wanting to get a feel for just how punishing the Fastnet Race is in a foiling IMOCA should check out Thomsons Hub page, which shows real time data from the boat and biometrics from the sailors heel angle, hours of sleep and much more See alexthomsonracing.com/the-hub/

Hugo Boss is one of 13 IMOCAs competing in this years Fastnet.

Other star skippers lining up include fellow Brits Sam Davies on Initiatives Couer and Simon Fisher on 11th Hour Racing, plus Jrmie Beyou on Charal, Vende Globe line honours winner Charlie Dalin on Apivia and overall Vende champion Yannick Bestaven on Maitre Coq IV.

Itll be a wet and wild ride for Andrew Fennell and team on his Shuttleworth-designed one-of 39ft carbon trimaran Morpheus.

We took a tour of the boat after they finished the 2019 Fastnet Race, where they described life onboard as Like trying to sleep in the back of a 1950s pick up truck with leaf suspension being driven down a dark dirt road by a drunk driver

Morpheus is racing in the MOCRA class, which has a diverse entry ranging from the modified, foil-assisted MOD70s Argo and Maserati, to the luxurious 84ft performance cruising catamaran Allegra, which will have world speed sailing record holder Paul Larsen onboard.

I liken [it] to rally driving Bentley Continentals they are hugely capable cars with incredible brakes and engines and handling packages, but at the end of the day it is a Bentley Continental and, when things go wrong, it weighs a lot, said Larsen.

Other big names in the MOCRA fleet include French offshore legend Loick Peyron aboard the Outremer 5X No Limit, while Christian Guyader aboard the TS5 Guyader Mext will be among the favourites for a class win.

Paul Moxon and Steve Jones 50ft Bermudan yawl Amokura is the oldest boat in the race.

Designed by Fredrick Shepherd and built by Moodys in Swanwick in 1939, originally for Lord Mountbattens Aide de Camp, Ernest Harston, Amokura competed in the 1959 Fastnet Race and tried again 60 years on in 2019, but finished neither.

In sharp contrast to most of the entries, she is built with a pitch pine hull on oak beams, teak deck and seven ton bilge keel and displaces 20 tonnes.

The oldest yacht in the fleet is Amokura Photo Nic Compton/Yachting World

There are four incredible Ultim 100ft trimarans taking part this year, including the Gitana teamss Maxi Edmond De Rothschild, which smashed the (old) course record last time and will be hoping to set the benchmark for the new one this time around.

Charles Caudrelier skippers with Franck Cammas. Rivals include Thomas Coville, who returns with his giant trimaran Sodebo.

IRC Class 4 is shaping up to be hotly contested, especially among the double-handed entries.

Since its introduction in 2011, IRC 4 has always been won by a French boat and for the last four editions by a JPK 10.10.

Among the 40 or so British teams competing in IRC Four, Richard Palmers JPK 10.10 Jangada may have the best shot of breaking Frances winning streak. Racing double-handed with Jeremy Waitt, Jangada was 2020 RORC Boat of the Year and winner of the 2019 RORC Transatlantic Race.

Richard Palmer is competing in his 10th Rolex Fastnet Race. Its the worlds most competitive offshore IRC event, he commented.

We are looking forward to the increasing level of competition in the Two-Handed fleet and the new route into Cherbourg. The most difficult part this time will be strategies for the main tidal gates.

Theyre likely to face stiff competition from Emmanuel Pinteauxs JPK 10.10 Gioia, 2nd in class in the last race (and overall race winner back in 2013, racing as Night and Day with the Loisons).

Richard Palmers JPK 10.10 has the best shot of breaking Frances winning streak in IRC4. Racing Two-Handed with Jeremy Waitt Arthur Daniel/RORC

The 73ft classic ketch won line honours in the 1961 Fastnet Race, when Francis Chichester was navigator for her original owner Kees Bruynzeel.

Now, 60 years later Stormvogel is back for another go after a full refit. Skipper Graeme Henry, says: Stormvogel is back to a new level of performance while maintaining the original 1961 concept and 1960s style.

Several classic yachts will grace the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race fleet, including the 73ft van de Stadt ketch Stormvogel, the 1961 Fastnet Race line honours winner Stormvogel

IRC Class 4 features some well known British names racing double-handed on SunFast 3300s.

Dee Caffari whos completed six around the world races including skippering a Volvo Ocean Race, a Vende Globe, and was the first woman to sail solo, non-stop around the world in both directions is racing with James Harayda on Gentoo.

Meanwhile Figaro and Volvo Ocean Race sailor Henry Bomby joins double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson on Swell.

Other names bidding for IRC 4 and Two-Handed victory include Alexis Loison, who won the 2013 edition overnight with his father Pascal, and IRC 3 and IRC Two-Handed in 2019 on the JPK 1030 Lon with designer Jean Pierre Kelbert.

For 2021, Alexis will return in Lon with 470 and Figaro sailor Guillaume Pirouelle. Alexis will also have strong local knowledge for the new finish, as his home port is Cherbourg.

Link:

All-star line-up: boats to follow in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race - Yachting World

Utopia: an unattainable goal of societal perfection, and even here, the best we can do is a temporary one.

Utopia: an unattainable goal of societal perfection, and even here, the best we can do is a temporary one. Tucked in the corner of the parking lot between Cafe and Restaurant, the Temporary Utopia Greenhouse is hosting the knick-knack/art/curiosity shack: FLOWERSHOP, a once-a-week pop-up featuring printed socks, objects and leisure wear by Strathcona (Ryley OByrne strathconastockings.com), with Tiny Moon Flowers (Kyra Power, on Instagram: @tinymoonflowerfarm). Only Sundays, 10ish to 6 p.m. For more info: temporary-utopia.com.

The Gumboot Nations new groove! As Kronk says, Oh yeah, its all coming together! This Creek Daze is a rich example of our DIY attitude we cant wait for someone to make our fun, we make it ourselves! Sunday, Aug. 22, bring your Gumboot pride to the school at 10:30 a.m., the parade will begin at 11:11. The Mandela stage runs from 11:30 to 7 p.m. and the Slow Sundays stage, noon to 6 p.m. There is the The Heart Centre kids zone, hosted by the amazing Kelsey OToole, and a couple of food vendors lined up (more are welcome!). If you want to help, shout out to eastsidestudio@gmail.com.

Hawthorn Ceramics open house Saturday, Aug. 7 (thats tomorrow if you managed to get the paper on Friday like I do, or yesterday if you waited till Sunday to read it, but I digress ...), 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 1551 Lockyer Rd. At the end of the driveway, ground floor of the house, you will find the studio filled with fresh fired usable art to buy and take home. Hang out on the back deck and have a cuppa Davis Bay tea. Also, check out the basket of seconds and experiments for sale.

A new art piece at the mouth of Roberts Creek has some along the waterfront tilting at windmills. Almost immediately on its installation, far into the tidal foreshore, this guerrilla art raised a few eyebrows in the neighbourhood, with cries of how long will that be there?

The artist(s) have assured me that, with the help of our watchful community, any errant parts will be dealt with and should it come apart, it will be picked up and recycled. I have been told we may expect more, in among the pylons, in what some hope will become the Gumboot Nation sculpture park.

This week, Aug. 8, Slow Sundays presents Whirlwind Woodwind Quintet (Heidi Kurtz, John Storer, Danielle Stephens, Meredith Bingham and Yvonne Mounsey) at noon, followed by teen singer/songwriter Kaishan at 1 with Martini Madness Band (Kevin Crofton, Andy Amanovich and Graham Walker) closing the afternoon. Always free, bring a seat and your love of music.

Our Little Legion hosts a group jam Friday evening, but be sure to catch the Burying Ground, Saturday, Aug 7, as they blend prewar blues, early jazz and American rural folk music traditions into their own material. Find tickets to all shows at rclegionevents.com.

Next week Phantom Limb Syndrome, melodic hard rock all the way from Gibsons, B.C. They are Dylan Clark, Dylan Brackett and Scott Reinson (mind if we call you Dylan to avoid confusion?) with guests Redwhyn, Friday, Aug 13.

Im picking up what youre putting down, kellybacks@rocketmail.com.

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Art, music and utopian goals - Coast Reporter

The Doobie Brothers will release a new albumtitledLiberte on Oct. 1.The band has released a self-titled EP featuring four of the upcoming record's tracks as a preview. (The new EP is available nowon all major streaming services.)

You can hear the lead single, "Don't Ya Mess With Me," below, as well as see the track listings for the album and EP.

Liberte features 12 new songsfrom Doobie Brothers mainstays Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and John McFee. Michael McDonald, who will be joining the band on tour for the first time in 25 years this summer, does not appear on the album.

The Doobie Brothers' 15th album was produced and cowritten by John Shanks, who has previously worked with Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and Miley Cyrus. "Hes a great producer, and we wrote together and that was fun and something different," Simmons told UCR. "Hes a great player, too, so we could stand toe to toe and work on things together, and see where we were going at any given time. Hes got his own approach and is super high energy, but not in a way that feels manic oranything."

The Doobie Brothers' 50th-anniversary tour kicks off Aug. 22 in Des Moines.

The Doobie Brothers 'Liberte' Track Listing1. "Oh Mexico"2. "Better Days"3. "Don't Ya Mess With Me"4. "Cannonball"5. "Wherever We Go"6. "The American Dream"7. "Shine"8. "We Are More Than Love"9. "Easy"10. "Just Can't Do This Alone"11. "Good Thang"12. "Amen Old Friend"

'The Doobie Brothers EP' Track Listing1. "Oh Mexico"2. "Cannonball"3. "Don't Ya Mess With Me"4. "Better Days"

From AC/DC to ZZ Top, from 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' to 'London Calling,' they're all here.

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Hear the First Song From the Doobie Brothers' New Album 'Liberte' - Ultimate Classic Rock

With "Jungle Cruise" coming out on Friday, someone at TheWrap.com ranked DWAYNE JOHNSONS's movies from BEST to WORST.Here's the list:

3."Rampage",2018.

4."Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle",2017.

5."Fighting with My Family",2019.

6."The Rundown",2003.

8."Central Intelligence",2016.

9."Pain & Gain",2013.

10."Skyscraper",2018.

9."Pain & Gain",2013.

10."Skyscraper",2018.

11."Jumanji: The Next Level",2019.

13."Hercules",2014.

14."The Scorpion King",2002.

15."Tooth Fairy",2010.

16."San Andreas",2015.

17."Jungle Cruise",2021.

19."The Game Plan",2007.

20."Walking Tall",2004.

21."Be Cool",2005.

22."Race to Witch Mountain",2009.

23."Get Smart",2008.

24."Journey 2: The Mysterious Island",2012.

25."Planet 51",2009.

26."Empire State",2013.

27."Baywatch",2017.

28."Southland Tales",2006.

29."Doom",2005.

30."Snitch",2013.

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THE ROCK! All of Dwayne Johnson's Movies Ranked from Best to Worst | 94.5 The Buzz | The Rod Ryan Show - 94.5 The Buzz

Reaching the postseason has become a rite of passage for the Leesburg Lightning.

Its not a hope.

Its an expectation.

And for the 15th consecutive season every year of its existence Leesburg has qualified for the Florida Collegiate Summer League playoffs. The Lightning will finish no worse than second place in the FCSL standings and could still heading into Fridays game at DeLand finish with the leagues best regular-season record and enjoy home-field advantage for the duration of their postseason run.

Frank Jolley: There's just something about being at a ballpark especially 'The Pat'

King of turf: Groundskeeper provides Leesburg Lightning with pristine playing field

The Lightnings opponent in the playoffs might not be known until Saturdayevening, when the regular season wraps, but the Lightning punched its postseason ticket earlier in the week.

Leesburg has been steady as a rock all season, from its home opener through the myriad rain outs and down the home stretch. The Lightning have been remarkably consistent all season their longest losing streak has been just two games, while fashioning a five game winning streak.

But, in spite of the teams regular-season success over the years, the playoffs are a different story.

Leesburg set a high bar for itself in 2007 its inaugural season by winning the league multiple championships.

Since then, the Lightning have reached the title game or series the FCSL switched from a single-game championship to a best-of-3 series in 2018 five times, including last season. That makes for seven title shots for Leesburg in its first 14 years.

Only Winter Park and Sanford both charter members of the FCSL have played for as many or more championships, appearing in eight and seven title games or series, respectively. The Diamond Dawgs and River Rats also have won the most Whiting Cups the FCSL championship trophy with five apiece.

Pretty rarified air.

For those who want to nitpick and point out the Lightning is only 2-5 when they play for the championship, would you prefer playing albeit losing for the title, or never having the opportunity?

Thats like denying the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills overwhelming success in the 1970s and 1990s because they got to but didnt win four Super Bowls.

Fact is, the franchise has been among the most successful in the Florida Collegiate Summer League since playing its first game.

Simply put, the Lightning is, arguably, the leagues marquee franchise. More fans pack Pat Thomas Stadium-Buddy Lowe Field than any other building in the league and thats been the case every year since opening night in 2007, when an overflow crowd filled the Pat for the first game in team history.

A lot of teams try to drum up support before each season by talking up their hopes for reaching the playoffs.

Thats not just a hope in Leesburg.

Its pretty much a requirement.

And it all begins next week with the second season.

Write to Frank Jolley at frank.jolley@dailycommercial.com.

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Jolley: the postseason has become a Leesburg Lightning rite of passage - Daily Commercial

Its that time of year again! Nordstroms annual anniversary sale is finally here and were about to go crazy.

The official sale started today, July 28th and will last until August 8th. During these 12 days, youre able to snag your favorite sale items at insane prices.

This year, were seeing wild price drops like 30%, 40% and even 50% off brands like Cole Haan, Nike, Salvatore Ferragamo and more. Seriously, check out the sales deals for yourself. You wont believe your eyes

If youre looking to get in on Nordstroms biggest sale of the year but arent quite sure where to start, check out the best deals were seeing below.

$100.00 $66.90

Cole Haan is a favorite around here at Spy, and were happy to announce theyre offering some great deals over Nordstroms anniversary sale. This is one of their lightest sneakers, making it a perfect comfortable shoe for the office or a travel day. Its got a super breathable upper and anatomical cushioning built in for supporting the foots natural flexibility. Its also got a springy, shock-absorbing arch and a lacing system designed to lock into place, so you can tie each time or wear them as slip-ons.

$20.00 $13.90

There are socks, and then there are adidas socks. If youve never worn a pair, you should change that. Theyre built to be super comfortable and high-performance at the same time. These stretchy, sporty ones from them come in solid black and are being offered at a pretty decent discount for Nordstroms Anniversary Sale.

$78.00 $49.90

Looking for a stylish pair of shorts that will change your summer wear forever? Look no further than the 7-inch Anywhere Shorts from Bonobos. With an inseam hitting just above the knee, these drawstring shorts stay in the loop with current mens fashion and look great draped on any guys legs. Theyve got playtime writtenallover them. With so many colors to choose from, we know youll find your pair.

$49.50 $29.90

This is a perfect structured, trendy polo for men to rock all summer long. Whether youre headed to the green, joining the fam on a beach vacation or going back to the office for the first time in over a year, this polo can be worn just about anywhere during warmer weather. Plus, its $20 off for Nordstroms Anniversary Sale.

$59.50 $39.90

Calvins are some of the priciest underwear you can buy, and honestly, its for a good reason theyre sexy. These leg and tush-hugging boxer briefs let the jewels sit nicely and allow for extreme move-ability no matter what youre up to. Typically one pair on Calvins website go for this price-dropped price for three, so if you dont have a pair of Calvins in your underwear drawer just yet, nows the time to snag em.

$1,595.00 $1,116.50

While youll really never be able to get anything generally affordable from Salvatore Ferragamo, this $579 price drop is probably the best price drop weve ever seen from the Italian luxury brand. The watch has a gorgeous interface with a three-hand chronograph movement and full black and silver finish. Its made of stainless steel and rubber ensuring tough durability and though its from an Italian brand, its actually Swiss made.

$165.00 $98.90

Where ya headed this summer? Wherever it might be, theres a serious chance youre in the need of a new carry-on. Lucky for you, this 22-inch rolling spinner suitcase from CALPAK is currently under $100 for the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. Yeah, we couldnt believe it either. Get yours now before theyre all gone.

$59.00 $39.00

Kiehls products are another crowd-favorite and were happy to announce that a few of their products are discounted ahead of Nordstroms Anniversary Sale, including this Facial Fuel face wash. Its designed to thoroughly remove oil, dirt and other impurities on the surface of your skin and is formulated with vitamins for a total refresh. Its also formulated to prepare skin for a shave and give it an overall healthier and fresher appearance.

$39.50 $24.90

Improve your couchs coziness with the plush throw blanket thatll make you never want to get off of it. Designed for Chinese takeout and scary movies on rainy days, this soft throw on is the living room essential youre lacking. This throw is available in 17 different colors, so no matter what the vibe of your living room is, this blanket will fit in with no problem.

$49.00 $29.90

These are the ultimate everyday shorts theyre build soft, breathable and moveable making them great for working out. Theyre also super comfortable to wear for an errand day, lazy day at home or at a casual athleisure brunch. Theyre the ultimate staple comfy shorts for men, and the price tag has dipped below $30.

$150.00 $99.00

Well say this once and once only: youll probably never see a Magnanni leather belt under $100 ever again, so act now or forever hold your peace. This well-reviewed burnished leather staple has class written all over it. Wear it alongside your favorite suit and leather watch combo at the next socially-distanced wedding of the summer.

$59.50 $38.90

Robert Barakett has a pretty stellar line of basic tees for men in a slew of colors. Though theyre typically on the pricier side (one shirt normally goes for about $60), people still rave over these babies they have almost 500 incredible reviews on Nordstrom. Its super soft, breathable and especially comfortable on sensitive skin. Youre going to want to snag this as soon as you see it though to understand what were talking about, these shirts sell out like hotcakes. Youve been warned!

$32.00 $23.90

Working on your fitness? Theres no better way to get your groove on than with the Nike Pro Three-Quarter Training Tights. Theyve got a supportive second-base layer made out of a light compression fabric meant to cool your body and wick moisture at the same time. At the end of your runs, youll notice those sweaty legs of yours arent so sweaty after all because they dry in just a few minutes.

$59.00 $39.00

Keep cool all summer long with the AllSaints Ramskull baseball cap. Its made with soft cotton to give that washed and worn appearance thats super trendy right now. Additionally, it lands some sharp branding marks across the hat in the same color so everyone will know exactly what youre sporting.

$35.00 $22.90

While it isnt quite hoodie weather yet (or even close to yet), theres never been a better time to save on one of the coziest fleece pullovers the world ever did see. This fleece hoodie from BP. is extra warming when its chilly outside. Snag it now and keep it in your closet for when you really need it. Trust us, you arent going to regret this one.

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Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale Has Finally Begun: Shop These 15 Amazing Menswear Deals - msnNOW

Post-rock and black metal's mid-2000s collision was an unexpected one, but the genre fusion has become so ubiquitous now, a decade and a half later, that it has become commonplace, especially through breakthrough artists like Deafheaven. But it wasn't always this way, and whispers across forums and word of mouth back in 2005 spoke of an English artist who was somehow fusing Bark Psychosis' genre experiments with raw black metal tonality and anger. Though initially a raw black metal artist (though they would argue that they've been making something somewhat post-rock all along) Cana's (rhymes with hyena -- ka-ee-nah) Andy Curtis-Brignell was and continues to be a fearless genre innovator in the ever-changing black metal landscape.

Tomorrow marks the official 15th anniversary of Cana's debut full-length album, Some People Fall, which is one of the few times I, a young person, feel dated. Some People Fall was released on the now-defunct God Is Myth label, but, to admit a shortcoming of this article's timing and research, Curtis-Brignell actually started selling his copies the month before, quietly releasing the album to a select few before the album's official release on July 17th, 2006.

At this point, post-rock and black metal was a very new thing. Though some imbued the genre fusion to artists like Alcest, whose Le Secret verged on post-rock's grandeur, Neige stated in interviews that he wasn't really a fan of the style back then, instead just sort of happening upon the sound in a natural sort of way. No, it was Cana who first set out to find the middle ground between these two formerly distant styles of music. As such, Some People Fall suffers from some growing pains, sometimes almost clumsily (but always brilliantly) forcing these two elements together to craft something new. Birth is always painful, and Some People Fall's own genre craft shows the years of hard work, dedication, and planning that went into this first album's grand opening statement.

Some People Fall is a black metal album, at least in part. There are blast beats and songwriting which resembles riffs, but the album's underpinnings speak more to the project's experimental influences and bent. Take, for instance, the project's defining "Satanikulturpessimis," which alternates between post-rock climax and black metal misery in a linear fashion, Curtis-Brignell's manic vocal delivery heralding something new for this era, one which would so suddenly be filled with imitators and pretenders in the years to follow.

I would be remiss to not discuss social media during Some People Fall's time. Released in the MySpace era, the prevailing social media before Facebook's reign, Some People Fall's greatest success was how it was spread. With songs like "Satanikulturpessimis" featured prominently on people's profiles and Curtis-Brignell's own openness, Cana embraced the new era of sociability and music proliferation without falling prey to being one of the many "MySpace bands" who lived and died on the platform. Though it took half a decade for Cana to make it to the stage, MySpace was Curtis-Brignell's main platform and communication hub, and, as such, the time surrounding Some People Fall has been lost to the ages, a relic of the early "black metal Internet" was deleted thanks to an IT misstep in the late 2010s.

I spoke with Andy Curtis-Brignell about his debut album in a new interview, which can be read below. Be sure to listen to Some People Fall today (and maybe Mourner and a handful of other Cana albums, as well), and join me in celebrating 15 years of post-rock/black metal fusion.

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Though time marches on, do you personally feel like 15 years have passed since the release of Some People Fall?

You know, it's weird. In some ways I feel like a hundred years have passed since the album came out, in some ways less than a hundred days. I have a bunch of lacunae in my long term memory, some welcome, some frustrating, but the process of putting that record together is still pretty clear, or at least I have some very clear individual impressions of it. That fits, really, since it's a patchwork album taken from a bunch of different sessions and it wasn't even really supposed to be an album until more than half of it already existed in one form or another. I was originally making a fourth demo or EP, they're kind of indistinguishable to me, until I heard back from Todd Paulson at God Is Myth that he really liked the promo package I sent him with a more expanded version of the The Cold Taste of Perdition demo and wanted to fund the pressing of a full length CD. That's one of the reasons it contains a light remix of a song that was already on demos one and two, as well as the fact that "The Validity Of Hate Within An Emotional Vacuum" became kind of a signature song for the project for a while. It was on quite a few people's MySpace profiles, haha. You know I laugh but without the MySpace black metal community I don't think we would be having this conversation 15 years later. People treat the period with a lot of contempt but it was invaluable for me in growing my audience and connecting to peers. I really don't think Cana would still be a thing without it.

Some People Fall was a pretty drastic change in sound from the demos which preceded it. What led to you wanting to fuse post-rock with black metal in the first place?

What's funny is I thought I was doing that pretty much from the beginning, though I concede that if you listen back to those early recordings it's quite hard to distinguish that and it's definitely Some People Fall that really made that agenda stand out. I got into black metal in Summer 2001, and was already listening to a lot of post rock or art rock at the time, though I primarily come from a post hardcore background in terms of the bands I was in as a kid.

Anyway I really started to dive in deep with the genre about a year after that, and at some point around the time I got my first shitty little guitar in summer 2004 (I was a drummer originally, and yes that means I had been playing for about 18 months when Some People Fall was being put together) I was listening to something really tremolo heavy and just thought to myself, you know, if you cut the distortion a little here this sounds like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai or something and ding a little lightbulb went off in my head. I felt that the two genres were atmospherically super compatible if not aesthetically and although I would never say I was the first person to exploit this atmospheric similarity (Weakling's Dead as Dreams was a big factor in making me come to this conclusion as well) I feel like I was maybe amongst the first to very literally make that connection and make it explicit in the music and the way I discussed it. Again, I don't know if I was the first to use slide guitar, ebow, field recordings, clean tremolo, major chords etc on a nominally black metal record but it definitely felt like a jump into the dark either way, and that was exciting. I also gotta say that I can't overstate the impact of the first demo getting 3/10 in Terrorizer magazine, because whilst I was crushed I took the feedback very literally and scrapped what I was doing for the 2nd demo at the time to focus on the one track they liked, which was the most overtly atmospheric aforementioned "The Validity of Hate Within an Emotional Vacuum" and subsequently The Cold Taste of Perdition demo was really what put me on people's radar.

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Looking back as a luminary of the post-rock and black metal kingdom, did you expect the following 15 years to be so saturated with the style? In other words, did you expect post-rock black metal to become so popular?

Absolutely not. I'm personally disappointed that it's become codified into its own micro genre, honestly. I think it was practically inevitable once Alcest (who were pretty much contemporaries if not a little earlier with their demo stuff) saw their big success. In the same way that I see the distillation of "post-rock" into something easily quantifiable with a bunch of musical tropes disappointing (it was always an atmospheric classification to me, not just something that referred to crescendo based rock with tremolo guitars, etc.). I feel a little sad that there just seems to have been refinement rather than true progression within the emerging scene. That's not to say that I hate all the bands who self identify as post black metal or post rock influenced black metal or whatever, but, for example, nothing since has ever excited me as much as hearing Dead As Dreams, or Ephel Duath's stuff for the first time, or Grand Declaration of War. If you're not at least making an attempt at pushing the genre as much as those did, why bother?

Cana went through many transformations after Some People Fall, but this particular album created a framework which survived throughout the project's existence as a black metal project (I'd argue that more recent efforts move beyond that sphere). What was creating this framework like and what did you do to create such balance between your two halves?

I'm very much an album guy rather than a song guy in my own listening, and although some of the material existed before this was supposed to be a full length, I started something I still do as part of my process today, which is literally drawing a waveform like chart on a bar graph set of axes of the albums shape, by which I mean pacing, emotional peaks and troughs, things like that. Probably looks like an unintelligible scribble to anyone else. Other than that honestly it was a very naive process in that I never set out with any one song to be like "well this needs 40 percent post rock and 60 percent black metal. There's so much experimentation and audible...fucking around I guess you would say that I think the real answer is that I make records the way I make records and have never really consciously deviated from that. I absolutely didn't hit perfection the first time or any time, for that matter, but I het on the way "Andy Makes Records" first time for sure. I think I still have a nave process.

Though the following album Mourner displayed a more developed mixture of styles and what seemed to be a more comfortable performance from yourself, Some People Fall's earnest presentation was the first public presentation of its kind. What was the songwriting process like and what inspirations did you look to throughout this development?

I was really throwing a lot of influences at the wall and scraping what was left off the carpet. Swans Soundtracks for the Blind and a lot of stuff on Constellation records were the primary influences on the sound collage aspects of the record like "BlackEndTymeCollapse" or "Abraxas Gate," whereas the more overtly melodic stuff was very much me trying to emulate stuff I liked from bands like the Appleseed Cast but with more of a David Sylvian or Dave Gahan kind of vocal. Not that I'm trying to stack that stuff up next to mine, but that's what was being attempted. I didn't necessarily feel external pressure to include lots of sounds, just that if I was going to maybe only make this one album, as far as I knew, I should just throw everything I possibly could at it. A lot of people call me unfocused, and I've taken that on board, sincerely, in the years since, but the first two albums were absolutely me just making sure I included as much as humanly possible in case I never got the chance again. Not just because of labels or whatever, but in case I died, really. I was going to a lot of shows at the time and hung around with a lot of people putting them on, one night I ended up on a fairly long car ride with the musician Martin Grech who had this huge record and a car advert and everything but then basically tanked his career to make this terrifying industrial album, and I remember talking to him about feeling like you need to throw a lot of ingredients in to keep yourself interested otherwise what was the point. That was a cool interaction that's always stuck in the back of my head. If its not consistently interesting to you personally, what's the fucking point?

Black metal-wise I remember being particularly obsessed with stuff like early Xasthur and that weird early '00s proto depressive/suicidal black metal at the time, which I think you can really hear in the kind of loping but muscular quality those sections have. I feel like the black metal sections are the most underdeveloped sounding parts of the record, I think simply due to poor execution, even though it seems to foreshadow my losing interest, in ultimately putting it at the forefront of my sound. The process of writing it is one of the hardest things to talk about because not only was I fucking loopy and fucked up the entire time, there was no formal process and it was recorded in I think three or four different places that I then obfuscated by grouping them as Tantalus II studios.

Some People Fall was released by the sadly defunct label God Is Myth Records, who gave the world bands like Velnias, Stroszek, Procer Veneficus, and other underground mid-2000s necessities. What first led you to linking up with label founder Todd Paulson?

The first thing to understand is that between May 2005 and the beginning of 2006 was that I sent out a couple hundred promo CDs of various material, tailored to the labels generally, to basically anyone pressing underground or outsider music. I wore out my first university laptop by burning them. I don't really know what I wanted other than for someone to be intrigued enough to encourage me to send more stuff, to be honest. I believe the sequence of events was that I had ordered something from the God Is Myth distro and ended up pitching him the project. I don't think I had a proper web presence at this point so it would have been a CD. Now he wasn't by any means the only response I got to this, it's how Drakkar Productions ended up pressing the tapes they did of the second and third demos, but he was the only one who sounded like a normal fucking dude and didn't put some kind of weird front on his communication. He seemed exactly as he turned out to be; an honest, creative, fair dealing man with a sincere interest in what I was doing and where the weirder fringes of the scene were going. It's strange, I've never really felt like my music was especially good, I've never really felt that I've had anything especially interesting to say, even, but something inside me had this relentless need to put music out there regardless. I've very much grown up with the project to the point where as much as I will often try to seperate myself from it, my identity and my musical identity are inevitably, inexorably, inextricably linked. In hindsight, being diagnosed with a form of autism as an adult makes this make a lot more sense to me, Cana is my way of communicating with the wider world, and although he wasn't the first to take any kind of interest Todd really seemed to understand that almost before I did. I'm very grateful to him.

This album's cover features a butterfly, which is, much like the music held within, outside black metal's usual aesthetic. What were you looking to achieve with Some People Fall's cover artwork?

Todd designed the cover and from what I recall there wasn't a great deal of discussion, I believe my only real instruction was to make it look like a Slowdive album or something very shoegazey at any rate. We were very much allowing the non metal aspects of the recording to dominate in the presentation and marketing, there wasn't any real desire to shy away from that like I've had with other labels I worked with later on who tend to emphasise whatever metal pedigree I had at the time, which I understand as I've worked with some cool people but once again it was a real instance of Todd really understanding what we had immediately, perhaps better than I did.

Some People Fall's lyrics deal with a multitude of personal demons and experiences, at least from what I can tell as half the album's lyrics weren't published in the liner notes. What did you want to communicate with this album? Was there a central theme?

Thematically it's somewhat a parody of traditional black metal with its monochrome, manichean worldview, which I think extends to the music. Not parody in the sense of mockery but in the true satirical sense, an attempt to cut through the posturing to what I felt was the real truth of black metal which is that it seemed to me to be primarily about vulnerable young people cathartically screaming into the void. I guess I was trying to see what would happen if someone stripped back the theatricality and was more emotionally honest about what they were doing there.

At the same time I guess I confused things a little by including a satirical Satanic song (Satanikulturpessimis) with an earnest satanic prayer at the end! You have to bear in mind that as much as I had status quo challenging ideas of what I wanted to do, I was still 19 when the stuff was being written and the album is very much a hodgepodge of things I was into, especially when considered next to its immediate followup. In terms of their being a central theme, I think again in contrast to a lot of the messaging in black metal at the time Some People Fall as a title, and the title being the thematic binder for the record, was very much intended to be about forgiving yourself for being human and frail, or acknowledging that not everyone's life turns out the way they planned. That was certainly something I was really feeling at the time, as someone who was increasingly becoming more and more ill, physically and mentally. I've adopted various characters and idioms on other albums that might seem to contradict this - people were confused when I wrote songs from the perspective of my mental illness on Gentle Illness for example but that's very much a drum I'll still beat. Some people barely make it through the day, or continuously fuck up, but they're still people with value. "Falling" doesn't mean "lost." I think I have to believe that, because I've spent so much of my life feeling broken and lost myself.

Cana has primarily been a vehicle for your creativity alone. Though the early and mid-2000s were marked by an uptick in black metal solo projects, what was the solo experience like for you, especially during the creation of Some People Fall?

Discounting that a little bit of the material already existed in some form or another, and my disintegrating mental and physical health, immersing myself into a larger scale project was mostly bliss. It always liked doing long form essays, stuff like that, so it was really the equivalent of sinking into a library for a few months. The major problem I had was neighbours when tracking drums. I recorded a bunch of them in my old student house and after a really bad first interaction I would always check with the elderly couple next door when it was OK to play but sure enough I would start and 15 mins later this old guy would start throwing house bricks and tools at the external wall, screaming at the top of his lungs to try and get me to stop! I think you can hear this as a muffled thud if you listen really closely on "Inside the Outside." It was okay, though, I respected his absolute hatred for us all in that house, a bunch of musicians and drug-addled losers for the most part. I would absolutely hate us if we moved next door to my current self.

Did you overcome anything during these early days as a solo artist? What difficulties did you work through during the Some People Fall sessions? What did you learn while composing, recording, and promoting Some People Fall?

I was still learning guitar (by the time of release I think I owned one for maybe two years at that point), I was still learning how to operate my newish 8-track! I had this dinky Boss recorder and I learned so much on the hoof with this record, from how to mix so it wasn't quite so demo sounding, to how to push an album to people in terms of retailing it. The experience of someone else pressing my stuff to pro-CD, that first box arriving, managing orders and special editions, it all set the groundwork for everything to come. I never really did learn guitar though. Putting a live lineup together for the album release show (which ultimately consisted of just me and a drummer that first time) was harder than any part of the recording process in all truth. It's always been that way for me. I like the hermit aspect of hunkering down and creating, not the extrovert stuff that comes with performing. I sometimes like playing live, depending very much on context and personnel, but that part has never come easily.

The introduction of "post-rock black metal" into the black metal world was marked by reviews which tried very hard to explain just how close to black metal these early albums were (I recall people comparing Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde to a certain black metal artist solely due to the use of tremolo-picked guitar, for instance). What was your experience watching people try to claim Caina as a fully black metal artist during this time, especially while you were composing the much more experimental Mourner?

Anxiety, mostly. People get very defensive over bIack metal, and have often seen what I do as diluting it somehow. I think it's a profoundly stupid opinion to have, but it's not an insignificant minority that hold it. I have always tried to allow other people to label the project and allow the music to stand on its own as much as possible as I don't ever want to miss sell what I'm doing. On the other hand, I could not really be less interested in genre as a monolith. Genre the way metal uses it in particular. Beyond "Okay, this is jazz, this is rock, this is hip hop" I've always found it supremely odd that people get so fervent and team-like towards "genre": a thing that is maybe five percent informational and 95% marketing. As someone who has, to my detriment, never had much of an interest in the marketing side of things I've always wished there was a way of sidestepping these discussions entirely. Getting hyped about genre as a listener just feels very tribal and I've never been much of a "joiner." Also, I meet a lot of people who base their entire identity on whatever microgenre niche they fit into and they're always the most boring fucking asshole you ever met in your life.

As you've developed the Cana sound into something in its own sphere over the past decade and a half, what are your thoughts on Some People Fall now? Would you change anything about it in hindsight?

God, almost everything, from a musical perspective! I would say that it overwhelmingly does not work well as a piece of art. I like maybe three tracks from it a lot. I think the post rock stuff has aged fairly well but the more sinister tracks really haven't. I think you can feel that as my almost immediate reaction when you listen to Mourner, to be honest. I was quite openly disappointed with my own work very shortly after it came out and you can see not just more experimentation but a simple reduction in the inclusion of the stuff that ended up sucking from the first record, i.e. there's really almost no metal on there at all. Later when I became more comfortable with my process and performances I gradually added it back in. But to be sure without Some People Fall none of my later work would have happened the way it did, so maybe I should just accept it for what it is.

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Corrupting the Wake: 15 Years of Cana's Some People Fall (Interview) - Invisible Oranges

THE GOVERNMENT HAS been accused signing away Irelands historic fishing rights atRockall in the North Atlantic.

The uninhabited island of Rockall is around 419km off the cost of Donegal, and around386km from St Kildas, to the north-west of Scotland.

Ownership of the island and the fishing rights in the waters surrounding it has been a hot topic over the last couple of years.

In 2019, the Scottish government previously said it would apprehend Irish vessels found fishing in Rockalls waters.

Earlier this year, the government said there remains an increased risk to Irish vessels fishing off Rockall after engagement with Scottish authorities.

The warning came after aDonegal fishing vessel was preventedfrom fishingin the waters around Rockall by a Marine Scotland patrol boat.

Speaking in the Dil today, Sinn FinsPdraig Mac Lochlainn said the Maritime Jurisdiction Bill, whichaims to update and set out in law the States maritime jurisdiction, formally cedesRockallto Britain.

He said this has never been done in legislation before, and criticised the 45 minutes allocated to the debate.

It is derisory and disrespectful and the order must change. I ask the Taoiseach to agree to more sitting days this week and next week, he said.

Mac Lochlainn said the Irish people have never recognised or accepted Britains claim to Rockall.

He said the government led by the Taoiseach will sign away Irish sovereignty, and, with it, our historic fishing rights at Rockall. This is utterly shameful.

At a time when the entire industry is fighting for its very survival, the action the Government is taking tonight will put the future of many fishing families on the line. We will not accept the ceding of Irish sovereignty to Britain. I am asking the Taoiseach to stand up for his country and intervene to stop this legislation going before the Oireachtas tonight. Rock on, Rockall, as the song says. It is the Taoiseachs time to do something about it, he added.

Not impressed, the Taoiseach said whatMac Lochlainn was asserting is absolute rubbish.

We are not ceding anything, particularly in regard to fishing rights. We are ceding nothing. It is just another game, is it not? It is just another slogan and just another approach, and it is consistent with the Deputys approach on everything.

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I engaged with the fishermen of Ireland and their representatives. I am serious about it and I am going to do everything I possibly can to help fishers in this country. I am not going to be engaging in the silly, shallow sort of presentations that the Deputy engages in, pretending to be the friend of everybody but with absolutely zilch when it comes to substance on very serious matters that affect livelihoods. For Gods sake, I think we need better than that.

A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs to The Journal said the purpose of the Maritime Jurisdiction Bill is to regulate the exercise of the States maritime jurisdiction, not to make sovereign claims to land territory.

The department said amending the Bill to claim sovereignty over Rockall would be beyond the scope of the Bill.

The position of successive Governments has been that no state should seek to claim sovereignty over uninhabitable rocks in the middle of the ocean for that reason no Irish Government has ever claimed Rockall nor has it ever recognised the UKs claim, said the department.

It stated that a 2013 agreement fixed the boundaries on the continental shelf which were agreed in 1988 as the exclusive economic zone boundaries also, creating a single maritime boundary in the water and on the seabed beneath.

The agreement was implemented by a 2014 statutory instrument made under the existing Maritime Jurisdiction legislation it was laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas, as required, and it was open to any Deputy or Senator to propose a motion to annul it within 21 sitting days. No such motion was ever proposed, they added.

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Government accused of signing away fishing rights at Rockall, Taoiseach says claim is 'absolute rubbish' - TheJournal.ie

He called on his fellow Donegal TD and the Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue to stand up for Donegals fishermen and to withdraw the Marine Jurisdiction Bill from the Dil tonight, Wednesday, that puts British control of Rockall into Irish law.

He said: Since the EU/ UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into effect on January 1st of this year, boats and fishermen from Donegal have been blocked by the British authorities from fishing in their traditional fishing grounds in the 12-mile limit around Rockall.

I have raised this repeatedly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and almost seven months on, there is no sign of a solution. Despite repeated assurances and denials from consecutive Irish governments, an agreement with the British government in 2014 and other similar agreements in the past, have led to the shameful handing away of our fishing rights to these waters. Rather than tear up or even renegotiate these agreements, the Irish government is doubling down and putting them into Irish law. This is astonishing and a kick in the teeth to our Donegal fishermen.

He continued: The government intends to put the controversial 2014 Agreement between Ireland and Britain on the maritime boundary of each country into law through this Maritime Jurisdiction Bill. That agreement was never scrutinised, debated, and voted on in the Houses of the Oireachtas in contravention of the Constitution and its legal standing is heavily disputed. That agreement has also been further discredited by Brexit and the changeover of control of key fishing waters from the mutual control of the EUs Common Fisheries Policy over to the exclusive control of Britain.

It is truly shocking that the Irish government are not only not seeking to renegotiate this agreement but now they are waving the white flag and strengthening the hand of the British government.

I am calling on my fellow Donegal TD and the Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue to stand up for the rights of our Donegal fishermen and to withdraw this bill.

Originally posted here:

Irish Government is waving the white flag on Rockall says Donegal TD - Derry Journal

Nominations for the 73rd Emmys were announced on Tuesday, and to the surprise of no one, Disney absolutely cleaned up, with 146 nominations across all categories. The media giant earned nominations all across its platforms and networks, but Disney Plus had a particularly standout morning with massive showings from both The Mandalorian and WandaVision.

The Mandalorian season 2 earned 24 nominations, bringing it into a tie with the latest season of Netflixs The Crown for the most nominations of any series this year. Among a litany of technical awards, The Mandalorian also earned a nomination for Best Drama Series, as well as guest actor nominations for Timothy Olyphant and Carl Weathers and a supporting actor nomination for Giancarlo Esposito.

Disneys other Emmy contender was WandaVision, which was submitted as a Limited Series for this years competition. The series earned a total of 23 nominations, including Best Limited Series, and acting nominations for both of its leads. Meanwhile meme-star Kathryn Hahn also got nominated for the series as a supporting actress. Disneys other Marvel show, The Falcon and Winter Soldier, earned five nominations, including one for Don Cheadles guest appearance.

Elsewhere in the nominations, Ted Lasso had a particularly impressive day, earning 20 nominations. This brings Apple TV Plus soccer comedy just two nomination shy of 30 Rocks all-time comedy record of 21 nominations. Perhaps the funniest part of the shows nominations came in the supporting actor in a comedy series category, where it earned four of the categories eight total nominations including one for the series co-creator Brendan Hunt.

Among the other highly-nominated shows and series are HBOs Mare of Easttown, which earned 16, Netflixs Queens Gambit, which earned 18, Saturday Night Live, which earned 21, Hulus The Handmaids Tale, with 21, and HBOs Lovecraft Country, which had 18.

The Emmy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. ET.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of Emmy nominations for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

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The Mandalorian leads 2021 Emmy nominations, followed by WandaVision - Polygon