de-minimis

09 October 2011

nowt so queer as folk

The very excellent For Folk Sake website have recently announced the winner of their alternative to the Mercury prize, the wonderfully titled Schmercury Prize. It is Devon Sproule with 'I Love You, Go Easy'. A very worthy winner in my opinion.

nina sings

Sundays are perfect for listening to Nina Simone. The passion that she throws into other people's songs is incredible, as if they were crafted from her own hand.

Angel of the Morning

Here Comes the Sun

I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl

08 October 2011

portishead - chase the tear

Another November release is the very limited edition re-release of 'Chase The Tear' by Portishead with proceeds to Amnesty. I don't need to tell you how good this is, Portishead made it. 'Nuff said.

the history of apple pie

I've been looking for an excuse to play this band on my blog for ages and I see they have scheduled a November date for the release of 'Mallory'. They play a raw, almost shoegazer guitar with double female vocals. Think Asobi Seksu and you won't be a million miles off their sound.

The History of Apple Pie - Mallory by eardrums

Any old excuse to play some music and here's another of their fantastic songs 'Science for the Young'.

letkolben - kero

This infectious new track from Letkolben is available as a free download here.

autumn girl

It's a couple of days until what would have been Kirsty MacColl's 52nd birthday. I still feel bitter about the circumstances and consequences of her death but I fear that the full truth will never be revealed. She was undoubtedly one of our greatest female songwriters who was never afraid to express her true feelings in her songs. Her lyrics were at times biting, other times funny but always wonderfully expressed. She was undoubtedly a woman that pissed off a lot of people in the music industry (and quite rightly too) because she never compromised her art for gimmicks that record companies considered appropriate for female singers.

I don't know if the timing is deliberate (I suspect so) but Brighton's finest dream pop exports, Paisley and Charlie, have released a cover of her song Autumn Girl Soup and have more than done it justice. I know they adore Kirsty as much as anyone and they've poured a lot of love into this interpretation.

...and here's one from Kirsty too. If you get the chance, pop over to Soho Square on the anniversary of her birthday on 12th October where you will find like-minded people celebrating the life of one of Britain's finest.

the living room songs

Ólafur Arnalds has invited us into his Reykjavik apartment for the last 6 days and we are welcome for one day more. He has released a song a day as a free stream and MP3 download. They are also available on Youtube where you can see and hear day 6 where we have Lag fyrir Ömmu (Song for Grandma). What a talent. You can hear and see them all here.

07 October 2011

war child

It's the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan today (...tomorrow or yesterday depending on yours and my timezone) and I don't pretend to understand if we've actually achieved anything worthwhile from it in those years. I'm not sure the streets of the Western world are safer and I'm not convinced that the Afghan people want democracy (oh, the delicious irony of forcing democracy on a nation). It seems appropriate then that I sign off tonight with a 3 track session from band of the moment, War On Drugs. I dedicate this to all those on all sides of the conflict who have died in the last decade.

exitmusic - 'the hours'

If you like Beach House then you'll probably love Exitmusic, a husband and wife team from America. I love this kind of music. It's really cerebral and slightly outside the comfort zone.

why do bands think swear words in their name is a good idea?

Sure, it was a great idea when you're steaming drunk at 2am on a Friday night but on a sober Tuesday morning do you still think it's a good idea to call yourself 'F*ckbuttons' or 'Holy F*ck' or 'Thugf*cker? You're musicians, if you're any good (as all 3 above are) then you really deserve to reach as wide an audience as possible. Why deliberately marginalise yourselves with a crap (sic) band name?

Here's another, Sh*t Robot with a remix by PlanningToRock. I despair sometimes.

sylle struck - high five

Lifted from Vimeo:

"This piece of haunting, hip-hop-flavored bass music comes courtesy of Sylle Struck (a.k.a. Sylvester Struckman), and is taken from his new EP, Solid Ground for My Trolley, which came out yesterday on SoundEscape. The Danish DJ/producer and Greased Up crew member is offering the entire EP for free download on Bandcamp. Check out the video for another cut, "High Five," complete with its images of hardcore weed porn, after the jump."

Isn't the internet bloody brilliant?

someone had been telling lies about josef k

These words are my favourite opening line to any novel ever written. It is of course Franz Kafka's the Trial, a seriously important novel and as relevant now as it was in 1920s Prague. The book itself is a collection of chapters written in a non-linear order and collated into a best-fit by his literary executor, Max Brod, after Kafka's death. An interesting musical side note is that David Bowie was heavily influenced by this and when writing songs he has lots of rhyming couplets that he splices into what he considers the best arrangement for the tune.

Why have I chosen to discuss books? Well, Wolfgang Voigt has released all 3 (very) limited edition Kafkatrax EPs together into a (very) limited edition CD. It even has the hand painted cover, it features the copy number and also within the CD there is a bonus track - "Rueckverzauberung 4", which is an ambient CD that spans one hour and explains more than three centuries of musical history through the use of instrumental sounds that are used today, and dating all the way back to the Baroque period.

Naturally, I'm very excited about this and have bought my copy today but for those doubters who don't share Voigt's belief that Kafka would be a minimal techno fan if alive today then please just listen to the sample. I've been giving it some thought as to who else might be. I think there's a certain amount of anal retention/OCD/all round quirkiness required to be a fan of the genre but without a doubt it has to be Ludwig Wittgenstein. This was a man who had a house built in Vienna to his exacting standards and had the roof re-built because it was a few inches off his instructions for the height. I love it when a true genius is also a bit wonky in the head.

06 October 2011

how about this for a niche genre of music?

Japanese, anti-nuclear, dance-hall reggae to be precise. I challenge anyone to beat that.

Rankin & Dub Ainu Band - You can't see it, and you can't smell it either'

wax tailor ft speech defect 'b-boy on wax' (soul square remix)

beth orton - god song

05 October 2011

moving to the dark side

Darkstar - 'Dear HeartBeat'

Our Broken Garden - 'The Dark Red Roses'

Taj Mahal - 'Here in the Dark'

Simone White - 'You May Be in the Darkness'

Tes La Rok - Darkness Falls Upon Us

oi va voi - everytime

I love the simplicity of this video. I bet it took bloody ages to do though. Apparently, the video was made with a shredding machine. Every third frame of the footage was printed, shredded and shot three times and blended with adjacent frames by different stripes configuration. The band is British band, Oi Va Voi who play with a huge Middle European/Yiddish influence.

bert jansch 1943 - 2011

I'm genuinely saddened to read of his death today. Although not a big fan of his work with Pentangle, I did have some of his solo stuff and some of the people that he influenced (Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr et al) have had a profound effect on my life.

Others far more qualified than me have written some lovely eulogies already so I shan't embarrass myself by attempting something substandard but in its place my memories of one of the most intimate gigs I've ever been to. There were the 3 master guitar-players: Marr, Butler and Jansch playing at the now defunct Sussex Arts Club in Brighton. They all took turns at playing solo stuff as well as all 3 of them playing some exquisite tunes together. You could see the veneration that Marr and Butler had for Jansch.

Here they all are, recorded in 2003 performing together.