4 to flitter and waste the hours in an offhand way

Saturday is a fantastic day, I like the way it stretches out before one in the morning promising all sorts of extravagant happenings yet so often dissolves into blissful laziness. I have wasted this Saturday lying in my bed and generally doing as little as possible, trying not to move at all!

I have spent most of the day listening to the music and so have put together a little playlist for you to enjoy.

A nice short playlist for you

Cass McComb - County Line

A wonderfully tender sparse song. I absolutely love his echoing vocals at the end of some of the lines. The careful unobtrusive yet equally beautiful instrumental work makes me truly love this song already. McComb's album Wits End is highly rated by Pitchfork and is an absolute must listen.

The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out

Yes, The Antlers again! This time from the new album; Burst Apart. There is a brilliant strain in the opening vocals and the guitars bounce around in a wonderful melodic arrangement

Saltillo - I'm On The Wrong Side

Saltillo is my favourite new artist. The album Ganglion is a trip-hop fused with classical cello eargasm. I cannot even begin to compare it to anything else as I have not yet heard anything like it. Get listening! I will have an email interview with Saltillo in the coming weeks.

The Telescopes - And Let Me Drift Away

Now for a little bit of Space Noise from Straffordshire and The Telescopes. This song sounds a little bit early Barret Pink Floyd and has the expected jingle jangle of crazy rhythms.

Peace

Grouper - Be excited!

Grouper who is in fact just Liz Harris of Portland Oregon, are really beginning to catch my eye. I really enjoyed her 2009 release Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill. I really enjoy a good female vocalist. Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith, Eleanor Friedberger and Hope Sandoval, I guess female vocalists of that sort they just blow my mind. Liz Harris has a similar type of voice and some her vocals give her songs an incredibly ethereal and dream like, floating quality.

She is creating electronic music which for me can make it difficult to accurately compare her work to other artists as I think this genre of electronic music is not yet as developed as say rock music and there is not yet a large history base of artists. I think we are at the early adopting stage with regard to electronic music. Yet the latest album A I A has found me drawing comparisons albeit subtle ones with The Antlers, O'Rang and even Aphex Twin's Select Ambient Works. Grouper lacks the intriguing guitars of the Antlers and it lacks the brilliant touch of Richard David James yet it still contains shades of their influence.

There are other fantastic pieces, the wind in shell noise on the opening track of Dragging A Dead Deer is similar to the end of Wish You Were Here. Invisible, from the same album, shows good variety and calls to mind the dreamy vocals of Vashti Bunyan. The same song also ever so slightly brings to mind the Velvet Underground with Nico album.

I am scrambling here for comparisons to somehow harness and convey how fantastic these two albums are. I generally find when an album reminds me of a number of artists as a result of just a riff or a drum beat, even a sound it means I am taking quite an interest in the album. This, for me, bodes very well I can see these two albums becoming firm favourites of mine.

I would recommend you check out both these albums

3 to listen to from Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill; Invisible, Disengaged and Wind And Snow

3 to listen to from A I A; Atone, Moon Is Sharp and I Saw A Ray

I'm from Brooklyn NY, I'm in a band.

Brooklyn which is in New York is a place I really don't know much about. I think Gossip Girl may occasionally sneer at it but that is just a hunch as I haven't really seen much of it. No desire to really. Although there are some nice looking girls in it if memory serves.

This particular part of New York has developed a penchant for producing some fantastic music at the moment. I will be putting a few bands on a little playlist for you. Basically it will be Bear In Heaven, The Fiery Furnaces, The Antlers, MGMT, Grizzly Bear and Vivian Girls.

The National are also based in Brooklyn. So what is it? Well quite frankly I don't know. So instead of making something up I am just going to let you enjoy the playlist!

Playlist (I'd open in a new tab or you'll be whisked away from the page, could be a bonus that though, your call)

5 Live Gems

5 Live Gems Playlist

Every once in a while one stumbles across a fantastic live version of a song, sitting there headphones in wishing you were three thousand miles away and it was 1985. That is always how I feel about The Dire Strait's rendition of 'Local Hero' in Sydney in 1985. I absolutely love that song, anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes of instrumental perfection. This live version is my favourite of the lot.

I am a massive fan of REM and no less 'Man On The Moon'. I am also quite a big fan of Bruce Springsteen so the video entitled Bruce Springsteen & REM - Man On The Moon really excited me. It is an absolutely tremendous nay unbelievably good version of the song. The Boss strums along and guitar and sings one of the verses as well as sharing some of his ever so slightly dodgy dancing with us.

Next up on the playlist is all drinking Irish band The Pogues, complete with Joe Strummer for the evening. This version adds a certain quaint air to The Clash's classic hit 'London Calling'.

I have always enjoyed Paul Weller's take on the world. There is a pretty amazing video on youtube involving a young Weller on an american television show being interviewed with Joan Jett. His frank manner and inability to bullshit or pander to pretty much anyone translates into his lyrics. In particular the sardonic effort 'That's Entertainment'. There is a rather excellent version with Noel Gallagher at number four on the playlist.

Last up is an unusual cocktail of two men you really couldn't see having too much in common; David Bowie and Damon Albarn. The did however manage to unite for french television in 2004 to perform a pretty decent rendition of 'Fashion'.

What I'm Loving Right Now

So it's been a few days, I've been busy. I am now blissfully task free and so can return to writing boring, vainly worded pieces about my whims. I have prepared a little playlist for you to enjoy, just a few songs that I've have enjoyed recently. I have written a little blurb about each song, detailing my thoughts on it, skip that, it will be shit.


This Five Just Wants Somebody To Listen To It

Antlers - Burial

Antlers are a three cum four piece indie outfit from you guessed it New York. They are also rather fantastic. The song in question is from the 2009 album Hospice, the band had a fourth member, Justin Stivers, a bass player for this album. Burial is a long epic song, best listened to alone. It is a beautiful compostion, the music has a great sense of purpose and leads the listener. The vocals are almost obscured by the instrumentals which works very well. At around 8 minutes in length I would recommend you lay back in your bed and shut your eyes and drift away on this song.

Gorillaz - Don't Get Lost In Heaven

As far as I am concerned everything Damon Albarn does is pretty much perfection. Demon Days an album which people seem to listen to more these days with the release of Plastic Beach and The Fall has a number of high points and this short tender song is one of my favourites. It is quite a simple song and the vocals are augmented superbly by the London Community Gospel Choir. There is a lovely keyboard progression throughout the song and some sort of brass input, I think, I have very poor ears for that sort of thing. The simple jaunty melody and the echoing of the choirs voices is a wonderful dreamy combination, the icing on the cake is Albarns singing between choruses.

The Fiery Furnaces - Straight Street

This may be getting painful for some of you but yes these are indeed another NYC indie band. These are also in my opinion a little bit special. The album Blueberry Boat is a crazy crazy crazy album which seems to contain every single possible musical idea the band could have had. The result is, in my opinion, a truly wonderful cacophony of interesting sounds. Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger are the bands primary members. Brother and sister from Chicago. Eleanor's is amazing, a strong distinctive voice which bounces wonderfully of the jaunty and jiving melodies in Straight Street. The lyrics are spat out until the line 'cause your phones are getting stoned over on that straight street' where it jolts to a halt almost and the final words are delivered superbly. I think this a truly fantastic song, definitely one of my favourites right now.

Art Brut - We Formed A Band

Denying the second World War, this is a true novelty a German and English indie rock band. They urge us to 'stop buying your albums in the supermarket'. This is the opening track on their first album. It is one of my favourite debut album openers ever. The delightful irony present in the attention seeking lyrics and vague 'we are not sell outs' hints, as well as a reference to the lyrics not being ironic just augments the initial irony and to be honest this is irony have an orgasm. The self deprecating lyrics 'and yes this is my singing voice' is another brilliant touch. The sound is fast guitars, drums that seem to chase it at a breakneck pass and a whole pile of energy. Fantastic.

The Mary Onettes - The Night Before The Funeral

This has always been one of my favourite go-to-sleep songs. It's not that it is boring, more soothing. The sound is very relaxed yet still very interesting with some fantastic strings present. The music soars gently and gracefully behind a soothing voice terse with mourning. This dream pop group from Sweden are a guilty pleasure of mine, along with Champagne Riot, another dreamy Scandinavian sound.

-.............OUT

Return To Justice?

Justice, not in fact a trashy rework of the name Justine but a French musical duo of Gaspard Auge and Xavier De Rosnay. Justice are an electronic music duo and French, this bodes well think Air, think Daft Punk. Justice are probably not as well known as the former two.

Justice Playlist


Their first work of note was the winning of a Paris radio station remix contest with their rework of Simian's 'We Are Your Friends'. It was both a club and internet hit shortly after it's release and saw the group signed to Ed Banger. What followed was more remixes, ones for Britney, Daft Punk and Fatboy Slim being the most notable.

A single soon followed; 'Waters Of Nazareth' which was received very favourably in DJing circles, eliciting praise from Erol Alkan amongst others. The song itself has an interesting sound one that veers dangerously close to sounding like a distressed cockpit at times. There is no doubt Waters of Nazareth is a fine dance tune and it was a high moment for Justice.


An album followed in 2007 the untypably named; †. The album was pretty well received amongst critics. Pitchfork named it at 107 in their list of the top 200 albums of the noughties. There seemed to be discrepancies amongst critics when it came to defining the musical style. Some critics dismissing it as dance music but heralding it as electronic pop and comparing it favourably to Kraftwerk. 


They released a live album in 2008 entitled 'A Cross The Universe'. They seemed to still do most of their best work with other peoples work! They won the 'Best Remixed Recording, Neo Classical 2009' for their remix of MGMT's 'Electric Feel'.


Between 2008 and early 2011 they released only sporadically and appeared to focus on different areas of the music industry with the recording of a mix for the Dior Homme 2009 Fashion show as well as on the soundtrack for Rubber.


In mid March the duo announced the upcoming release of a new single; 'Civilization'. The single certainly has shades of The Chemical Brothers about it although I was not a massive fan of the vocals it certainly seems to indicate a slight change in direction, seeminn poppier and not unlike Belgian music duo Aeroplane. Justice have indicated they plan to appear at Lollapalooza this summer to promote a new album titled 'From Dust We Shall Return'.


Questions Etc.

Horses; The most influential debut ever?

Patti Smith, female, 29 years old releases debut album; Horses. I can imagine there was a press release somewhere that read something like that. Some innocent, perfunctory communication acknowledging the existence of the album. The calm before the storm or so to speak I suppose.

I have been listening to it a lot recently. The song 'Break It Up' is probably my favourite track on the album. The chorus is a brilliant celebration of Smith's powerful voice. Few female vocalists really do it for me, Smith is up there with Winehouse and Karen O as my favourite 3 female vocalists.

The album has a secondary attractive feature for me of having a great legacy in terms of influence. I will outline a few of these links and put together a wee playlist for you to have a wee listen to. You know, if you want to, don't feel obligated.

Patti Smith et al list

Michael Stipe was a massive fan of Smith, declaring that after hearing her music he wanted to go out and form a band. He recalls buying Horses when he was in high school and described the album of being along the lines of a life changing experience. Patti Smith was subsequently invited to perform backing vocals on the REM track 'E-Bow the Letter' which co-incidentally is probably my favourite REM song.

From one great band to another; Johnny Marr and Morrisey of The Smiths shared a common love for Horses too. One of their earlier songs 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle' is their reworking of Kimberely from Horses. Pete Doherty was similarly influenced and used a lyric from the title track to name the song 'The Boy Looked At Johnny'. Also included on the playlist is Sammy Hagar's cover of 'Free Money'. I am not sure how big a fan of the cover I am but you might love it, who knows?

Yours Sincerely, dearly and completely.

Weeds & Little Boxes

For those of you haven't seen Weeds, it is a television shoe about a recently widowed suburban mother, who is really rather gorgeous, this aside she needs money and to earn it she sells marijuana. I am not sure what the combination of attractive forty somethings and weed does for you but it makes a half decent television show.

More intriguing, even more-so than Mary-Louise Parker, is the shows theme tune. It is a song called 'Little Boxes' by Malvina Reynolds. Reynolds is best known for this song, a political satire mocking the daily lives of conformist middle class folk. It takes umbrage with their flimsy, clip-together houses. She sings of these ticky tacky houses all looking the same. Ticky tacky was the material a lot of these slap together houses were made from in the 60's.

In seasons 2 and 3 there is a slight change. Little Boxes is still the theme song but it is covered by a different artist in each episode. There are some really swell bands in there too. Including, but not limited to, Joan Baez, The Shins, The Decemberists and Death Cab for Cutie.

I have picked out a little top 3 for you to sample and also included the original. None of the three really match up to the original but such is the nature of the cover. Oft an inferior beast. The Shins version is probably the biggest departure from the original in terms of its slightly more ambitious instrumentals and the soft male vocals. Baez and Spektor cover the song quite closely but it is interesting to see the different directions their vocals can push the song.


Joan Baez - Little Boxes
Regina Spektor - Little Boxes
The Shins - Little Boxes
Melvina Reynolds - Little Boxes


Good night, farewell, thanks for coming, cheers for reading, on your way now, make yourself at home, cup of tea, a drop for the road, must do it again soon.

Pulp - Learning From You

I have always liked Pulp mainly because of the witty observations of Jarvis Cocker. I first fell in love with the music of Pulp when I was about 13 years old. I had heard 'Common People' and was curious. I was a Limewire user back there and I can still remember clicking download on a song called 'Sorted For E's and Whizz'. It recalls so brilliantly the experience of attending a music festival. Cocker sings 'I lost my friends, I danced alone' of it being 'Just 20'000 people standing in a field'. The whole experience was transferred perfectly into one song.

From there my love for Pulp blossomed, it is early morning here and I have a day of college ahead which will preclude me from typing out a quasi-opus of reasons to love Pulp.

They are reforming the 'classic line-up', the same wonderful folk who brought us 'A Different Class'. They will play a number of festivals and gigs this summer. I am signed up to the 'official' mailing list from Pulp People (open in new tab).

During the week I received a rather fantastic email which read;


'Welcome to PulpTube! During the process of learning to play the old songs again we have been consulting 
the cover versions posted online.Vote for your favourites by 'liking them - or upload your own renditions if you think you can do better. (We're offering a musical prize to the winner)


PulpTube available at the above link is a simple stream of videos posted by people online who have covered Pulp songs. We see a whole range of artists, from folk who sit by their webcam with guitar and play to their hearts content. The  highlight in this category would have to be 'John C' from Spain and his rendition of Razzmatazz. The juxtaposition of his natural Spanish accent and the quaint Sheffield accent he strives for is simultaneously ridiculous and sublime. There are college bands and rag-tag cover bands playing in rag-tag bars. There are a number of gems present too.

Top 3 Covers on PulpTube

Whip! - Do You Remember The First Time?
Cristina Da Silva - Like A Friend
Lactantes - Babies

If nothing more I really admired the clear effort Pulp have put into their fans here. Each and every email from Pulppeople is written in a personal manner from the first person perspective of the band. PulpTube is a polite wave to all the fans who have obsessed over them for years now.

I never thought I would see Pulp live, I think I always loved them more for it, some sort of perverse musical want what you can't have. The announcement of the reunion has made my year. I simply cannot wait to see Jarvis et al live. Do you remember the first time?

Ask. Answer. Ask. Answer

A Cover Note

Bruce Springsteen recorded a version of Bob Dylan's 'I Want You' in 1975. The song I want you is one of my all time favourite songs. This version is my favourite cover version of any song, ever. Springsteen extends the song turns it into more of ballad. Dylan's version had a more jaunty high spirited air, Springsteen's is noticably more melancholic.

Bruce Springsteen - I Want You (Click open in new tab)

The instrumental too is varied and it does feel like a markedly different song at times. The lyrics though remain resolutely Dylan. No other songwriter for me has ever managed to do what he did with lyrics.

In this song I am forever fascinated by the line 'And I wait for them to interrupt, me drinking for my broken cup', he has just made reference to the saviours who are fast asleep and waiting for the subject of the song. He waits for her to come back to him I think. His saviours are in fact her and he cannot become connected to her again.

The image of the broken cup is fascinating to me, drinking from a broken cup can only be a manner for not being happy or well. Why does Dylan not want these saviours to interrupt him from his place of misery? I have never been able to understand it, I have heard various explanations but nothing I have ever heard has satisfied me. I think it is for that reason that I love this song so much, it still eludes me a little every time I listen to it.

As always questions, quibbles and queries are welcome.

Five Before Bed

Like the rest of us I too go to bed. I am still mortal and unfortunately still need to rest. I like to go to bed listening  to music. I am in bed at the moment and listening to my nightly five before bed.

Five Before Bed Playlist 1

The first track is by the hitherto unknown to you Xander Banks. I say this not because I am that far up myself that I listen to music nobody else has heard but rather because the artist is in fact my housemate. The track was a little experiment of his and I uploaded it to grooveshark for the crack.

'The crack' - an Irish phrase - in this case it means 'for a laugh' or 'for fun'.

It is a collection of samples Banks made on his home computer with a recording of an Alan Watts lecture laid over. Watts was a philosopher in the sixties, very much a free thinker, he seemed to hold a lot of the views that Bill Hicks later turned into comic masterpieces. In this piece we hear Watts challenge the logic of the current system of life in western capitalist countries. He observes that 'everyone must play'. We must all fit into a certain system, but his words are also empowering as he reminds us that we all have the capacity to rise above it. It is a brilliant before bed track as it is extremely relaxing yet provokes thought. There are certain plantstuffs that greatly enhance both the understanding of Watts and music of Banks. (If you enjoyed this track by Xander Banks there are a number of others including a track with a Bill Hicks recording that I will show you the way to if you wish to send me a message about it).

Next up is Radiohead's 'House of Cards'. Another wonderfully melodic track from one of my favourite bands. It contains the lines 'I don't want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover'. Forgive my cynicism but I picture one of those guys who is 'friends' with an attractive girl. She wonders if he is maybe gay and is friends with him as he worships her and is non threatening, she muses that he may be gay. He is very much in love with her but lacks the confidence to act on it and instead enjoys being close to her but is still pained by her attitude to him. Her friendly caresses and hugs are just painful glimpses at what could be if only he would man up.

We continue apace to the third song; S.Y.M.M by the Manic Street Preachers, I love the epic wailing of Bradfields voice as he sings 'South Yorkshire Mass Murderer'. I enjoy the ambition of this song in the scope of the topics it deals with as well as the clever self deprecating lyrics; 'the ending of this song, well I haven't really though of one'.

The final two tracks are Joan Baez's take on 'Danny Boy' and the highly erotic 'Everlasting Lust' by Enigma. I will let you discover them yourself as sleep is about to take me!

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

Blog with gsoh seeks warm and caring comments for long walks on the beach and alfresco fun.

Links Between Songs Turn Me On

I am not referring to internet links, rather those quirky references and links between songs. 

I have included some of my favourites in an uber neat playlist for your listening pleasure. It is hosted by youtube this week as Grooveshark did not have some of the songs I wished to include.

Nosferatu Man List 4

I recently read a book titled 'The Making Of The Dark Side Of The Moon', it was fantastic, well worth a read. I found it made the most perfect bathroom book ever, it is still sitting on the windowsill by the toilet and one of the housemates has tucked into it. 

It makes reference to a link between Breathe and the Neil Young classic 'Down By The River', listening to the two songs back is interesting as you notice the very similar chord progression. I think that is the word, my technical knowledge is very poor, I am unfortunate enough to be musically retarded and obsessed. What I am trying to say is the chords used in the two songs sound very similar!

Roberta Flack (pictured above) covered the song 'Killing me Softly' which was first performed by Lori Lieberman. Flacks version is probably the most famous. The original however has a most wonderful little inside music link. Lieberman went to a Don McLean concert one evening and was so inspired or affected by his music that she wrote a poem about the experience. Sometime later she related the poem to Norman Gimbel who rearranged and augmented the poem and passed it on to Charles Fox who put it to music. I like to fantasize that McLean may have finished his set with 'Vincent'. And so completing for me a gorgeous and flawless link between Van Gogh, Flack and McLean. I often tell this to girls at parties when I am trying to be impressive!

Also in the playlist are 'Southern Man' again by Neil Young and Lynryd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama', which contains of course the wonderfully acerbic retort 'I hope Neil Young will remember, A southern man don't need him around anyhow'.

As always any questions etc, or ideas for a posting, they would be welcome too, don't be shy, I've never had a comment left. A little ritual deflowering perchance....