The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

Get your harpsichord on

by 5 Comments

For the past few years I have been enjoying more pop from the outskirts of the 60s. The bits that don’t sound sound like the Beatles or Stones, basically, when musicians let rip with harpsichords, celestes and lots of delightful picked bass. I also wished I had more of the Broadcast and Stereolab songs I liked in the one place. There was nothing for it but another high-concept playlist composed of exotic 60s pop and the artists who love it. Below is a first draft. I feel sure the massive can recommend more artists from both eras. I don’t want to get involved in “that’s not exotica, it’s west coast psych”; let’s think of how best this can all knit together. If there is a deficit, I’d say it’s on the 60s side. But I want an equal split, 60;s and contemporary-ish. Enjoy.

Audiobooks – an apology

by 24 Comments

Audiobooks an apology

As a confirmed literary snob (or professional as we say round here) I have always been highly dismissive of audiobooks. This is a person who reads in excess of 100 books a year – read em and weep Goodreads. The Kindle was a revelation a decade ago. After the first holiday when I didn’t have to take up most of my baggage weight in paperbacks I never looked back. An entire library in your pocket for the train, brilliant.

But audiobooks. Someone else in control of the reading speed. A voice coming between me and the text. The smack of being read aloud to in childhood. The memory of those deathly dull classic serials on Radio 4 on a Sunday afternoon. Strictly for the civilians. Because I can read while listening to music, so why would I? And have you seen how long they are – eighteen hours, twelve hours – I mean won’t I have forgotten what happened at the start by the end.

But what’s this? The green Deathstar that is Spotify offering fifteen hours of audiobooks for free. Six months on I am a pretty complete convert. Family matters have involved a good » Continue Reading.

Another playlist

by 15 Comments

Another one in an occasional series of shared playlists. This one – ‘Evening’ – is simply an accumulation of some of my favourite songs, gathered over the last 7 or 8 years. Nothing too revolutionary or indeed anything that will frighten the horses, just good songs/performances. I’ve called it Evening because it works for me with a nice, crackling fire and a glass of decent malt whisky, maybe Aberlour. Enjoy – I hope!

Spotify Wrapped 2023

by 41 Comments

It’s me, hi, I’m the Swiftie it’s me…

Does anyone else care to share their Spotify Wrapped summary for this year? And suggest reasons for the choices? Mine is a curious hybrid of entirely predictable and ‘why was I playing those’? I think reflecting back, the Bruce and Kylie playlists were in preparation for the E Street Tour and the release of Tension (ha!) respectively, and Joy Division/Bauhaus and Kate provided the soundtracks as I waded through firstly John Robb’s exhaustive The Art Of Darkness history of Goth, and then Tom Doyle’s book on La Bush. It was no surprise at all to discover who was my No.1 artist…but it’s whetted my appetite for that Tay Division collab that nobody knew they wanted. And as a delightful bonus, she filmed a ‘thank you’ message – to me alone, right? – and blew me a kiss. Travis who?

https://open.spotify.com/wrapped/share/share-9b60ca5cb6814daab577fed89c0b50df-1080×1920?si=vEGHrfQhRS-33JEnPEpEqg&lang=en&destination=datastories

Horse music all night long

by 5 Comments

I know I said that I’d keep the plugs to a minimum, but this month’s Horse FM playlist is particularly choice in my opinion. Plus it can get dispiriting posting it to Facebook and seeing the amount of monthly followers actually drop.

So, for those unacquainted with it, this is a notional radio show comprising 20 songs that I’ve found, rediscovered or had recommended to me in the last month. It’s not intended to show off my bleeding-edge tastes; instead, those friends who do like it (both of them), use it on those days when they can’t think of anything else to listen to. Hopefully it will send you down as many entertaining Spotify rabbit holes as it regularly sends me. And if you don’t like it, there’s another one along every month for those who follow it on Spotify. Don’t touch that dial.

Tidal alternative to Spotify

by 67 Comments

Im not really interested in the Rogan/Young spat. I never listen to Rogan so I feel I’m not in a position to have a valid opinion. However it did get me thinking about moving off Spotify to another service if only to try to break the grip Spotify seem to have on the streaming industry – and you know, change is as good as a rest and all that. So I have taken the free trial for Tidal (finally swayed by the fact that they have the wonderful Cardiacs Sing to God and spotify dont. )

I have lots of playlists on Spotify but SongShift is a tool for migrating – and checking through my playlists I realised I never play nearly all of them.

I have checked on the most obscure artists I can and it seems pretty much equal with a few exceptions (like Cardiacs). Most of my favourite spotify missing artists are also missing on Tidal – I suspect for similar reasons – (no Apple Venus, no “From Gardens where we feel secure” ).

Oh and the “family plan” for both services is the same price. Tidal pay artists (or rights holders) slightly better but its still » Continue Reading.

Murkey’s Marvellous Mixtape 2020 (no, not a typo)

by 6 Comments

I thought lockdown was meant to give us lots of free time? I dutifully made my Spotify mix at the end of 2020, as has become an annual tradition. But it’s taken me until the end of 2021 to actually get a chance to type it up and share it. In an attempt to actually get it done, below are some less-fulsome-than-usual details of what I’ve picked.

The link is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7wa3v2SW1HP0teVWZ1RGHh?si=3e942326b4cf4b0c

A note on Spotify: I’ve been concerned for some time that Spotify does not pay artists fairly for their work. But at least they have a choice whether to sign up. Now that I read that Daniel Ek is using the millions we have given him to invest in the arms trade, I am seriously thinking about switching to another streaming service. I think Apple music is a similar price and pays artists slightly better, whereas Tidal costs more but pays a much fairer share. But for now, here I still am!

Without further ado…

1. Far Flown Falcon – When the City is Home

Did I ever mention my brother, James Conder, plays? He’s been a fantastic songwriter for many a year and gets better and » Continue Reading.

Not On Spotify

by 80 Comments

The recent threads on Vinyl and CD versus streaming threw up a number of considerations, but several object-heads talked about the fact that they owned the music and that no-one could take it away from them was really important. Five years ago the discussion would have been dominated by the artists who weren’t on Spotify. Since then the last big hold-outs: Floyd, AC/DC, Swift, Zeppelin, Beatles have all taken the green dot shilling. But the question’s still valid, and was raised. Today, when I played Lloyd Coxson’s King of Dub Rock and realised that only volume one was on Spotify. A quick check on my itunes (yes, still digital but I do own the files at least) revealed that yes vol 2 was Not On Spotify. So here we go, your nominations for the Not On Spotify awards.

I’ll kick off with some obvious categories. The Spotify licensing and royalties model clearly doesn’t work at all for compilations. Ace Records – whose excellent Stax Funk series I am currently enjoying – are barely represented. Dave Godin’s Deep Soul Treasures only exists as the somewhat melancholic user playlists.

Even worse than compilations (where at least you can reconstruct the album) » Continue Reading.

Murkey’s Marvellous Mixtape 2019

by 7 Comments

Hello Afterworders,

Here’s my 2019 Spotify mix. Tunes, old and new, that I discovered in the last year. Listen at the link below:

It’s a rather parochial list this time – only seven countries covered (the most being from England, the USA and – reflecting 2019’s travels – India)! But it’s a goodun.

1. Kirsty McGee and the Hobopop Collective – Madness and the Moon

It’s standard practice for me to begin with my favourite song of the year. This is the umpteenth time I’ve featured Kirsty McGee on one of my mixes. I’ve told you before what a astute songwriter she is, how she creates compelling melodies, plays neat guitar and is a masterful self-producer. Her latest is a career highlight, even by her standards. This is a grounded, cosmic love song. Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/vyhIVPKOpgs

From The Deafening Sound of Stars (Hobopop Recordings, 2019). Available to buy directly at https://kirstymcgee.bandcamp.com/album/the-deafening-sound-of-stars.

2. Vampire Weekend – Harmony Hall

An upbeat, nearly trance-y song from Vampire Weekend with a typically nifty guitar, but it seems to explore rather darker lyrical matter.

From Father » Continue Reading.

Quantify yourself – 2019 edition

by 15 Comments

Though Spotify ‘wraps’ the year in the first week of December, and only counts up to the end of October, there’s plenty more counting out there that runs the full calendar year. As we head off into 2020 let’s pause for a second to count up the achievements of last year. While happiness can’t be quantified, plenty of other things can. I did this a year ago and there seems enough reason to run it again if anyone’s interested. 2019 was for me…

13385 scrobbles on last FM (up from 12734 in 2017) 73 books on goodreads (down from 75) 72 films on letterboxd (down from 84)

589k of running on Strava, amazing down a whole 2k from 591. Had I known might have run a bit more on the last one of the year.

NEW ENTRY! Cycling, as cycling to work 2 days a week – 917k.

Your Spotify wrapped (feel free to extrapolate from the Spotify year, your Nike +, stepcounters etc are all welcome in the interests of our curiosities.

Two new McCartney songs!

by 12 Comments

Just like that. You can find both new songs on Spotify and probably other places too, possibly even a record store (I KNOW!) at some point.

Both Home Tonight and In A Hurry sound like they could have been on Egypt Station, which is good news.*

So what do you think? Good? Bad? Something in between? Nothing at all?

* Other opinions are most likely available

Spotify Freebie

by 24 Comments

Are you a Spotify Premium Family subscriber? Or, are you toying with becoming one? Spotify are trying to entice new subscribers to it’s family plan by offering a free mini google speaker worth £50 to customers. Unusually, this offer is also open to existing subscribers. I know this works because I’ve just done it and my speaker is on it’s way to me. Click on the link below to go to the relevant page.

[If you are already a family subscriber, scroll down to the link in the blue band hallway down the page]

https://www.spotify.com/uk/family/

Help Spotify’s ad agency out here.

by 59 Comments

That jolly green giant Spotify is trying to lure streaming refuseniks with a campaign emphasising how your 80s favourite tracks are just a click away after all these years. So we have: Simple Minds haven’t forgotten about you Phil Collins wants one more night And so on I cant help but feel them have missed a trick here and we could broaden this 80s appeal with a few witty spins of our own. Foetus is still bothered by what you’ve got on your breath Crass still want to know how it felt to be the mother of a thousand dead Chuck’s ding-a-ling is still waiting for you to play with it.

I’m sure we can help them out here.

Murkey’s Marvellous Mixtape 2017

by 3 Comments

It’s taken me four months to write up, but as usual, I’ve made a Spotify mixtape of my favourite music (and, this year, spoken word), both new and old, that I discovered last year.

If you like something you hear, please follow the artist on social media, buy their music and/or go and see they live, because Spotify pays diddly squat.

1. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker

A hero. Cohen wrote this song (with Patrick Leonard) for his final album, speaking pretty directly about his own mortality and embracing his Jewishness. His son Adam Cohen was the producer and the Shaar Hashomayim Choir from the synagogue of that name in Montreal feature. Of the choir he wrote, ‘ Even as a boy I loved their singing. It is what made compulsory synagogue attendance enjoyable. I’ve wanted to work with the cantor and the choir for a long time. The touring years interrupted this intention. On a secondary but still urgent note, there are times when you want to show the flag, when you want to indicate that there is nourishment to be had from this culture, that it is not entirely irrelevant to the present situation, that it » Continue Reading.

A couple of Spotify recommendations

by 2 Comments

A couple of Spotify recommendations that might or might not interest the Massive. 1. Mishka’s 2009 album ‘Above The Bones’ has finally gone on Spotify today. A great reggae album. The “unplugged” version, ‘Guy With A Guitar’, is excellent too (and also on Spotify). 2. (Potentially, I suspect, more of interest) – Were the good and bad people of The Afterword aware that Martin Stephenson had recorded an acoustic version of his masterpiece, ‘Boat To Bolivia’? I certainly wasn’t til today. It’s called ‘Bolivia’, it’s on Spotify, and it’s pretty darn fab.

Spotify albums

by 4 Comments

I seem to play pretty much all my music on Spotify these days, even if I have the CD sitting somewhere in my garage. As a result, the number of ‘saved’ albums is growing fast and becoming pretty unmanageable. The Spotify app is fairly poor (eg compared to the Amazon Music app) but I’ve started creating playlists specifically for albums, eg ALBUMS – ECM, ALBUMS – ALICE COLTRANE etc so at least I can find the damn things. Anyone have any better ideas how to manage their music in Spotify? The Albums field is pretty limited when you have a lot of albums saved.

Organise Your Music

by 2 Comments

I’ve just come across a Spotify tool called Organise Your Music. Basically, it analyses all your playlists and presents them in a variety of ways – by genre/micro genre, moods (amped, chilled etc), styles (clean, quiet, loud etc), decades, when added, popularity. You can then create new playlists based on these categorisations, amend them to your heart’s content and save them to Spotify. Some of the micro genres are new to me. I apparently have 4 tracks defined as ‘deep chiptune’ which is news to me (tracks by Magic Sword, 65 days of Static, Anamaguchi, Peter McConnell since you asked). And if that wasn’t enough, you can access a plot of each grouping with X and Y axes showing such variables as ‘acousticness, anger, energy, loudness etc. I guess this tool gives you more of an overview of your ‘collection’ plus it’s tremendous fun to play with.

http://organizeyourmusic.playlistmachinery.com/

Share your Spotify Playlists

by 86 Comments

One of the joys of Spotify is creating a hand-made playlist (I’m not talking about grabbing Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits for example and sticking it in a playlist). I’m sure it’s been done here before but how about sharing some of your favourite personal creations? Here’s mine, called Mellow 1 and designed as a party/dinner party playlist. It’s meant to be played sequentially. I’ll try and share some more but how about yours?

William Tyler

by 9 Comments

The Spotify ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist has played a blinder, this week. From Golden Smog, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Ethan Johns through to John Fogerty, Jason & The Scorchers and The Georgia Satellites, there is hardly a duffer on it. But it is this that has soothed my troubled mind all week. I gather he’s a member of Lambchop but, since they haven’t crossed my path much, I wasn’t aware of him. This is just gorgeous. Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life that make me happy.