YouTube music: Divine Comedy, Seasick Steve, deadboy & the Elephantmen, Black Keys

Ended up on YouTube earlier, following a link that James Lovegrove sent me (to The Divine Comedy's stab at the perfect Eurovision song - very funny indeed), and I ended up sniffing around for a few minutes to see what I could find by a few of my favourite artists. Here are the first few I came across:

The Divine Comedy perform an acoustic version of their haunting song 'A Lady of a Certain Age' live on the streets of Paris:

Seasick Steve, who plays better blues-rock on three strings than most bands manage with twelve or more, gives it his all, live on Jools Holland's 2006 Hootenanny show:

The video for 'Stop, I'm Already Dead', by deadboy & the Elephantmen:

The video for 'Your Touch' by The Black Keys. Doesn't quite capture the sheer intensity of their live shows, but it's still a damn good track:

August 10, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments

New Music: Broooooooce! Live in Dublin

I'm really quite unfeasibly excited right now. My 2CD + DVD copy of the new Bruce Springsteen live album - Live in Dublin with the Sessions Band - has just arrived from Play.com, (where it's a few quid cheaper than either Amazon.co.uk or CD-Wow, folks!)

Bruce Springsteen Live in Dublin with the Sessions Band

I've been a Springsteen fan since I was 12, and two of the best gigs I've ever been to were three-hour Springsteen spectaculars. One of those was at the MEN Arena, when Bruce and the 20-odd-piece Sessions band raised the roof with everything from tracks from the Seeger Sessions album to gospel sing-alongs (say one thing for those Christian types, they do know how to organise a good sing-along) to bluegrass / roots versions of some of his classic tracks. I loved the version of 'Cadillac Ranch' that he played that night; unfortunately he didn't repeat that one in Dublin, but then there are a whole bunch of new renditions for me to hear now, so that'll do me nicely. Wonder if Jo will let me watch the DVD tonight..?

And yes, I know what you might be thinking. But then if Born in the USA is the only Springsteen album you've ever heard, you're missing out on a whole career's worth of quite fantastic music. That was his most commercial and radio-friendly album, but he's been writing and playing great songs since the early '70s, and his latest outing takes him into the realms of Amerciana / roots music, with a collection of traditional bluegrass, blues and gospel tunes with a huge sound that really does have to be heard to be believed.

So if you're a fan of Bob Dylan, or just know how to appreciate a damn good singer / songwriter when you hear one, then do give Mr S another go. I really think you might be rather pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and if anyone needs me this afternoon, I'll be in my headphones...

June 8, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 4 Comments

Sergeant Pepper turns 40

From Joe Gordon's always-excellent and informative Forbidden Planet blog, a timely reminder that today is the 40th anniversary of an album that is widely regarded as being one of the most influential, the most revolutionary, simply the greatest, of all time:

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I've become very fond of this particular collection of tunes in quite a short space of time. Although I've been familiar with a number of the album's more famous tracks ('With a Little Help From my Friends', 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds', 'When I'm Sixty-Four') for years, I hadn't actually heard it in its entirety until, believe it or not, March of this year...

The thing is, I've been listening to various collections of the Beatles' singles for a while, but for some reason I hadn't really taken the time to get to know their music better. But then, back in February, I picked up that month's issue of Mojo, with a cover CD of cover versions of the album, and - more importantly - a lengthy article on the making of the original.

It wasn't until I read this piece that I fully appreciated the depth of Sergeant Pepper's importance or the very real pinnacle of creative accomplishment that it represents. I'd always assumed it was a fairly typical piece of work for the time; but not so.

The Beatles, aided and abetted by legendary producer George Martin, managed to create - with nothing more than the Abbey Road Studio's ageing four-track recording equipment and a couple of slaved-together tape machines - the sort of sonic landscapes and effect-laden musical interludes that most bands today routinely take for granted. But this was back in 1967, and - especially according to the views of some of the other musicians who were around at the time - it was a truly revolutionary piece of work.

So obviously, I had to buy a copy. Take my chances on eBay, maybe? Or just splurge the full amount on Amazon (I'd never seen so much as a single Beatles CD in a reduced-price offer for years). But then, serendipitously, Jo and I were passing through Manchester Airport on the way to Northern Ireland, and it just so happened that the CD shop in the terminal had a three-for-two offer... which included Sergeant Pepper, as well as Revolver and about four or five others, by varying artists (well, it would've been rude not to, and Jo was buying them for my birthday...)

Fast-forward through the next couple of months, during which time I must have listened to the album about fourteen, fifteen times. Made quite an impression on me, I can tell you, particularly some of the tracks I hadn't heard before, like the achingly cathartic 'She's Leaving Home' and especially the concluding 'A Day in the Life'.

And I can tell you that if ever an album was made to be played loud and most definitely through headphones then this is it. Even if you think you're familiar with the Sergeant, if you haven't listened to it through a good pair of headphones before now, then you've probably only heard about half of what's going on...

So, there you go. My music recommendation for the year so far (hardly original, but most assuredly heart-felt): Grab a copy of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, settle back in your comfiest armchair with the best pair of ear-cans you can get your hands on, switch off your mobile phone, press play on your hi-fi equipment of choice... and away you will go...

June 1, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments

One day in Chester - Eastercon Highlights

Jo and I thoroughly enjoyed our day at Eastercon on Saturday. The sun was shining down on Chester when we arrived, and we were very nearly diverted by the Chester Food & Drink Festival, which was going on in a large marquee next to the car park where we dropped off the motor. But instead we girded our loins, tightened our belts and plunged bravely into the gloom of the Chester Crowne Plaza, handing over our brace of one-day membership fees on the door.

At this point, we were both handed name-badges emblazoned with the word 'Saturday'; laminated to within an inch of their lives and - in the absence of permanent marker pens - with no chance to say anything else. Possibly the least-useful con-badge in history (there were a lot of anonymous "Saturdays" - I am not a day of the week! I am a free fan! - around), but you can see the appeal to the organisers of the mass-printing, and hey, if we'd bothered to register in advance, we could have had our moniker-of-choice included as well (as we later discovered). No matter.

The dealer's room was healthily populated, and I finally got a chance to say hello to Niall Harrison (pron. Neil, btw, in case like me you had no idea) who was manning a friend's bookstall. Niall is one of those unfortunate people who is even taller than I am (I'm 6'2" and trying to get a comfortable bus / theatre / 'plane seat is murder, so for Niall it must be pure hell) and alas, I was so stunned by this relative rarity that I made an inadvertent, knee-jerk, tall-joke gaff (with the emphasis on 'jerk'). Niall, I apologise, you must be heartily sick of hearing that sort of thing... and after he'd said I looked a lot younger than he expected, as well. For shame. And then he gave us a whole pile of the BSFA's Vector and Focus magazines (Niall is the editor of the former) to peruse as well. Gaah! Another classy foot+mouth combo from Ariel there...

Our trip to the dealer's room also resulted in a canny purchase of a hardback copy of Adam Roberts' collection of 'stories that never were and might never be', Swiftly (published by Night Shade Books), for a very reasonable tenner (from Niall's friend's stall, as it happened). Bargain!

Mind you, I was later trumped by John 'smug shopper' Berlyne, who found a pristine proof copy of Joe Abercrombie's debut The Blade Itself for a paltry three quid! Gaaaah! If you're interested, it'll probably be on eBay shortly, although you can expect the asking price to be a fair bit steeper...

On the way to the bar I made a point of saying hello to Paul Raven - better known as 'Armchair Anarchist' of Velcro City fame - who was looking none the worse for wear after an apparently quite titanic session the night (and most of the morning) before. Last to leave the bar on the first night of the Con: kudos. Also said hi to Andy Sawyer, of Liverpool University's Science Fiction Collection and repeated my oft-stated intention to get my arse over there one day for a visit. Honestly, I will. One day, just as soon as I'm not quite so darned busy...

Lunch followed, in the quite delightful company of Simon Spanton and Gillian Redfearn of Gollancz Books, plus the equally charming Stéphane Marsan, of France's top genre publisher Bragelonne, as well as the aforementioned Berlyne, and the inestimably wonderful Sandy Auden, my regular TAO / UKSFBN partner in crime.

Simon steered us to a very nice little Thai place he'd discovered / heard of / passed on the way into Chester, and a very good time was had by all. Pre-lunch, Gillian committed a wanton act of reading-list sabotage by thrusting a proof copy of Gollancz's Next Big Thing - the UK edition of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, which a lot of people are getting very excited about - into my convention bag. Which was most excellent of her (thank you, Gillian!) although now I have another 896 pages of must-read fantasy fiction to cram into my over-loaded queuing system. Woe is me... ;)

And on the way to the restaurant, an odd thing happened. We were wandering along one of Chester's main streets and I heard the sound of an electric violin. It was just starting to sweep into what sounded a whole lot like the opening bars of Ed Alleyne Johnson's 'Purple Electric Violin Concerto'. And sure enough, there he was, busking (and not for the first time) just a few feet from where I was standing...

I'm a big EA-J fan, ever since his work with New Model Army back in their Thunder and Consolation and Impurity days, and I've got a couple of his early CD's. I didn't realise that he had a new album out - a collection of cover versions of some of his favourite classic rock tracks from the '70s - so that was another tenner well-spent... and there are another couple of albums I haven't got yet, by the looks of things.

After lunch, the rest of the afternoon was spent back at the hotel, engaged in pleasant and entertaining conversation with John 'I'm a raconteur extraordinaire, me, luvvie' Berlyne, Sandy, and the occasional passer-by who sought rest at our table: shouts out to Paul Cornell, John Jarrold and Geoff Ryman, all of whom stopped by at some point, for varying lengths of time (some having the good sense to escape sooner than others...)

All in all, a damn fine day out. Looking forward immensely to Alt-Fiction in Derby at the end of the month, when we can do it all over again.

April 11, 2007 | Filed Under Books, Cons & Events, Music | 9 Comments

Mass-media muppetry and the mediocrity of the mundane masses

They announced the winners of the Brit Awards, the UK music industry's annual self-congratulatory back-slap and circle jerk, last night.

Modern Times by Bob Dylan Normally I wouldn't deign to pay even the slightest bit of attention to this sort of claptrap, but I happened to catch sight of the results of one particular category, and it seemed to me to sum up the essential problem with elevating and celebrating mass-popularity over quality, and encourage the great un-thinking masses (the Brit Awards are decided by a vote of all things, and apparently anyone can join in) to be the arbiters of a nation's supposed 'taste'.

The category in question was 'Best International Male Solo Artist'. The nominees included:

Damien Rice - An Irish singer-songwriter who eschews the sometimes mawkish elements of the Emerald Isle's 'traditional' music in favour of complex, dark, multi-layered compositions that seek to investigate and lay bare the very roots of emotion (well, he sings songs about love and what it means to be human, anyhow). Two albums so far; both of them a lot more interesting than anything by James Blunt, by the way...

Jack Johnson - A modern-day troubadour; a beach-bum folk-singer of great talent and great voice, who strolled onto the music scene a few years ago strumming a collection of cheerful, sunny tunes about life, love and living it up in Hawaii (which, let's face it, ought to make just about anyone sound cheerful) and hit exactly the right note with almost everyone, from old folkies to lovers of melodic, radio-friendly guitar pop.

Beck - A musician and entertainer who for fifteen years has been creating a bewildering array of soundscapes and song structures - everything from mellow ballads to funked-up hip-hop. Sometimes challenging, sometimes not so accessible at first, but always interesting, always worth a second listen. And a third, and a fourth...

Bob Dylan - What can I say that hasn't already been said? A living legend, an inspiration to countless singers, songwriters and strolling balladeers, a modern-day bard of the highest echelon - okay, maybe some of his music is a taste that has to be acquired... but once sampled, it's never forgotten. One of the true, all-time greats.

And who did the award go to?

Justin fucking Timberlake.

A pretty-boy who can dance a bit and occasionally hold a tune; who wouldn't even have crossed the musical radar if he hadn't shacked up with Britney Spears a few years back; a genuinely talentless waste of CD space who couldn't write a song if his bank-balance depended on it (which, luckily for him, it clearly doesn't); beloved of the record label execs mainly because he knows how to grind his hips and make the little girlies go weak at the gusset...

I despair... I really do.

<...End rant>

February 15, 2007 | Filed Under Life, Music | 2 Comments

BBC R2 Folk Awards 2007

The results of the BBC Radio Two Folk Awards are in, and the headline-grabber this year is Devonian fiddler Seth Lakeman, who won both 'Folk Singer of the Year' and 'Best Album' for his 2006 release Freedom Fields.

Jo and I saw Lakeman in a fantastic support slot for The Levellers at a Manchester Academy gig a year or so back, before he was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. The highlight of the evening was when the Levellers invited Lakeman on-stage for one of their encores, during which he and Jon Sevink staged a fiddle-off version of 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia', and that really had the crowd up on their toes.

Anyhow, there's a lot of good stuff happening in British Folk Music at the moment. Not that I'm an expert or anything - more of an interested dabbler and occasional eBay purchaser - but what I've heard so far I've tended to like a lot.

If you're folk-curious, or are looking for a good selection of current highlights - or you just think you might enjoy the sort of music that puts more emphasis on good story-telling and technical accomplishment than a bass-heavy synth beat and associated merchandising opportunities - then the 2007 edition of the annual Radio 2 Folk Awards CD [Amazon] - a compilation of tracks by all the nominated artists - is a damn good place to start.

February 6, 2007 | Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment

New musical discoveries of 2006

Here's a quick selection of some of the new musical discoveries I made last year. All new to me, anyhow...

Bruce Springsteen, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

My album of the year, definitely. I've been a Springsteen fan since I was 12. While the cool kids at school were bopping their little brains out to Madonna and whatever else was around in the mid-80s, I was listening to songs about the decay of the American dream, the day-to-day struggle of the under-privileged working classes and the role of love as an all-redeeming force for change. (No, I didn't have many friends at school...)

Anyhoo, fast-forward to 2006 and Springsteen's latest album. A collection of cover versions or songs made popular by, or generally associated with, the legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger. Sounds a bit twee and mellow? Not a chance, not with The Boss in charge. Bruce selects his favourite songs, then goes out and recruits an 18 piece country / gospel / bluegrass band to belt them out with gusto aplenty. An absolutely huge sound from one of the living legends of rock music. A real eye-opener, and almost impossibly catchy once the songs are stuck in your head.

And Jo and I were lucky enough to get hold of tickets to see the Seeger Sessions band live at the Manchester Evening News Arena as well. Absolutely brilliant, best gig of the year. Three hours of solid playing (as is the norm from Bruce) and a whole host of re-envisioned rootsy cover versions of some of Springsteen's classic material as well. His delta-blues-style version of 'Cadillac Ranch'? Had to be heard to be believed...

The Divine Comedy, Victory for the Comic Muse

The other close contender for my album of the year, just pipped at the post in the final analysis. James Lovegrove switched me on to the Divine Comedy a couple of years back and I haven't looked back since.

I just love Neil Hannon's music: it's intelligent, quirky, funny, heart-warming, heart-breaking, all at once. His last two albums, this one and 2005's Absent Friends have both been masterpieces of virtuoso story-telling as well (check out 'Our Mutual Friend' on Absent Friends, and 'A Lady of a Certain Age' on the latest). Definitely worth checking out, especially if you appreciate music made at the more cerebral end of the scale.

Josh Ritter

A singer-songwriter in the classic Americana story-telling mode - think Ray Lamontange, Jim White, Jeff Tweedy and the impossible-to-avoid shades of Dylan and Springsteen - with an interesting, tuneful voice and a great turn of phrase. Ritter's music covers a wide range of styles and topics with all the classic themes thrown in.

I bought 'The Animal Years' and within three or four tracks I was on eBay looking for the rest of his back-catalogue. I think I've tracked most of it down by now, but The Animal Years is still the one I come back to; there's something about the opener, 'Girl in the War' that keeps me coming back, and the last track on the album, 'Here at the Right Time' is just lovely.

And - as I discovered after double-checking the URL for Ritter's homepage - it turns out that a certain Mr King was quite impressed as well...

Cat Power

I'll admit I have something of a weakness for lady singer-songwriters, just so long as they have interesting voices and interesting things to say. At one point Tori Amos was my number one addiction, but since she got happily married and became a mum her music seems to have become a lot less interesting, so I've been looking for new ladies to fill the gap in my musical affections.

Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power, is definitely one of them. She's got a smoky, sultry voice, a good vocal range, and sings great songs about... well, life. Check out her most recent album, The Greatest, recorded with three Memphis soul musicians who used to do the honours for Al Green. Great for long, wine and whisky evenings in front of a roaring log fire, I reckon. Haven't got a log fire, but I'm happy to test the other half of the theory...

Cara Dillon

An Irish singer-songwriter with an incredibly pure voice; most commonly described as 'angelic'. She's married to (or partnered with) Sam Lakeman, brother of that current darling of the folk scene, Seth. She's also a past winner of two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards both in 2001, for 'best newcomer' and 'best traditional track'.

Both the Lakeman boys guest on her albums, providing backing vocals and instrumental support (she used to play with the two of them in a folk group called Equation, included Kathryn Roberts and another Lakeman: Sean). Dillon's albums are a mix of new interpretations of old Irish tunes and her own (and Sam's) new compositions, many of which nevertheless have a quality that makes them sound as if they're as old as the Donegal hills.

Jo and I nearly got to see her perform twice last year, but on both occasions something else cropped up and we missed out. This year, if she plays anywhere near North Manchester, I'm going to go along and lose myself in her voice for a while.

Black Mountain

I think these guys might have had a track on The Cover Mount CD That Changed My Life (the subject of a future blog entry) or maybe I just found them in a random eBay sweep. In any case, I picked up their eponymous debut album at some point last year, and it was a stonker.

They've got a blues-y, roots-y Americana feel to them, but with quite a heavy rhythm section, lots of bass, lots of noise. Two singers; male and female, which makes for some nicely contrasting vocals. They sound a bit like Wolfmother (but not quite so Deep Purple). Anyway, one to try, if you're feeling in the mood for something dark and tuneful. The band - or one or two members of it, anyhow - also performs as The Pink Mountaintops, with material that's a little more light and ethereal, or so I understand. One for my 'track-down and listen-to' list.

The Raconteurs

Take Jack White, of The White Stripes fame, plus his old pal, singer-songwriter Brendan Benson, plus a couple more friends of theirs - Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler from a band called The Greenhornes - and you get The Raconteurs, who play everything from jingly-jangly indie guitar pop through to distortion-fuelled psychedelia, covering quite a few bases in-between in the process.

The full four-piece makes for a much more rounded sound than the Stripes, which I think is the whole point. A good solid rock album from a new group of old friends. I think I must have listened to this one five or six times back-to-back when I first got it. And check out their website - tres retro-chic!

Baxter Dury

Another random eBay discovery and one I'm very glad I made. Baxter Dury is the son of the late Ian Dury, of The Blockheads. There are certainly elements of the elder Dury's cockney snarl in Baxter's vocals, but it strikes me that there seems to be more variety to his music than in most of the Blockheads tunes I'm familiar with (although I'm more than likely doing them a terrible injustice there as I've probably only heard their immediately obvious hits).

'Francesca's Party' is the stand-out track on his 'Floorshow' album, the whole of which I must have played at least a dozen times since I got hold of it mid last year.

The Black Keys

My mate Howard - who knows more than a thing or three about good music and has introduced me to a number of shelf-fuls of it in the past couple of years - really rates these guys. They're a two-piece from Ohio who play seriously lo-fi blues rock on guitar and drumkit. They record and mix their own tunes; shunning technological trickery in favour of a much more stripped-back, laid-back, down and dirty, grungy sound. Crank up the volume, break out the sipping whisky and you're in for a damn good evening.

Their latest, Magic Potion is the third album of theirs that I bought in '06, along with their debut, The Big Come Up and their six-track Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough e.p. and they're all great stuff. Damn good call, Howard mate. Wish I'd gone with you to see them live last October, but I think they're back in Manchester this coming February, so there's time yet...

deadboy & the Elephantmen

Another two-piece, who are on the same label - Fat Possum - as The Black Keys were until their last album. Another band with a lo-fi, grunged-up rock sound. Singer-songwriter Dax Riggs plays a mean guitar whilst Tessie Brunet handles the drums and backing-vocals, and they sound great. We Are Night Sky is their debut album, and it's a damn fine piece of work.

My favourite track on there is the yell-along toe-tapper 'Stop, I'm Already Dead', which would have been a guaranteed dancefloor-filler back in my Salford University Student Union alternative night DJing days, and no mistake. If you're a Black Keys fan already, you should definitely check these guys out.

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So there you go. The pick of the stuff I discovered in 2006. Please do feel free to use the comments section to let me know if there's anyone or anything else you think I'd really like on the basis of this lot, yeah? A link to a relevant website would be great...

Oh, and for further recommendations in a simiar vein, check out Gabe Chouinard's blog, where he posted his top ten of 2006 a while back. He also highlighted the Black Keys' latest, plus the Springsteen and Raconteurs albums as well. Looks like we ought to swap play-lists some time.

January 12, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments

"With pulses racing, and eyes full of wonder…"

I'm a die-hard, dyed-in-the-wool, definite fan of New Model Army. Have been since I was about 16 and will be for the rest of my life. I thought I'd check their website this morning, see if they were doing their usual Yuletide UK tour this year (sadly, they're not, they're in the US instead and are only playing one UK show, in London).

Thunder and Consolation But I did find out that 'One Family, One Tribe', an exhibition of New Model Army memorabilia, is opening at the Salford museum on Monday, which is running through until January. Definitely one for the diary.

If it's set up anything like the version that travelled to Germany recently, the exhibition should include a wealth of NMA paraphenalia and some genuinely significant items, such as the original Ghost of Cain jacket, a selection of stage costumes down the years, plenty of artwork by artist, poet and novelist Joolz Denby, and... okay, unless you're a fellow NMAphile, you stopped reading about half a paragraph ago, didn't you?

In which case, you won't be particularly interested to learn that NMA front-man Justin Sullivan's solo album Navigating by the Stars [Amazon]
is probably one of my all-time top twenty, along with at least two other NMA offerings.

But on the other hand, if you're not a New Model Army fan yet, but are of a mind to check them out, I'd highly recommend their Thunder and Consolation [Amazon] album as the best starting point, then jumping ahead to The Love of Hopeless Causes [Amazon], Strange Brotherhood [Amazon], and Eight [Amazon], and then just blowing your next pay cheque on the rest of their back-list...

November 24, 2006 | Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment

Youtube! Uh! What is it good for..?

I was chatting to a mate of mine the other day, and one of the subjects that came up was Youtube. My mate wondered what in the unholy names of the nine hells the point of it was; it's nothing more than a dump for all the tedious crap that people churn out when they've got nothing better to do, surely? So why would anyone bother?

A lot of truth in that... but then every so often you come across something that someone has put a decent amount of time, thought and creativity into. Like this piece by a guy called Lasse Gjertsen, which made me smile:

There you go, mate. That's the point of Youtube. It's just a shame that so many people on there (over 6,000 of them who think that mixing coke and mentos is funny when you've seen it more than once, for instance...) seem to have missed the point completely...

November 24, 2006 | Filed Under Humour, Music | 2 Comments