Here we are, nearly through the year. It is the first Friday of the month, so please share with us what you have been listening to / reading / watching / enjoying this month, and is there anything else you’d like to share?
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Gary says
Heard
Just downloaded the new Rolling Stones album today and listening to it now. First impressions are good. Certainly better than anything they’ve done over the last thirty years, though of course that’s not saying much. I’m not a fan of the band, nor of the blues, but it’s nice to hear a band going back to what they do best and enjoy most. (In that sense, I think Floyd took a similar approach with Endless River). And I genuinely like their version of Jimmy Reed’s Little Rain a lot.
Read
A cracking, corker of a book called Blood Secrets by Craig Jones. Recommended by a friend, I was sceptical at first as it looks like cheapo lightweight pulp fiction thriller. But I found it intense and gripping. It begins with a woman on trial for murder. She narrates the story of how she got there after meeting her unlikely choice of husband and having a daughter together. The ending, where we discover who she killed and why is edge-of-your seat stuff.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2856565-blood-secrets
Watched
I am now the proud owner of all Woody Allen‘s films, having been given the entire collection. I’m a big fan. I think, after a dodgy start, from Play It Again Sam up to and including Deconstructing Harry he barely put a foot wrong. So I’ve been watching those I didn’t already know. Like so many of his films, I thought Anything Else was a little gem. And I also liked Whatever Works, with Larry David. And Hollywood Ending was good. I wasn’t that impressed with newbie Cafe Society, although it looked gorgeous, presumably thanks to Allen’s collaboration with renowned cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. But even Allen’s lesser films are worth watching. (Only To Rome With Love and Celebrity were in my opinion complete failures. And Cassandra’s Dream was pretty poor.) I still have Melinda & Melinda, Scoop, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Irrational Man to watch.
(And yes, contrary to general Afterword opinion, I think Matchpoint is superb.)
I also saw War Dogs, with Jonah Hill. A must if you liked The Wolf Of Wall Street as it’s very similar in tone, although about arms dealers rather than stock traders. Certainly among my favourite films of the year (alongside The Good Neighbor, 13 Hours and Indignation).
duco01 says
Yeah, I’m a huge Woody Allen fan, too. And for me you can add one more film to the “complete failures” list, namely “Magic in the Moonlight”. Dreadful, dreadful.
Gary says
I thought it was ok. Nothing special, certainly nowhere near his best, but still a pleasant evening’s entertainment.
Dodger Lane says
Recently watched Play it again Sam and it’s still absolutely hilarious.
Leicester Bangs says
I love the rain. It washes memories from the sidewalk of life.
Sewer Robot says
Sure you don’t mean “Lorraine”? She steams the chewing gum off the sidewalks in Fife..
Gary says
Hey, @duco01, have you seen Woody’s television series for Amazon, Crisis In 6 Scenes? I finished watching it last night. I loved it. Looking on the net I see it’s got mostly bad reviews, often scathing (but then so have most of his post Crimes and Misdemeanors films). Again, it’s not up there with his best, but I really enjoyed it.
Moose the Mooche says
Wow! Miley Cyrus is a real person! When did that happen?
Dodger Lane says
Heard: Thanks to the good people on this site who put me onto the Margo Price album – Midwest farmer’s daughter; really enjoyed it this month, good songwriting that really makes you listen.
Read: The Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia; lovely cover but struggled with it a bit – it’s quite dense and probably a bit too intelligent for me. I prefer his crime stuff but will go back to it again because I’m sure I missed a lot first time round. Terms & Conditions by Ysenda Maxtone Graham (crazy name, crazy gal), all about life in girls’ boarding schools between 1930s and 1970s. It’s very funny in parts (because she writes so well and because the stories are so extraordinary) and very sad (the snobbery and cruelty of the teachers is shocking as is the indifference shown by parents towards educating their daughters). It’s a miracle most of them ended up pretty normal, and the writer admires the girls in the end which seemed right to me. Really well worth reading.
Watched: Finally saw The Beatles – Eight days a week – film which I enjoyed. I still find watching the absolute hysteria of the crowds compelling. The first episode of Rillington Place with Tim Roth was very good, looking forward to the next episodes. I thought Tim Roth was excellent. An old film I hadn’t watched in ages – Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man – which is great, a very straightforward film but compelling and you want to scream at Henry Fonda, ” say nothing and ask for a solicitor”.
atcf says
Heard: Quantic’s latest album is a real return to form. Hadn’t been overly impressed by the last couple and so didn’t even buy the latest one when it first came out. But it’s got some lovely guest vocals from Hollie Cook and this brilliant cover of an old Tammi Terrell tune:
Have also been belatedly discovering the Adam Buxton podcast and gorging on previous episodes. I now know the correct etiquette regarding helping yourself to items from a hotel breakfast buffet.
Read: Just finished Just Boris, a bio of Boris Johnson released a few years back. There is so much proven dirt about him in the public domain and yet seemingly nothing dents his appeal – in fact some of the scandals only seem to enhance it. We all know he’s good with a one-liner, but really what qualifies him for high office of any description, beyond a seeming ability to charm other powerbrokers?
Watched: I’ve been ill and so spent several days watching snooker from the sofa. Hardly highbrow or insightful, but perfect balm for a cold-befuddled mind.
retropath2 says
Busy old month, marred only by my failure to have enough stamina for the Agnes Obel 3 days ago. She could have been the 4th point of contrast between Alabama 3, Bastille and Teenage Fanclub, all duly recorded elsewhere. (I know some of the massive were there: let’s have the Night Out, chaps, I want to know how much of a cracker I missed!)
Still waiting for the Stones to slip thru’ the letterbox, fired up by watching Sir Mick on breakfast news. My, but that’s a fine head of hair! On other listening fronts I have been continuing to explore the yang of my yin infatuation with instrumental electronica, this month concentrating less on the Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahms, more the squelchy mulshes of Shpongle, Hallucinogen, Dub Trees and Infected Mushroom. Sometimes I wonder whether the makers of such musics envisaged their dance music being the staple of an old bloke driving in and out of work at the crack of dawn. Also picked up the Karl Blau others raved about last month. Good rather than outstanding. On the other hand, the Billy Bragg/Joe Henry collaboration is unbridled joy.
Still haven’t read a further line in the book by my bed…..
10 Rillington Place is indeed a scorcher, superb acting in both the lead parts. The Missing picked up after getting overly complicated in the middle parts. The final scene of the penultimate led into a ridiculously far-fetched finale that moved so fast as to convince at the time. Walking Dead continues to be back on a new found form, separate storyline each episode so far, slowly weaving together.
Leicester Bangs says
Ooh, psy-trance and psybient. Two of my favourite genres. Have you done Younger Brother?
Kid Dynamite says
I meant to post about Dub Trees a while back, on the grounds that the Bandcamp writeup sounded like one of Rob C’s dreams:
I was drawn in by the Killing Joke connection, but I stayed for the lovely dubby tranciness. You might also want to give Ott & The All Seeing I a whirl – I think you’d like them
retropath2 says
Celtic indian connection: I think I read that various research has shown gaelic has more akin to indian languages than to european.
Colin H says
Musical similarities too – that fascination with modes and drones.
On a tangent… I was stunned to come across yesterday, in a Melody Maker news item in December 1959, of 15-week tour of India starting that month by Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry. Who knew?
Alan Balfour says
Colin
In 1999 Chris Smith compiled a huge tome entitled:
That’s The Stuff: The Recordings of Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Stick McGhee & J. C. Burris. (150 pages)
In December 2000 Chris did some updating for Blues & Rhythm subscribers.
I believe Chris may still have copies of these!!!!
But you’ve probably already got these so I’ll shut my trap 🙂
PS: Three years earlier Chris Smith came up with an all singing, all dancing, Big Bill Broonzy discography but that’s another story…..
Leicester Bangs says
Sorry if my Younger Brother suggestion looked like a joke, it really wasn’t.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/62447-Younger-Brother
retropath2 says
Sorry, old bean, rude of me not to reply, I sorta got caught up in the indo-gaelic theme. I’m a novice to the genre, and thus unfamiliar with much. The boy Posfords name in the credits seems to give it worth in my ears, so will seek out.
Pursuing the gaelic trance tho’
Leicester Bangs says
Just that first album, though. The rest is a bit pants.
This review site is very good for this sort of stuff.
http://psyreviews.net/
Kid Dynamite says
Dub Trees just announced for the dance tent at Bearded Theory, @retropath2, along with Transglobal Underground, Banco De Gaia, System 7…
retropath2 says
Jeepers, will I have to learn how to make some shapes?
Excited!!
Gatz says
Read I have far more books than time to read them at the moment. In addition to those I saved from a skip (see past thread) I’m dipping into the new Alan Bennett, and although I was beyond gutted to miss a rare signing by Alasdair Gray in Edinburgh last week by a matter of an hour or so I was able to picked up signed and dedicated copy of his gloriously illustrated A Life in Pictures the day after. As mentioned in the Walking Out thread, The Light is still walking on air after meeting her favourite author Ian Rankin at a gig, also in Edinburgh.
Seen The gig in question was headlined by Scott Matthews, who wasn’t for me – see also the walking out thread – but support came in the form of an all too short solo slot from the wonderful Kathryn Williams. Did I mention that she brought Ian Rankin with her?
Gig of the year came earlier in the month with the Afro Celt Sound System taking the roof off Colchester Arts Centre. Their music is designed to elate and that’s just what they did.
Heard Not much new, though plenty new to me. I’m discovering Mogwai (thanks for all the suggestions) and the Steves Mason and Hillage are getting plenty of plays too; possibly something to do with them making good ‘reading’ music.
Many people say that the podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno is shallow, snarky exploitative, but so am I so that’s OK then. The second series finished in October but I’ve just listened to the final episodes. The highlight is Michael Sheen’s guest slot, where he had done his homework and came in prepared to be very funny indeed. Additional podcast recommendation: One Track Minds, in which well known, typically media, people choose one song and explain to an audience why it changed their life. Episode 1, actually from the second event, which we were at, is highly recommended – http://www.onetrackminds.uk/home-1/2016/9/22/podcast-episode-1-prasanna-puwanarajah-on-freedom-come-all-ye
Marwood says
Seen
The Guest. A peculiar genre mash-up from the latest horror wunderkind Adam Wingard and starring Dan Stevens as a charming / icy anti-hero. It bends over backwards to pay homage to John Carpenter, but isn’t half good as the maestro (or any of the films it also references).
Café Society. Charming and deft, Woody’s latest looks gorgeous and has a lovely jazz soundtrack. Great performances, particularly from Kristen Stewart whom I have never warmed to previously. It hits the usual notes that you expect from an Allen film, but also explores the sense of melancholy and disappointment that affects two people who seem made for one another yet who end the movie apart.
Hunger was a tough watch, and truth be told I tackled it in 3 sittings – found it a bit too overwhelming to sit through in one go. The long take where Fassbender’s Bobby Sands and Liam Cunningham’s priest discuss the imminent hunger strike was hypnotic. Steve McQueen documents the pain and degradation, but then allows the camera to turn impassively onto the patterns on a filth-strewn wall, crumbs from a warden’s lunch falling onto his lap or the coils of ash collected in an ashtray. Also caught up with the same director’s Shame. Another astonishing performance from Fassbender, ably assisted by the wonderful Carey Mulligan (who breathes life into rather a thankless / passive role as his sister). This one tips into melodrama in its final moments – but in the context of Fassbender’s character, the event needed to happen in order to shake him out of his own form of self-harming. For the main, McQueen is a ‘show don’t tell’ director – and I really appreciate that.
Read
Anne Tyler’s Patchwork Planet. The tale of Barnaby Gaitlin, a man who is simultaneously repelled by, indebted to and belittled by his family. Barnaby who has just reached 30, and finds that he and others still see him as the feckless adolescent he once was – but he is trying to change. Lovely book, with Tyler skewering her characters with wit, wisdom and honesty.
Heard
As I cooked a Sunday lunch I had a hankering for Madness. Fired up Spotify and dropped the figurative needle on one their Greatest Hits albums. They were a proper band and One Better Day is a bit of a smasher.
Also been playing the soundtrack of Café Society (1930’s trad jazz).
davebigpicture says
Saw: Your Name as reviewed in Films. I’ve been enjoying The People’s History of Pop on BBC 4 although, inevitably, it can’t be terribly comprehensive. Good to see fans and their memorabilia. Designated Survivor on Netflix and Startup on Amazon.
Heard: Nothing new “hangs head in shame” but I have been listening a bit to the Under the Covers albums by Susannah Hoffs and Mathew Sweet as well as some Bangles stuff. I became interested after listing to Hoffs on a podcast talking about her love of close harmonies.
Read: working my way through 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest songs.
AOB: very busy at work and home. Mother in law now moved into a care home so the pressure is off a bit. I spent the night of the US election under a scaffold tower in Grosvenor Square. My projectors projecting various US flag combinations onto the Embassy, content and Watchout (image blending) by a production company. I’ve never been so cold and wet.
http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l522/davebigpicture/IMG_0873.jpg
Mike Hull says
Heard
Finally got round to properly listening to A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead and had it on constant play in my car for a few days.
The EST Symphony. I was trepidatious about this, but it works very well. I builds on the original music and isn’t too classical – there are tremendous sax, trumpet and piano solos and there is even some pedal steel in the mix. Well worth a listen
St Germain – the latest album draws heavily on African (particularly Malian) grooves. Very tasty!
Woodpigeon – T R O U B L E Latest LP from the disarmingly funny and charming Canadian, Mark Hamilton. Bought some CDs off him after a gig and he signed this one ‘Boo Maggie Thatcher’ as we’d been talking about the steel industry in Sheffield.
Amber Arcades – Fading Lines. Dutch indie music with a nod to the motorik beats of Krautrock.
Others: Charles Lloyd and others – Rabo de Nube; Frank Ocean – Blond; The Pattern Forms – Peel Away the Ivy
Read
Virtually nothing except news items and Uncut.
Seen
Woodpigeon and Diagrams – The Washington, Sheffield. A small pub gig. Support from Diagrams (aka Sam Genders, ex-Tunng and currently of Throws) promoting a forthcoming album called Dorothy which is a collaboration with 90 year old poet Dorothy Trogdon ( http://www.dorothycampaign.com ) for which a crowdfunding campaign is ongoing so it can be self-released. Woodpigeon is Mark Hamilton whose lyrics are disarming and at times very funny and who was using loops to great effect to fill out the sound, as his band was in Canada. He dedicated virtually every song to the Sheffield steel industry.
Agnes Obel – Birmingham Town Hall. Front row balcony seats to experience what can only be described as modern chamber music. The multi-instrumental all-female band comprised two cellists and a percussionist as well as Agnes. They all played multiple instruments (sax, oboe, Melloton, autoharp, ukulele) and both cellists were playing loops as well as singing. Simply incredible. The set was mostly drawn from Citizen of Glass, and demonstrated the strength of that album, which is a step change from Philharmonics and Aventine.
Here’s a link to a recent concert in Paris that you might enjoy.
https://youtu.be/B9u87ecP3KU
Watched
Not as much telly as normal, but thoroughly enjoyed Missing, especially Keeley Hawes’s performance and the way all the intricate timelines came together at the end.
Tiggerlion says
Please do a proper Nights Out for Agnes. I’d love to know more.
Mike Hull says
OK Tiggs, will do!
Locust says
Read:
I’ve started reading ”The Patrick Melrose Novels” by Edward StAubyn; I’ve finished Never Mind and is in the beginning of Bad News. The writing is excellent, the content is grim and you wouldn’t want to be invited to a dinner party held by anyone in it…
Max Porter’s book Grief is the thing with feathers is a small thing of beuty, about grief and family and the larger-than-death Crow moving in when the wife/mum dies and how they all deal with things differently. Heartbreakingly sad, but also very funny, and poetic.
I also read Jag har också levat! (”I have also lived!”), the collected correspondance between Swedish author Astrid Lindgren and her German friend Louise Hartung. Funny and touching and interesting to see their friendship unfold and deepen from its beginning after meeting in the 50s until Louise’s death. But I’m a big fan of letters, so I would think that!
(And I finished the book by Pajtim Statovci that I’d started last month, and the second half made me go from luke-warm to enthusiastic.)
It’s also been that time of year when I find myself reading lots of interesting niche magazines and contemplating their desperately generous subscription offers until I come to my senses and realise that I could use that money to buy a few more CDs…and I don’t really have the time to read them all anyway. But right now I’m still contemplating that possibility – none of the four magazines I’m drawn towards are to do with music, strangely (or perhaps not so strange – music magazines are simply not that good these days, but what is strange is the fact that one of them is a football magazine!)
Seen:
Just the usual suspects of long-running programs. I quit that new Swedish/French crime series after two episodes, too over-the-top for my taste.
As a fan of the American Horror Story universe I eagerly started to watch latest series Hotel when I got the DVD box set, but I haven’t returned for more after disc 1.
Lady Gaga did a much better job with her role than I expected, and I would imagine that lots of creepy fun stuff could happen in that hotel during the series, but the first few episodes felt tiresome. Too sadistic, not intelligent and sophisticated enough. And Jessica Lange sorely missed. I’m sure I’ll return to see it through eventually.
Heard:
Lambchop – FLOTUS is quite different from earlier albums, but still great. I disagree that the bookending tracks are SO much stronger than the rest of the album; yes they are fantastic, but the meat in that sandwich is almost as good, IMO. Musically it’s managing to be both soothing and demanding at the same time, like trying to fall asleep in a hammock while a kid armed with a stick keeps poking you with it just as you drift off (and I mean that as a compliment).
Hippie collective Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros has a new album out called Persona. Since their strong debut it’s been mostly diminishing returns but this album is the first one in ages that has made me feel happy and excited. Alex’s voice is at times very fragile and all over the place – in the opening track you start off wincing when he almost-hits the notes, but then that actually becomes one of the strengths of the track, weirdly. And it’s spaced out and wooly of course, but that’s a good thing. These are some of the strongest tracks they’ve written since the first album, even channelling Nina Simone on a couple of tracks. ”Uncomfortable, you’ve got to get uncomfortable”, as he sings on one of them; that could be the motto of this album…
The Lazarus album is interesting, but not unmissable. I do like many of the cast versions of Bowie’s songs better than I thought I would however, especially the ones where Michael C Hall sings (”It’s No Game” for exemple is great). It’s musical theatre but Bowie’s songs doesn’t hurt from getting that treatment. The David Bowie extra tracks on disc 2 are lovely, especially ”No Plan”!
I enjoyed the electronical choral sounds of C Duncan’s debut album, but his second album, The Midnight Sun is too slick and overdubbed and muzac-y for my taste. On a grid where the extremes are dubsteppy dreampop on one end and a late 60s vocal group singing ”Up Up and Away” at the other end, this album is unfortunately stepping into the balloon basket… Having said that, it does have its moments of pure loveliness melody-wise. Shame about the high sugar content.
As a big fan of A Tribe Called Quest I was a bit scared to listen to new album We Got It from Here… but it was a happy surprise to hear how good it was. Opener ”The Space Program” is one of the most infectious highpoints, but all of the material reaches a really high standard. Hooray!
Swedish psych masters Dungen has a new album out, Häxan (”The Witch”); but you should know that it’s the instrumental soundtrack written for an old German silent film and not expect quite their normal fare. Having said that, it still contains beautiful and interesting pieces of music that works without the images (although I do miss Gustav Ejstes’ voice and hope that it won’t take them too long to record a ”regular” album again).
Fans of folk should listen to the lovely voice and songs of Swedish singer Jenny Lysander on the album Northern Folk. All but one track sung in English. She has a warm voice dripping with honey and lush melancholy.
I’ve only just started listening properly to Solange’s new album A Seat at the Table, but a few listenings in I’m really impressed. She’s grown leaps and bounds from the previous album (or was it an EP?) and I’m already going to call this a future classic. Yes, lots of ”interludes”, but (unusually) they aren’t annoying and they stitch everything together nicely. I haven’t heard Lemonade, but I can’t imagine that it’s better than this!
Iiris Viljanen is the former singer with Finnish-Swedish band Vasas Flora och Fauna gone solo, and her album Mercedes is a jewel box of moving short stories of songs sung and half-spoken in that lovliest of dialects and brittle voice over gorgeous arrangements where less is more and background choirs are made in heaven. This is a contender for the 2016 Top Twentyfive, but unless you understand Swedish you’ll never know it, unfortunately!
Svenska Shakers: R&B crunchers, Mod Grooves, Freakbeat and Psych Pop from Sweden 1964-1968 is quite a mouthful, and quite a treasure trove if you like these sorts of things! Among original material there are plenty of cover versions of course, but even those are really great. A two CD collection with a small booklet in English telling you a little about the Swedish music scene in the 60s and the bands featured, as well as printing exemples of singles artwork that will make you smile (the cover photo alone is worth the admission…) Recommended!
I’ll leave the rest for next time, as I don’t intend to buy (m)any new CDs this month. I suspect I’ll have little time to listen to it anyway, looking at the gorgeous and fairly sizeable Marc Almond CD box extravaganza waiting to be unpacked and digested…! 🙂
Tiggerlion says
Solange’s album is superb but Lemonade is even better.
Locust says
Hm. I’m sceptical because I’ve never heard a B track that I really loved.
Tiggerlion says
It’s very different to Solange but it’s also very different for her. She sounds as though she really means it.
ganglesprocket says
I LOVE the Patrick Melrose books. At his best Edward St Aubyn is just untouchable.
duco01 says
Yes, the writing in the Patrick Melrose books is a huge firework display of brilliance.
David Melrose. Nice guy. A character you really warm to.
el hombre malo says
Read : I slogged through Peter Hook’s book, Unknown Pleasures, on the Joy Division era. A friend had recommended it, and there are a few funny stories and I was a big fan of the first album when it came out – but he comes across as rather petty, and definitely feels that he hasn’t had the recognition he deserves. By comparison, Bernard Sumner’s book (which I am half way through now) is much more thoughtful and reflective.
Heard: Still on a big vinyl tip – the half speed remaster of Exile On Main Street is glorious. I did also indulge in the Complete Otis Redding At The Whisky A Go Go, which is thrilling and full of joie de vivre,.
Seen: Westworld – it’s reasonably entertaining , and the most recent series of Still Game was a belter
Gatz says
Still Game had some great moments. ‘Let me see …. Leopard … Leopard … Do I have a leopard? No! Ah hav’nae got a leopard!’
SteveT says
SEEN: A couple of great gigs this month – Van Morrison in Liverpool was much better than I expected him to be – really on top of his game and with a great band.
Wilco in Manchester were also excellent once they had overcome some technical issues with the sound. Jeff Tweedy really has written some great songs during the course of his career and continues to do with Schmilco providing several in this set not least opener Real American Kids. And then I saw The Primevals at the Hare and Hounds and they were very good too. On the night in question I was full of cold and knackered so wasn’t in the mood for the opening punk band De Rellas who had the most godawful bass player who really got on my tits. Couldn’t play for toffee.
On screen I have been enjoying The Crown which is well made and insightful. Also saw the first episode of the Jeremy Clarkson newbie Grand Tour – not as good as I wanted it to be but still substantially better than the Chris Evans Dogs Dinner of Top Gear.
READ: Nothing to be honest except magazines. Got a pile of books for my birthday that will keep me busy over the winter.
HEARD: Was listening to Leonard Cohen’s You want it darker before the sad news came in of his passing. It is a fitting end to a terrific career and 6Music in particular had some very poignant tributes to his career. Also enjoying the Lambchop album Flotus which is different to anything else they have done but very enjoyable. The new Toy album has also been on my playlist and also as a result of discussions on here have been listening to King Crimson Discipline and Elements tour box – I enjoyed Discipline more but there are also great bits on Elements. When they get into a groove they are excellent but not entirely sure grooving is what they aspire too.
Also the Gillian Welch official boots album which is top notch.
On Facebook Pencilsqueezer posted about the awful sound quality of the first disc of the Kate Bush album. I thought he may just have been in a bad mood when he posted but,no,he was spot on. Dreadful.
Baron Harkonnen says
That Gillian Welch Official boots double CD is very good but two sub-40 minute CDs could have made one CD or some more boots.
Morrison says
Seen:
The Bill Laurance Project – a cut-down quartet from the founder of Snarky Puppy – was surprisingly good at the Cambridge jazz festival. He veers between Pat Metheny-like melodic tricky time signature stuff and then what used to be called jazz fusion – Herbie Hancock style mid-70s noodling. For a four-piece they made a real racket with a great drummer and the man himself is a hugely gifted keyboard player. To the pictures to see “Arrival” – nice alien spaceships – but curiously unengaging despite the heavyweight attempts at a big emotional message. Finally, to the Abbey stadium to watch Cambridge United bludgeon Coventry City in the FA Cup 4-0 – a little sad to see such a woeful Coventry side, always had a bit of a soft spot for them for some reason.
Read:
Someone recommended “Fire Season” by Philip Connors – a sort of meditation on life, nature and love by a bloke spending his days high up in a lookout post gazing across thousands of uninhabited acres in the Gila National Forest in Arizona. He spends a little bit too much time debating the whys and wherefores of the national parks policy on forest burning but it’s an interesting study in isolation and solitude. Also, “Train Dreams” by Denis Johnson – a short and superbly well-written tale of desperate lives in Idaho at the turn of the last century. Very Cormac McCarthy-esque, though he’d have covered the same ground in 400 pages rather than 100.
Heard:
Bought more new music in the last month or so than the rest of the year. Must be me age, but increasingly drawn to quiet contemplative stuff – if only as background noise when I’m working from home. Described as “picturesque hipster melancholia” in one review – I think that’s meant to be a bad thing – Ólafur Arnalds “Island songs” is a sort of musical travelogue based on a journey around Iceland. It has all the clichés of “ambient” – keening strings, repetitive piano figures and pulsing electronics – but it’s all done in very good taste and is very lovely. Likewise, Johann Johannsson’s “Orphee” – this year’s Max Richter’s “Sleep”? – which has a much fuller orchestral feel possibly because he’s been doing a fair few film soundtracks recently including “Arrival.” He’s always been one for throwing in a bit of “found sound” – in reality a bit of long wave radio static – but again it’s a very pleasant hour.
A little more restless is Tigran Hamasayan’s “Atmospheres” – a double album of improvised quietness with Arve Henricksen’s plaintive parping and Jan Bang’s subtle electronics. Finally, also on ECM, Gavin Bryars’ “The fifth century” is a straightforward choral piece with a saxophone quartet quietly purring away underneath. Nothing much happens if I’m honest but it’s a beautiful noise. Also, difficult to think of a decent Christmas album – always quite enjoyed James Taylor’s – but Kurt Elling has just brought out a really good seasonal set, some familiar tunes but he does it all so stylishly and throws in some leftfield choices.
After yet another barren year for soul music, enjoying the Lady Wray album – all big horns and clattery drums – full album on Youtube – also Myles Sanko (“Just being me” is a great record) and what sounds like it could be a great album from Carolyn Malachi – “If you ever lay a hand on me” is another gem. Last one – Johnny Bristol’s “Modern soul classics” is a superb compilation of the great songwriter/producer/singer 70s and 80s output.
Simonl says
Following a minor operation that dragged on through complications I’ve been at home for most of the past month. And yet I’ve very little to report on.
The only album I’ve listened to has been the new Miranda Lambert “Weight Of These Wings”. And it is a fine fine album. It’s also something of a departure. It’s Lambert’s divorce album, and so involves a certain amount of reinvention. So for the most part gone are the country pop stylings. There was nothing wrong with Lambert’s brand of pop, it was sassy and smart and as country as you like. I loved it. But this is a more serious beast, an attempt to show some maturity possibly. It’s a lot more rootsy, but coupled with a production that definitely recalls Lanois producing Emmylou Harris. It’s a double album, and there’s also a muddiness to the sound, that if intentional, reminds me of Exile On Main Street. Lambert’s co-written more of it, so there’s a sense it’s more personal, perhaps more real. Her voice is slightly different too, more throaty and understated. The album as a whole still sounds like Lambert – played on the ipod as a shuffle with her other albums it doesn’t stick out – but it’s different all the same. I’m reminded of Lucinda Williams and Alison Krauss. I love it. But then I’m a fan.
Haven’t read a book for ages, that still hasn’t changed. Keep starting them and not being grabbed. Read lots of news, lots of political articles. I think I’ve become one of those people who doesn’t read fiction.
Watched The Crown on Netflix, which was ok – looked great, but ultimately didn’t do anything special.
Rewatched lots and lots of Big Bang Theory. I love American sitcoms, the pacing and dialogue bouncing back and forth, always have.
Finally saw American Hustle. Loved it. Also am a little in love with Amy Adams. A great actress. And that face. Also enjoyed Night At The Museum 2 – mostly because of Adams.
Played lots of PS3 games bought cheaply from Amazon. Several Call Of Duty games, Resistance 2 and finally Grand Theft Auto 5. Had realised that I actually really enjoy first person shooters. Call Of Duty’s Modern Warfare 2 passed a couple of sofa bound days. Like being in the middle of an action movie myself. And GTA 5 is just the sort of big sprawling game that I just love to lose myself in. Oh and I had quite a lot of fun playing pirates in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.