We have now passed through the longest January since records began,
So – on this first Friday of the new month, please share what you have been listening to / reading / watching or otherwise enjoying, and also let us know if there is anything coming up in February that we should be keeping an eye out for
Did January really last as long as a winter in Game of Thrones? It seemed that way anyway.
Read
The book I most enjoyed was Philip Pullman’s la Belle Sauvage. I picked up a signed copy in the January sales, or at least a copy with a signed bookplate pasted in (I really can’t believe that was only a few weeks ago). It’s a perfect romp for a few long winter evenings, even if I did prefer the opening section in the inn to the chase sequence of the second section. I want a daemon of my own now.
Other than that, my books of the month have been a couple of crime potboilers. I quite enjoyed Mark Billingham’s Sleepyhead while still getting irritated with some of the narrative devices. Why is that when crime authors step inside characters’ heads and switch to first person narrative the result is unlike any thought which has ever crossed my mind? Is it the writers who have no idea of how other people think or me?
The Peter Robinson Inspector Banks books are reliable page turners and my latest, Past Reason Hated, shows no sign of spoiling the pattern of dark goings on behind the doors of a Yorkshire town, with Afterword friendly music references dropped in along the way. So far the best tip I have picked up from this book happens to be classical. Here’s Magda Kalmar performing Vivaldi’s Laudate Pueri., and it is musical balm.
Seen
Of course January is always a quiet time for gigs in Britain, but we went to London not once but twice to see Ross Noble compere midnight shows at the Top Secret Comedy Club on Drury Lane, boozy affairs which saw Ross and the other acts (Maisie Adam, Ivo Graham, Michael Legge – familiar to listeners of the Vitriola podcast – and Nina Conti) go toe to toe with rowdy crowds in the tiny basement room. With the exception of Billy Connolly no one makes me laugh as much as Ross Noble, and although we already have tickets to see his next tour at the London Palladium in November it was a huge treat to see him go back to the floor like this. I think the last of those shows is tomorrow.
Because the shows didn’t end till 2am we stayed over both nights at the Travelodge a stone’s throw from the club. This recommendation is a little off-piste, but the hotel is in two buildings – there are ‘super’ rooms in the one on the corner of Drury Lane and ordinary ones on the other side of High Holborn on the corner of Museum Street. We stayed in both, and if you ever get the choice you should plump for the cheaper ‘ordinary rooms’. The room was bigger, there were so many things wrong with the ‘super room’, from a blocked toilet to a faulty kettle, that we complained and got a partial refund, but most of all because the Museum Street building has some of the best views of London I have ever seen. Really. Take the lift to the 13th floor, exit to the staircase and marvel that the panorama stretching from St Paul’s to Westminster and beyond isn’t from a luxury penthouse, but a Travelodge staircase, through a window with a crude drawing of a cock in the grime.
On television I have been enjoying every episode Inside Number 9, though maybe not as much as some here. My current staple viewing is Talking Pictures TV (Freeview channel 81), which shows old, often British, films from domestic dramas to Hammer Horrors. Almost every day there is some treat of a film with characters, plots and dialogue which you can hear above the soundtrack, all features which contemporary film makers would do well to emulate [adjusts cardigan, pushes glasses up nose, and wonders whether to copy and paste that bit into draft letter to the Daily Express]. They showed Russ Meyer’s camp classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls the other night, and I do love a film which casts its gaze on groovy underground music scenes.
That said, I did quite enjoy the blu-ray of Kingsman which I picked up in a chazza (largely because The Light has a thing for Colin Firth). It’s essentially a teen film in style, story and execution, but with added swearing and extreme violence. You can’t go wrong with Samuel L Jackson putting chips into people’s necks which make their heads explode.
Heard
As usual I haven’t really done much ‘new’. My CD supply, and I do rely on CDs for the bulk of my home listening, mainly comes from charity shops and this week the one around the corner from my office served up a couple of folk rock treats. Fotheringay 2 sounds like a collection of interesting but almost random extracts from superb musicians which never quite adds up to an album, but that’s because that’s exactly what it is. A more coherent collection came in the form of Ragged Kingdom from June Tabor and the Oysterband. June’s melancholy but powerful delivery is buoyed along by the band’s muscular and rhythmical playing and the end result is exhilarating. Not every track works, but those that do are very, very good indeed.
I did make one purchase of a new CD this month, at least the item is new; the recording is decades old. We were in Fopp on one of our Ross Noble jaunts when Talking Heads’ Little Creatures was playing through the ground floor. It sounded so good I immediately bought a copy to replace the ancient vinyl I may or may not still have lying around somewhere. Sometimes old records take you by surprise by sounding exactly right for now.
`ancient vinyl I may or may not still have lying around somewhere`, I know where every piece of my vinyl and silver discs are and I have about 8.
Know what you mean about Sleepyhead. Sort of a TV crime drama pitch in search of a novel. I’m not sure Billingham does character quite as well as he does plot twist. That does not make him unique amongst crime writers. He’s an engaging personality and a sort of “one of us” type. That is, from a similar demographic as many of us and with a professed interest in the films, music and cultural reference points we dig too. Rather like Ian Rankin, who is the better writer in m view, we may forgive his shortcomings as a result.
Watched – ‘Dark’. Netflix does it again. As with all time travel it’s a brain f@ck that is probably a load of tosh but while you’re watching it, seems like the best thing ever – because it makes you think n stuff. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Star Wars – the latest one. It was fine, if a little long (I thought it had ended 3 times before it finally did)
Read – ‘How To Stop Time’ by Matt Haig. Follow up novel to his wonderful ‘The Humans’ , this one didn’t quite hit me in the feels in the same way as The Humans did (nor make me laugh as much) but it’s still worth reading.
Heard – Not a lot of new stuff out in January, so I went back to one I enjoyed but hadn’t bought in 2017. ‘Colors’ By Beck. (£12 on red vinyl from Amazon) this is a full on pop album and is catchier than Australian flu. Very enjoyable and would probably move up in my best of 2017 choices after re-hearing it repeatedly.
AOB – Altered Carbon starts tonight on Netflix. Looks promising in a Bladerunner stylee on the trailer.
Watched:
I’m having one of those ‘too much TV, not enough time’ moments and have spent most of January trying to mainline things that might or might not be good. You name them — This Is Us, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, Mindhunter, The Good Place, Ozark — I’ve watched them. All are good but none have quite grabbed me as mindblowing. I’ve been eyeing up Britannia. Anybody?
Read:
Not a lot. A Robert R McCammon novel called ‘Mine’ that struggles to live up to its fantastic opening but is nevertheless promising. The latest issue of Shivers magazine. Electronic Sound.
Heard:
‘Bitches Brew’ by Miles Davis. Lots of Japan / David Sylvian, DJ mixes by Steve Lawler and James Zabiela, and ’15 Years Of Underground Sonics’. A newish Drum & Bass five-disc box set on Critical Recordings. Oh, the fun I’ve had working out that side A of every disc plays at 45 RPM, while side B of every disc plays at 33 RPM. D&B labels have an aversion to simply *telling you* this information by, I don’t know, printing it on the label or something. Absolutely phenomenally good tunes though. This track. Whoosh.
You mention This Is Us – a modern day Waltons but sassy, funny and insightful. Okay it gets a little saccharin at times but so far (hurtling to the end of Series 1, three episodes a night here in Chateau Wrongness) it redeems itself just in time with a laugh or (I admit) a tear
Oh yeah, we really like it. And the great thing about its structure is that has a sort of cumulative power.
Strangely enough, I like it more than Mrs Bangs #wuss
Oooh, yes. This Is Us is fab. We started on Season 2 last night [obtained by nefarious means…] having devoured Season 1 – I had something in my eye at some point during every episode. Must be me hormones
I too am loving Bitches Brew. It’s a bit of a (re)discovery for me as I tended to eschew Jazz Rock as a genre for the past few decades. However, I’m enjoying this and other stuff from the era like Chick Corea and Weather Report. And as a result of pootling around on Spotify, finding all manner of things funky, afroish, jazzy, that came in their wake.
Neither am I a great one for listening to things as I walk around the city preferring to soak up the ambience and the dynamic of the world around me but this particular type of music has not found favour with my Significant Other.
So, breaking my normal habits, I listen on headphones via my iPhone as I walk, or cycle or run. It’s sort of being like in a movie with Miles, Chick, Billy Cobham and their brothers in arms providing a counterpoint soundtrack to the urban parade.
Read
Jane Harper’s The Dry is set in Kiewarra, a small Australian town about half a day’s drive from Melbourne. The book centres on the murder of a woman and her son, apparently carried out by the husband who subsequently kills himself. Family friend Falk (a federal agent) returns for the funeral and is co-opted into investigating the crimes by the murdered woman’s parents. As the story rattles along we get closets full of skeletons, sulphurous grudges and a narrative that flicks back to a childhood mystery.
A History of Wolves is a strange one. Emily Fridlund uses lyrical prose to great affect in creating a sense of place (rural Minnesota) and tone (ambiguous dread). But I found that this coming of age story wasn’t quite as gripping as I had hoped – thick on atmos but light on plot.
Germany in the months after the Second World War and a serial killer is loose amongst the chaos. That would be the elevator pitch for Matthew Pritchard’s Werewolf. Quite enjoyed this genre mash up.
Heard
Shaking off the January blues by dancing round the front room to Wavy by Cliq and Feel it Still by Portugal. The Man (the song from the Haven ad). Also we’re playing the Jason Nevin mix of Run DMC’s It’s Like that an inordinate number of times.
On Podcast, caught up with Adam Buxton’s interview with Johnny Marr. Also started listening to Backlisted – a show that looks at unheralded / out of print books – I now have All the Devils are Here on my wishlist.
Seen
The Last Jedi was a bit ‘fast food;’ tasty, consumed quickly but not particularly satisfying. Some of the imagery was striking – the final battle on the salt plain looked great – and Adam Driver’s an interesting presence. But it too often feels more like a reunion of a 80s band than a vital new movie.
Black Sea. All aboard a leaky old Russian sub as Jude Law (plus Scottish accent), Michael Smiley and Ben Mendelson go hunting for Nazi gold. Rollicking good fun with an Alien / Aliens vibe.
Inside No 9. Everything about it feels so effortless, that you just know that Pemberton and Shearsmith must sweat blood over every detail.
Killing Ground. A generic Aussie exploitation movie that wrong footed me a little by mixing the time lines. There is a nicely cynical view of the ‘hero’ too.
Love is Strange is a low-key delight. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play a couple who have been together for decades and whose marriage opens the film. Following this, Molina’s George loses his job and the pair lose their home as a consequence. Forced to live apart whilst they look for a new home (and George seeks a new job), they find themselves increasingly forlorn. It’s a lovely film, both funny and sad, and the two leads are just brilliant
TV
The Good Place
Binge watching both seasons. Surreal and funny with fabulous ensemble cast and great premise. A+
Star Trek Discovery
A bit ho-hum to start with but the later episodes have picked up pace. Some surprising twists. B+
Black Lightning
Two episodes in and it’s shaping up very nicely. A-
Godless
Six episodes in and it’s turning out to be a great long-form western taking the time to fill in and round every character. A
Spiral 6
Definitely one of the better seasons. Ah, Josephine. A
Film
The Florida Project
Meandering slice of life from the point of view of a young girl with a trailer-trash mum. Sundance written all over it and very slight. B–
I, Tonya
Entertaining and funny even with the disconcerting marital abuse. B++
Music
Albums
The Fall – Live At The Witch Trials
Loving it all over again
Michael Head & Red Elastic Band – Adiós Señor Pussycat
From the Afterword annual lists and such a great one. Missed it last year.
Songs
The Feelies – Fa Ce La
But from the ORK records compilation. A completely fuzzed up, garage-y version.
Rilo Kiley – Wires and Waves
Never really paid Rilo Kiley any attention. This is great.
Reread The Sirens of Titan. I last read it 30 years ago when I was 14 and was surprised at how much I remembered. I think it might be the best of his early books, and is probably as good a place to start with the ‘Gut as any. Because you tend to think of him in terms of big ideas and jokes, it’s easy to forget what a nuts-and-bolts craftsman he is – just at the level of writing a good sentence, for example.
I’m reading Stuart Maconie’s Jarrow book. Very good so far, pretty much what you’d expect.
When I was poorly in bed I chuckled through The Broons and Oor Wullie: The First Ten Years 1936-46. I particularly enjoyed the very first, two-frame appearance of Wee Eck. In the first frame he is silent and magnificently sour-faced: in the second, he responds to a perfectly civil inquiry from Wullie by blowing a raspberry. Hero! Hero! Hero!
Revisits: Protest Songs by the Sprouts (the second side particularly fine).
Liberation by The Black Uhuru (that’s what the guy calls them on the live version of Shine Eye Gal).
The second disc of Black Tie White Noise.
Perverted By Language (that was next anyway in my Long Slow March Into Fall, but as good a way as any to celebrate the Gob from Prestwich)
We slogged our way through The Handmaid’s Tale… admirable, but a bit of a chore. After Mad Men and Top of the Lake it’s now obvious what you’re going to get from Elizabeth Moss: All male viewers, get ready to feel shit about yourselves for about ten hours, you unpardonable bastards.
Read;
Fire and Fury – Tales of a madman at home.
The Midnight Line – Tales of the hardest man in America who has no home.
Heard;
Use Of Ashes – Pearls Before Swine, truly beautiful music by a man called Tom Rapp. I`d never heard PBS`s music up to 6 months ago. I`m trying to track down every CD/LP I can get my hands on.
A Sense Of Loss – Nosound; got this from Amazon. £11.99, double LP & CD. I have other albums by this band so this purchase wasn`t a gamble. If you look on-line their music is covered by several genres, I call it sublime Italian Prog, don`t be put off, they`re good.
Blind Pig Records: 40th Anniversary Collection I knew fuck all about Blind Pig Records but somehow was drawn to this compilation. Great blues, so good I got the 20th, 25th & 30th Anniversary editions, I wasn`t dissapointed.
Seen;
Hard Sun & McMafia, this is why we pay for a BBC licence.
Read:
Engels England – the author travels to each County and trys to find the essence, history and local interest of each.
Seen:
Never been a big fan of drama stuff, but Hard Sun and McMafia have definitely piqued my interest.
A welcome return for Death In Paradise (I’m just expecting Ardal O’Hanlon to say “I don’t know Ted” at some point.
And will the scriptwriters lever in a “Small. Far away” reference?
Hansa Studios doc on SkyArts definitely worth a watch.
Slightly disappointed with BBC4s Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider’s Guide to the Music Business – intersting, but just feels a bit lightweight
Heard:
No new this year (yet).
Ducks Deluxe Anthology and Camper Van Beethoven have been regular Washing Up music.
Gary Crowley’s Punk and New Wave Box Set continued to provide insights to the forgotten past of the genre
Started a quest to randomly select an album from the collection and write something about it on my blog. So far:
AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Bucks Fizz (oh dear, thats the problem with “Random” and I refused to let myself cheat)
Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come
currently in preparation:
Dexys Midnight Runners – Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
self promotion moment: https://rigiddigithasissues.blogspot.co.uk/
Read
Lincoln in the Bardo has been much discussed here. Good but perhaps not quite as good as I hoped for – though expectations were very high.
Listened
Nothing new – been going back to very old favourites – this week have reminded myself how brilliant Creedence’s Cosmos Factory, Fairport’s Liege and Lief, Dylan’s Bringin it All Back Home (well at least some of it) Van’s Moondance and Beatles’ Help! are. And above all, Joni Mitchell’s For the Roses, which is probabaly her peak period album I know least well. Listened to it last night driving over the Pennines in the fog and it sounded absolutely extraordinary
Seen
Mollys Game with Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba was very enjoyable – great, intelligent script by Aaron Solkin; you could see it as a stage play as much as a movie
Eric Clapton:Life in Twelve Bars
Anyone else seen this? Keep meaning to do a review. Harrowing and not easy to watch at times – of course I knew he did drugs and booze on an industrial scale but didn’t realise quite how long it went on for. Saw film in the local cinema with the live relay interview with Clapton and the Director from the NFT afterwards. The main shock of that was seeing Jools Holland actually doing a pretty good interview.
Spiral Series 6
Absolutely bloody brilliant
A House Through Time
Clever and fascinating series using an early Liverpool house and its various owners to chart a history of the city and the country through the 19th and 20th Century. If you know or care about Liverpool it’s unmissable, but of interest to anyone I think.
Seen:
“The Post” and “Three Billboards …,” going to the Daniel Day-Lewis film tomorrow.
Mark Kermode’s review was so enthusiastic it’s got a lot to live up to.
On Colin’s recommendation saw Sarah McQuaid in Penzance.
Barely been to any shops and yet I’ve already bought 13 second-hand CDs this year.
The pick of them is “Nilsson sings Newman” which has piqued my interest in both late 60s Nilsson and Randy Newman.
Planning to get the two Ace singer-songwriter compilations on Randy Newman and the one on Nilsson.
Reading:
“Pigs Might Fly” book on The Pink Floyd. I can’t settle to any novels but seem to be continually buying second-hand Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark, Ian Fleming, Len Deighton and Margaret Drabble books. One day …
Pigs Might Fly worth reading? I read Mason’s book and found it pretty dull. Their story isn’t exactly Motley Crüe and in interviews they do tend to come out with the same old stuff time and time again.
Clearly written, and I haven’t spotted any howlers.
I don’t really feel the need to own all the Floyd books but this one and the Uncut Special do the job just fine.
Thanks. x
Do I take it the Penzance gig left you unmoved then?
Seen – screen.
Much to my surprise, I am enjoying The Crown. Period drama is not my thing but encouraged by my Significant Other, I gave it a try and I have to say it is very well done. Absolute hokum, but elegantly written, beautifully shot and superbly acted hokum.
Seen – theatre
Hamiton. The SO secured tickets. All I can say is – Believe The Hype. It’s an amazing piece of musical theatre. Fuelled by intelligence, energy and impassioned performances. The audience, many of whom seem to be Hamilton diehards, contribute to making the whole thing an uplifting experience.
What is happening to me? Period drama? Musical theatre? I’m off to punish myself with sticks and spurred whips. Wait. What if I enjoy that too?
Excellent, we’re going to see Hamilton in May and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve also surprised myself by how much I’ve been enjoying the music, I’ve been in a bit of a lull where no not much music is particularly working for me, and that album is the one I keep coming back to!
SEEN – the first post-Xmas show to really hit the spot is Mcmafia, a slow burner but a brilliantly slow sucking in of James Norton (who gets his Bond shorts only moment in ep 2) whose public school education and city manners are no defence against the forces. It’s not perfect, and will someone tell Rebecca Harding to stop smiling.
READ – Underground Railroad by Colston Whitehead. It’s not so much science fiction as ‘sideways step’ fiction, but is very good. He can write a mean sentence.
HEARD – all about the Residents, and now onto 3 CDs of Ohio Players that @bargepole got me working night and day. Him and @leicester-bangs who sent me a trunk full of Blue Amazon that I am working through. Not got to the Lighthouse family remix, though I am assured it is truly excellent.
January always goes too fast, all you do is working and staying indoors a lot, hiding from bad weather, and not having any money to spend anyway…
Read:
Metro 2033 – Dmitri Gluchovsky is a welcome return from the original creator of this post-apocalyptic underground universe, after the inferior fan-fiction got published (but not read to the end, by me anyway). This is a highly entertaining page-turner once again.
My bathroom book this month have been Caitlyn Moran’s Moranifesto.
I’ve read a few other books too, but I can’t remember what they were, so probably not very good!
Seen:
The Bridge is essential viewing – this final series is really good. The murders are nonsensical and bizarre of course (like all murders in all crime TV dramas/films/novels ever), but that’s not why I watch it, why everyone watches this – it’s the Saga & Henrik show…their frail rollercoaster relationship is keeping us at the edge of our seats, along with their attempts to unravel and get over their disasterous pasts. The murder/police work scenes frankly serves as a bit of a breathing-space in between those proper nail-biting parts… 😉
The usual bunch of documentaries, although not as many as I’d like, due to lack of time.
Heard:
Mostly old stuff (still going through last year’s albums for my annual “Best Of” CDs, starting to consider entries for the AW swap CD, had no money to buy new albums with in January).
But I’ve heard Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings’ final album, Soul of a Woman, I’ve listened to the Wailin Jennys’ album Fifteen and the posthumous album from Olle Ljungström. All good, but I haven’t had time to really delve into them properly, it’s mostly been background music to other activities.
Those other activities mostly being cooking – it feels like I’ve been doing nothing but cooking all month, besides work. Slow cooked stews and hot chilis, mostly vegetarian stuff, bar a few chicken curries. Getting a long wanted enameled cast iron oven pot for Christmas might have something to do with this sudden cooking craze…
Thankfully, February isn’t as meagre, financially, lots of new albums on their way, with some new books and DVDs as well. I even bought the first gig ticket of 2018 – although it doesn’t take place until early June. I couldn’t resist the chance to see The The, really looking forward to that!
I’m hoping you’re felling better, Locust… And are you familiar with a Swedish crime drama called (for its English-speaking audience on the More4 channel, where it’s currently running) ‘Rebekka Martinsen: Arctic Murders’? I have a feeling that, in Sweden, it might be called, er… ‘Rebekka Martinsen’.
I’m feeling perfectly fine, thank you Colin.
I’m hopeless to ask about Swedish TV. Since throwing out the TV a few years ago, all I watch is the Swedish Public Service on demand site on my computer. With the other on demand channels you have to pay extra to see anything that’s remotely popular (and good), and you still have to endure lots of commercials. It’s just not worth the hassle, their shows aren’t half as good as the ones on the Public Service channels anyway.
Looking it up, Rebecka Martinsson seems to be on TV4 and CMore, neither of which I watch… Based on crime novels by Åsa Larsson, which I haven’t read!
So I’m not in a position to have an opinion I’m afraid! 🙂
Seen:
The Post – worthy newspaper drama around the Washington Post disclosures of the Pentagon Papers – with sledgehammer messaging about the current state of America politics and press. Tom Hanks is great and good to see plenty of smoky newsroom and “roll the presses” action.
Elsewhere, TV comedy – some deft, some daft – Inside no.9, Derry Girls and the return of Will & Grace – nice political edge and early series sharpness.
Heard:
Very welcome return for a couple of ECM veterans – with Bobo Stenson and John Surman putting out new albums. The former is a lyrical languid piano trio session – aren’t they all on ECM… – but it’s so beautifully done and probably the best thing I’ve heard so far this year.
The latter is not quite “Surman does Samba” – but there is a vague Latin undertow with Brazilian pianist Nelson Ayres nudging things along. Not as strong or distinctive as his recent albums though.
Ace’s Tony Hatch compilation from a couple of years ago was a pound box pick up. It’s brilliant – “Britain’s Bacharach” writing/producing/arranging and playing on everything from Petula Clark’s “Colour My World” through the towering magnificence of Jackie Trent’s “Where are you now, my love?” (great vid) and signing off with the theme from “Sportsnight with Gubba”.
Sad to hear of the death of Kevin Mahogany – always a great name for a baritone jazz singer. From big band swing, through Motown covers and small group stuff he was a great interpreter often seeking out obscure-ish music to put his inimitable vocal stamp on.
Read:
James Lee Burke is now 81 apparently, but there’s no lessening of his powers evident in his new Robicheaux outing. For sure, he’s cliché-d – but they’re his clichés – and his writing stands head and shoulders over much current crime writing. Great storyline around hideous people including a Trump-like demagogue and distinctively-styled contract killer, alongside Robicheaux’s usual demons.
David Jones “In Parenthesis” is a startling read – a first world war poet I’d never heard of – but who produced a novel-length part-prose, part-poetry reflection of life in the trenches. Words are literally scattered across the page in some places – all very James Joyce – in a powerful read contrasting the mundane and the madness.
I don’t like January particularly and February not much better but culturally have rather enjoyed this start to the new Year:
HEARD:
Ty Seagall – Freedoms Goblin – excellent garage rock/pyschedelia that now incorporates horn. They cover Hot Chocolate too as noted elsewhere on here.
Zara McFarlane – if you knew her. Loved her most recent album Arise so went into her back catalogue with this one. Not as immediate and less or no reggae influences. Will take time.
Said Cleaves – Ghost on the radio. Recommended on here – love it.
Marty Stuart – Way out West. Also recommended on here I think by Fatima Xberg. Desert country and anyone who likes Calexico would love this.
Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band – Dreaming the non Dream. Love this band and their desire to jam. The title track is phenomenal and I think even at the end of this year will be one of the bet things I have heard all year.
Pentangle Boxset – just taken delivery of this so no time to listen and assess yet but looking forward to immersing myself in it it in February.
SEEN:
Three billboards – just stunning. Oscars beckoning.
McMafia – excellent. Labyrinthine plot that could go anywhere.
End of the f***ing World. Stumbled across this and loved it. I think the ending allowed for a season 2. Let’s hope.
READ:
My reading is at best laboured these days. Still making my way through the Bob Harris autobiography. I have the new Willy Vlautin to read but wont start new without finishing old so I need to hurry the fuck up.
Bob Harris’ autobiog. completely runs out of steam at about the 50% mark but carries on, and on, regardless.
IMO.
I think that is why I am labouring with it Mike. I might have to give up which I don’t really like doing.
No. I hate to quit on a book once I’ve made inroads.
I tend to struggle on and have a really good moan about it afterwards.
Chris Forsyth on tour at the end of the month, @SteveT. Bristol on the 24th, I’d imagine there’s a gig round your way as well.
Thanks Kid want aware of the tour will check out where they are playing.
HEARD
Quite a lot this month
I Said, She Said, AH CID-Various Artists A Freaky, Murky Psych/Rock Compilation of the fantastic Alshire Records. Featuring The Animated Egg, 101 Strings, The California Poppy Pickers, Autumn & lots of others.
All Melody-Nils Frahm. Still getting to grips with this but it’s perhaps his most ambitious work to date
Interplanetary Class Classics-The Moonlandingz. One of the albums of last year with B sides, unreleased tracks and demos, even better than before.
The Guitar and Other Machines-The Durutti Column. One of my favourite DC albums in a lovely 3 Disc package. More expansive than his other albums, its a beautiful and wondrous thing.
Nelson Psychout-I Marc 4. A groovy collection of 70s Italian Library Music.
Ceremony And Devotion-Ghost. A cracking live album from best Satanic Prog Rockers around.
Ruins-First Aid Kit. High quality songwriting and Pop as always.
Meet the Residents & The Third Reich’N’ Roll-The Residents. Two of the best albums of the 70s
SEEN
Like a contributor above we thought The Crown wasn’t for us but we were won over by the quality and acting, we did all 20 episodes in a fortnight.
And having gone 4K we watched a few movies in the format all brilliant. Inception, Interstellar, Close Encounters, Bridge On The River Kwai, It, Mother and best of all Blade Runner.
READ
Having Readly is brilliant and a curse because after reading Amateur Photographer x4, Mojo, Uncut, Electronic Sound, Prog Magazine, Country Walking, T3, Viz, Rail, What Hi Fi, Little White Lies, Empire, Total Film, Newsweek, Fortean Times, Retro Gamer etc I don’t seem to have much time for ‘proper’ reading. Not this month anyway!
That Blue Amazon remix is the best of the lot. The way Digweed uses it in his 1995 Essential Mix is truly transcendental. In fact, there are some who believe that Digweed’s mix from the Blue Amazon Lighthouse Family mix into Changes by Daphne its the greatest DJ transition ever. The people who say that are right, and here’s why.
12.05 Lighthouse Family. Chords. Big fuggoff chords. It’s worth pointing out here that John Digweed, the Grand Moff Tarkin of Progressive House, has just exited a remix of Simply Red’s ‘Fairground’ and is now embarking upon a remix of the equally terminally uncool Lighthouse Family (in this case a massive overhaul of ‘Ocean Drive’).
14.05 Better get used to those stuttering vocals!
17.02 This sounds cool, but it’s is on the original record, nothing to do with Digweed.
19.37 Chords!
20.05 Okay, so here’s where we meet Daphne, who’s been cued up and beat-matched on the other deck. Digweed begins to EQ her in. Modern MP3 mixers have sync buttons, but this is 1995 so Digweed’s playing on vinyl and has to keep the records synced by hand, literally by holding back the platter and riding the pitch control while listening to both tunes simultaneously. Probably the crossfader is in the middle and Diggers is controlling Daphne’s entrance via the EQ buttons, but who knows? He may just be using magic.
21.02 We hear a small bit of Daphne, who’s being EQ’d in now. We start to hear elements of ‘Changes’. Listen out for the changes on every sixteen beat.
22.30 Hello! Both records now in sync. They’re beat-matched and they’re matched in key. The genius of this particular mix, however, is that Digweed knows the two records will sound great together, mixed at this particular point, at this precise point in the mix. This is why he’s the master, and anybody else with an MP3 mixer is like one of those technically-brilliant-but-ultimately-clueless shredding guitarists you see on YouTube, or a guy who can do carbon copies of Old Masters. We might be able to do it, but we can’t do it *like this*.
24.15 Vocal. Daphne. ‘You can change your mind!’
25.15 Blue Amazon is gradually EQ’d out. Digweed is a master of the gentle transition. He’s not DJ Yoda; he doesn’t want to you to marvel at the cuts. It’s all about creating a journey.
25.43 No, wait, Blue Amazon comes back.
26.00 Daphne and Blue Amazon play together, as though they were born to do so.
26.33 “You can change your mind! You can walk away!”
Over 14 minutes later, the mix is complete.
This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read on here.
Had this on for the park run on sat, saw me round cannon hill park in the freezing drizzle
Thanks, Kid!
I had the first 30 mins of this on again today and it is a marvel. No question Digweed is the master of the seamless crossfade, other DJ styles are available – I quite like the dirty brutal Liam Howlett mixing on Dirtchamber sessions vol 1 for example, and the ‘I’ve deconstructed the tracks so much they are barely tracks’ of Richie Hawtin.
LISTENING
Lots of ambient stuff, mostly the wonderful “Charcoal” by Brambles (maybe a Nights In to follow on this, I think there are a few people here who would dig it). Shading more into minimal techno with the excellent Burger/Ink and their “Las Vegas” album. Amazing stuff that doesn’t feel at all dated despite being twenty years old now. The “Ink” is Wolfgang Voight, who went on to do GAS. Daniel Avery‘s new EP bodes very well for his forthcoming album as well, and sticking with EPs I discovered an older (2016) one from Lindstrom called “Windings”, which is as good as anything he’s done.
WATCHING
Binged all of Dark, which I really liked. Bring on series 2. Caught up with the National documentary Mistaken For Strangers and thought it was pretty good. I enjoyed the relationship between the brothers, the alpha male Matt and the very much not an alpha male Tom, but there was an air of artifice over the whole thing that I couldn’t shake off. It felt like a lot more work and planning had gone into it than maybe we were led to believe. Worth watching though, it’d be interesting even if you’re not a fan of the band. I also became the last person in the world to watch Get Out, which I loved.
READING
The best books I read this month were NK Jemisin‘s Broken Earth trilogy. Very very very far future science fiction, to the point where they might as well be fantasy (like The Book Of The New Sun), with some really interesting worldbuilding and clever structural stuff going on. Also really enjoyed John Higgs‘ “Watling Street”, which is basically a walk along the ancient titular thoroughfare, one with a vision of Britain that celebrates Alan Moore as much as Churchill, that gives equal weight to Thomas Becket and the Winchester Geese. It’s like a countercultural Bill Bryson. I for one did not previously know that Milton Keynes (Milton Keynes!) is basically a pagan sun temple.
Albeit one influenced by 60s hippies who had read a couple of books about Stompnehenge and pyramids rather seriously pagan theology. Alan Moore is quoted in the introduction and reports that when he was working in the planning office two workers demanded to know how they were supposed to connect the fire hydrants to the gas supply as shown on the blueprints. Thanks for the tip @kid-dynamite I picked up a copy from the library today and am enjoying it very much.
Alan Moore is a national treasure.
The new First Aid Kit, Ruins, was a nice start to a new year of releases, hotly followed by the rather fabulous The Thread That Keeps Us by Calexico. H.C. McEntire, of Mount Moriah released her first solo album in January, Lionheart, and rather good it is too. I’m not really familiar with Mount Moriah, but the music press attention surrounding the release of Lionheart caught my eye, so I gave it a punt, and I’m glad I did. Also new in January was Mary Gauthier’s Rifles & Rosary Beads, a kind of concept album co-written with Songwriting With Soldiers, a US veterans’ support organisation. It’s a stripped back affair, but with some fine songs that makes it one of MG’s best albums. Lastly, Fleetwood Mac’s Fleetwood Mac album from 1975 had another reissue, expanded into 2 CDs, or 3 CDs and a DVD depending on which version you shell out for. There’s probably a limit to the number of times you’d want to hear a different take of Rhiannon, but hey, it’s Fleetwood Mac, and that Buckingham Nicks reissue is not likely to surface any time soon.
Booker T & The MGs have a new album out?
Not like you Tiggs to be sardonic even in a mild sort of way.
Sorry.
*Hangs head in shame*
Yeah, pack it in. The last thing we need on here is flippancy.
Film
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri – whilst the story is good, it is the performances which stand out – as much is revealed by what not said as what is.
Books
Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead – this is not only excellent in describing the horror of slavery but also in presenting something of the broader economic context of the Southern states.
I’m not with the band by Sylvia Patterson – Great fun… I read this in a couple of days. Brilliant anecdotes about meeting many of the greatest artists – Madonna, Prince, Westlife’ – of the past 30 years. She is also very good at describing how the music industry has shrunk and how both tightly controlled PR and concerns around social media have limited journalists’ opportunities to achieve an interesting story. Whilst generally written in a lighthearted ‘Smash Hits’ style Patterson is very revealing about herself and how fragile a music writer’s career is in a drastically shrinking market.
Podcast
Continuing to enjoy Fortunately…with Fi and Jane, and somewhat belatedly have discovered the Soul Music podcast. There are a few of these on Itunes going back to 2008. The podcasts study a particular song – I would particularly recommend the Cure – Boys Don’t Cry; this includes a one of the artists talking about the song but also the fans and how the song took on a unique meaning in their lives.
@andrewjb I’ve just finished Underground Railroad, an excellent book and extremely difficult to categorise: history, magic realism, science fiction – all of these things!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qb0kc is an excellent discussion of Frederick Douglass, former slave and prominent anti-slavery campaigner.
Thanks @mosleymoles this was an interesting listen. As you may know Underground Railroad was on one of Barack Obama’s holiday reading lists; I’d recommend another book from those lists – H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald – if you haven’t previously read it.