The Afterword

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Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview On Phenomenal Nature

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What does it sound like?:

Cassandra Jenkins is a New York songwriter. My introduction to her was the third song here, released in the early days of the year as what passes for a single these days. “Hard Drive” is a tour de force, a spoken word account of meetings with various people – a security guard, a bookmaker, a driving instructor – that builds and builds on waves of glittering guitar, piano and drum loops. It’s a stunning song, one that will have you playing it again as soon as it finishes. And the good news is the rest of the album is pretty special too.

The sound takes in traditional singer songwriter, folk, jazz, even some ambient. The palette throughout is restrained with hushed saxophone, gently rolling drums, keys for melody and atmosphere, and some lovely fluid, occasionally fuzzy, guitar, alongside strings and woodwind where they are needed. Across the record they coalesce into terrific arrangements, ornate yet direct, intimate but outward looking. The whole thing sounds luminous and honeyed, a triumph of production.

The lyrics are snapshots and stories from everyday lives, part narrative, part poetry. It makes sense that Jenkins has supported Craig Finn from » Continue Reading.

Parish Councils At Work

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A video of a parish council Zoom meeting might not sound like terrific entertainment, but you’d be wrong. The first twenty minutes or so of this are absolute gold. You could be forgiven for thinking it’s a scripted comedy mock-documentary. As one of the YT comments says, “Vicar of Dibley meets Host meets Question Time. Magnificent”

Groups for the CD swap

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yer tis.

I will c&p MM’s excellent instructions, so this is what you need to do now

2 We will then pair everyone up with two other people – you compile a CD (more later) and post it to two others. So post two out, get two back. You swap your addresses via DMs so no-one except your pairs need know you live at Platform 8 1/2. 3 Your CD: one CD only. 12 tracks only. Theme: The Future. Please rip your files without track or artist names so your partners can listen without prejudice. Artwork is up to you. MP3 tag is a free PC programme that allows you to strip all the artwork and info from your MP3 file. 4 DM us your track listing. DON’T POST IT ON THE SITE. 5 CDs to get to your partners in the mail by the (we will give you a gentle reminder on the blog). 6 You can then let the world know what you thought of the CDs you received in a megapost. Posting of reviews by 18 November. 7 We will post track listings around December 6th and watch the recriminations/accolades fly.

Taylor Swift and the indie dads

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So this surprise new album of hers (out tomorrow!) is largely co-written and produced by Aaron Dessner out of The National, and features Bryce Dessner and Bryan Devandorf from that band, as well as Mr Bon Iver. I am intrigue.

Gillian Welch Klaxon

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New album with David Rawlings out today. Looks like a lockdown covers thing, but new Gillian Welch is new Gillian Welch, right?

TO OUR FRIENDS AND FANS,

For reasons better discussed in the history books, in the Spring of 2020 Gillian and I dusted off an old tape machine and did some home recording. Sometimes we bumped the microphone, sometimes the tape ran out, but in the end we captured performances of some songs we love. Five are first takes and five took a little more doing, but they all helped pass the time and held our interest in playback enough that we wanted to share them with you. We sincerely hope that you enjoy

ALL THE GOOD TIMES

– David & Gillian

http://gillianwelch.com/all-the-good-times/

The National – High Violet 10th Anniversary Edition

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What does it sound like?:

2010 was a key year for The National. Their fanbase had been steadily increasing and their previous album, Boxer, had seen their profile rise considerably, helped along of course by the Obama campaign’s use of Fake Empire. This next album was crucial. It could consolidate their success and launch them onwards to the next level and the next and the next after that, the big font at the top of a festival listing and high profile album launch events, or it could misfire and see them consigned to the almost but not quite made it ranks of a thousand other indie bands.

You get the sense the band knew that. This feels like an album that has been laboured over. I don’t mean it’s tired and weary, more that it’s been pored over and crafted by people who have done their apprenticeship and are ready to show what they can do. The songs feel polished and strong, but it’s an album that lives on its arrangements. There are so many touches like the woodwind playing off the riff on Afraid Of Everyone, the strings on Little Faith, or the brass on Runaway that » Continue Reading.

bow church – The Spirits In This Forest Are Older Than Your Gods

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What does it sound like?:

bow church is a one man affair, courtesy of one David Whiting. It started out as a London based witch house (remember that?) project, but since Whiting’s move to Berlin has been absorbing influences from the experimental electronic and goth scenes there. Following 2018’s Canon, this new album is one of my favourites of the year so far, and definitely my favourite title.

Musically, it’s dark but melodic gothy electronica that takes in techno, ambient, and industrial, with a few hints of 80s synthpop as well. Thematically it seems to hearken back to pre-agricultural civilisations, with track titles like “Thaw”, “Hunt” and “Gather”. It’s tremendously atmospheric stuff that sounds superb played loud. I’m throwing around words like ‘dark’ and ‘goth’, but there’s also melody and beauty here, with the rush of transcendence the best electronic music offers. Imagine if the Chemical Brothers decided to skip headlining Glastonbury one year and instead did a gig wearing hoods and cowls in an ancient stone circle, with no audience and the mist pooling around their feet in the moonlight. Yeah, that good.

What does it all *mean*?

never know what to write here

Goes well with…

late » Continue Reading.

Vaughan Oliver RIP

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It’s an overused term, but he was a genuine legend. I can’t think of anyone else (maybe Peter Saville?0 whose work so clearly defined a label, a sound, even an approach to life. In my student house and post uni shared digs life, you always knew if you went into someone’s room and they had some of his work on display, poster or record sleeve, they were probably pretty cool.

“Change” CD swap – the matches

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Like it says on the tin, here are the matches for the next CD swap. I’ve tried to avoid repeat pairings, but it’s getting tougher as the pool of people is broadly the same. Never mind, have at it!

A reminder of the instructions, cut and pasted from MM’s excellent rulebook:

1 Sign up by the closing date by just letting us know in the comments to this post. Sign up for CD swap Change closes at the end of October. 2 We will then pair everyone up with two other people – you compile a CD (more later) and post it to two others. So post two out, get two back. You swap your addresses via DMs so no-one except your pairs need know you live at 10 Downing Street @couldbeanyonebytheendoftheyearbot 3 Your CD: one CD only. 12 tracks only. We are going to be severe on this as mixspread is definitely happening. Theme: change.. Please rip your files without track or artist names so your partners can listen without prejudice. Artwork is up to you. MP3 tag is a free PC programme that allows you to strip all the artwork and info from your MP3 file. 4 DM » Continue Reading.

New Nick Cave album

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From the Red Right Hand files this morning:

When can we expect a new album?

JOE, BEXHILL-ON-SEA, UK

Dear Joe,

You can expect a new album next week.

It is called Ghosteen.

It is a double album.

Part 1 comprises of eight songs.

The Spinning Song Bright Horses Waiting For You Night Raid Sun Forest Galleon Ship Ghosteen Speaks Leviathan

Part 2 consists of two long songs, linked by a spoken word piece.

Ghosteen Fireflies Hollywood

The songs on the first album are the children.

The songs on the second album are their parents.

Ghosteen is a migrating spirit.

Love, Nick

New Neil

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First track from the new album Colorado is up. Neil’s always best with Crazy Horse, so I hope this is going to be the one that breaks a pretty lamentable string of recent albums….

Beautiful Days 2019

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Venue:

Escot Park, Devon

Date: 16/08/2019

My third visit to this do in Devon. Spoiler: I seem to have watched lots of folk music.

Friday was dismally wet, probably the worst conditions I’ve ever had at a festival. We had the traditional Levellers acoustic set to raise the curtain, which was, let’s be honest, broadly similar to last year’s traditional Levellers acoustic set. l The only act I saw on the main stage all day was Seth Lakeman. My joke walking over was that the weather would suit his music, ie grey, wet and tuneless but he was actually really good. Seen him before and been bored stiff but I enjoyed him here, probably down to his new band – the new electric guitar added some classic Fairport kind of vibes. Give the weather, I spent most of the time in the tent, where the highlights were This Is The Kit – Kate’s a really engaging frontwoman, and the music was great – and the amazing Songhoy Blues. So energetic and upbeat, uplifting and danceable on a miserable day. The perfect closing act.

The rest of the weekend was mostly hot and sunny, meaning that after Bristol hero Gaz » Continue Reading.

A Boy And His Dog At The End Of The World

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Author:C.A. Fletcher

My name’s Griz. My childhood wasn’t like yours. I’ve never had friends, and in my whole life I’ve not met enough people to play a game of football.

My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.

Then the thief came.

There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you.

Because if we aren’t loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?

That’s the publisher’s blurb, and it sets the book up nicely. Someone takes Griz’ dog, Griz goes after him to get his dog back, and this is what happens when he does. It’s a post apocalyptic story, and a pretty good one, with a different and more interesting take than the other legion of stories in that genre I’ve read. Obviously the grandaddy of the genre is John Wyndham, and fans of his will find familiar ground in the post industrial, post collapse, return to an agrarian idyll here. It’s a bit nastier than Wyndham’s trademark cosy catastrophe » Continue Reading.

Mark Hollis

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I’m seeing reports that Mark Hollis has died. Can’t quite believe it, and a little surprised at how sad this makes me feel. Those last two Talk Talk albums are so incredible. Hopefully it’s false news, but either way I know what I’m listening to tonight.

ATM -iTunes storage

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Possibly a bit niche here, but can anyone help with an iTunes puzzle? The SSD in my MacBook is getting very full (around 90%). When I check the storage, by far the biggest culprit is iTunes at 139GB, of which 135GB is “iTunes Media”. But as far as I am aware, almost all of my music is stored in the cloud, and when I open iTunes and check the ‘downloaded’ tab, it tells me that there’s only 2.3GB worth there, which is a pretty hefty discrepancy. What gives?

Cheers