Tube strikes in London, whether you agree with the issues or not, are incredibly successful in causing the complications and disruption that every protest should. They are yet to resort to storming Millbank Tower and throwing fire extinguishers from the top and this is perhaps the only aspect in which the majority of Londoners support the RMT.
They are indeed irritating but I've found there are two ways to deal with travel chaos;
1) Push and shove your way onto your chosen mode of transport, huffing and complaining about the terrible service and cramped conditions.
2) Put on some calming, serene music followed by a deep breath and just go at your own pace. It's scary how few people have control of their emotions and when minor complications occur their stress levels will rise and begin to act irrationally. No wonder so many man days are lost per year to stress.
I have a calming playlist on my iPod especially for such occasions, when things are getting hectic I put the playlist on shuffle and my stress levels subside for long enough to realise that it's all kind of irrelevant. One staple on this playlist is the Aphex Twin remix of Falling Free by Curve.
Curve were an early 90's band mixing elements of shoegaze and electronic rock to create a sound that was a wash of distortion and reverb heavy vocals but kept driving guitar lines and electronic drums to ensure the songs did not slip into nothingness.
Falling Free originally appeared on the '97 EP Horror Head and featured the same distortion heavy guitar and reverbed vocals mentioned above. The track is menacing and powerful combining four to the floor bass drum and layer upon layer of distorted guitars which smother your ears as the vocals sit in the background creating another layer as opposed to offering anything to grab hold of.
However, where the track really lifts off for me is Aphex Twin's sublime 'remix'.
Aphex takes a snippet of that original dreamy vocal and brings it right to the front as it provides a haunting melody to hang his skittery drum pattern around. The whole track is a master-class in production too with layering of complex beats that don't interfere with each other and add a wonderful sense of depth to a track that is obviously sparse and cold sounding. The detailed and intricate drums act as a candle through an the broody atmosphere, providing a reliable element to return to as your mind explores the dank corners of the track.
It may not motivate you particularly but it is certainly a wonderful piece of music, as 99% of Aphex's output is.
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