"The cords of all link back...strandentwining cable...
"Hello...put me on to Edenville... aleph, alpha: nought, nought, one"
Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 4:22PM There's still time to join the not inconsiderable fun of Secret Sessions' Queen Week. It's certainly not my favourite of songbooks but there are some amazing performances from a good mix of young bucks - Newton Faulkner's take on 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is worth the price of admission alone. Especially when admission is free. Brian May is a fan. What are you waiting for?
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 4:33PM To help make links back to this site, I've started putting some relevant reviews on the excellent No Depression site. If you don't know, No Depression used to be a paper magazine featuring Americana or alt-country or whatever you want to call it. (Their 'artist of the decade' was Alejandro Escovedo, if that helps you get your bearings... a sound choice, of course.)
Anyway, you can catch up on a bit of debate about The Decemberists here and the No Depression front page, which deserves regular look, is here.
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 11:25AM Sometimes it feels like there's just too much good music out there to have time to listen to it all. As well as busily catching up on The Decemberists, I couldn't resist yesterday's record fair and came away with this fine haul.
On top of that I've just downloaded Cornershop's latest, and feel some shared ownership having - along with many others - pledged money in advance to help with their recording costs. Firmly recommended, on the strength of one listen over breakfast. Bouncy Punjabi pop - building on the style of earlier singles 'Topknot' and 'United Provinces of India', which are both included. Bubbley Kaur handles vocals - very well, but I do miss Tjinder Singh's distinctive voice. I was struck in particular by some nicely melodic bass lines...
Oh, and the postman's just brought this month's copy of The Wire with a free sampler CD.
There aren't enough hours in the day, even without dusting down old albums from The Nice...
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 8:43AM A review of a superb gig on Saturday now available here. It's great to come upon a new (to you) band who already have a substantial back catalogue to explore, with twists and turns and hidden treasures all along the way... Thoroughly recommended.
Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 10:42AM A fine show from Samuel Beam and his many collaborators last night - read a review here.