Hard Hearted (Ode To Thoreau)

I love it when people ask about lyrics. It serves to remind me that I'm not the only one who thinks they matter, and who finds them fascinating, so thanks to whoever asked about this one...

... 'Hard Hearted (Ode To Thoreau)', which comes from Amy Millan's début solo album 'Honey From The Tombs'.

I think that they are thus:

Hard Hearted (Ode To Thoreau)

I have a hard hearted island
Where I live alone
I've seen my love grow big as a mountain
And scatter like ashes and bones
These things I have forgotten
Memory I've left behind
Something was always drifting away
So I'll stay.

It may be the night it might be the morning
Never again will I weep
Cos I've got the wind blowing beside me
And the water can sing me to sleep
That sky can do my crying
Seasons can have my goodbyes
The city can keep all its history
And leave me.

I have been beat, I'm not defeated
Not bitter not bound and not meek.
When disappointed is a slow burning fire
Let it drown under the sound of my feet.

If you want other lyrics then just please ask and, if you haven't already done so, her recently released sophomore solo album, Masters Of The Burial, is well worth a listen and I have the lyrics for that too.

2009 Isn't done yet - more new music, part 13

Over the last few days there has been lot of discussion about music in 2009 and, I have to admit, I've been involved in some of it whether that be in person or, as this evening on the likes of MySpace and perpetuating that, right here right now. That is fine, in so far as it goes, but why draw a line under 2009 in music when there are still two months to go? I know that the few weeks before Christmas may not be the best but surely that's no reason to write it off already and who knows from where it might come? In truth my wish-list is probably now longer than ever and here are just four rather diverse examples from it:

It seems an age since Norway's Anne Lilia Berge Strond (aka Annie) released her first solo LP 'Anniemal' and actually it was 2005. This one is her second and it is 'Don't Stop'.
Next up is an underrated star of the UK rock guitar scene, though to very good effect more recently prominent as the guitarist in Bat For Lashes' live band, she is former 'Ash' guitarist and solo artist Charlotte Hatherley.

Her second solo album , The Deep Blue (2007), garnered a reputation for being somewhat difficult to get to know, possibly not without reason and I have it on vinyl so that is not for want of trying, this one seems rather more approachable but that is not to say it is in any sense derivative, for it is not, rather she seems to be reinvigorated and if you have seen a live 'Bat For Lashes ' gig this year then it is surely not hard to understand why.

Next up is another band that I have mentioned before but this time one from France. A garage/rock/punk four-piece, with something curiously Parisinenne, 'Plasticines' return with their second album 'About Love', which is a follow on from 'LP1' (2007), except that it isn't quite as simple as that...

Zazie Tavitian left the band after the first album and has been replaced, albeit in a different rôle, by drummer Anaïs Vandevyvere.

Now that's interesting: but just try persuading almost anyone that France has home-grown pop (it most certainly does) and you will find it at best difficult, at worst Sisyphean. The very thought of trying to convince anyone that it has [even one] credible all-female rock band is almost too scary to contemplate. Why are we so blinkered?

To finish how could I possibly resist adding yet another album of folk/Americana to my list?

This one is the third release by Lisa Redford and one much championed by Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 - and the same 'whispering Bob Harris' for those of us whose memories can just about stretch back to the 'Old Grey Whistle Test'- therefore absolutely no chance whatsoever.

Leyland Kirby - The CD trilogy - Sadly, The Future Is Not What It Was

For the last six weeks or so you have witnessed my quest, ultimately successful, to obtain the trilogy of double-vinyl 12s released by Leyland Kirby. Whatever the reason - curiosity or incredulity come to mind - a large number of people have found themselves here as a result. If vinyl is simply not your thing I can understand that, and if you were unable to partake I sympathize, but a more readily available and more easily handled alternative is now available:

It has the same content as the vinyl releases, but on three CDs instead, and the same track listing and notes too (absolutely none at all) but new artwork. It is available as follows:

LEYLAND KIRBY - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (Deluxe Triple CD Edition)
Label: History Always Favours The Winners
3CD // £15.99 [approx. €17.60 and US$ 26.50] plus the appropriate shipping charges.
Released: Oct 2009
Catalogue Number: HAFTW001CD

While Amazon.co.uk list it, it is described as unavailable so they may as well not bother. It is however available from independent retailer Boomkat Records, Manchester, UK and they will ship internationally. The link to this item, including a review etc., is here:
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=236773

I'm listening to the whole lot, rather over four hours of it, from end-to-end for the first time and I can see a misty but near-full moon out of my skylight window. Perfect for Halloween and, were there wolves in Somerset, I expect that I would be able to hear them howling in the distance as I write...

There are, actually, but Longleat is just a little bit too far away and that puts me in mind of a very sad story from earlier this week: nineteen-year-old Taylor Mitchell, a promising (and award-nominated) Canadian folk singer-songwriter, was hiking in Cape Breton National Park, Nova Scotia, when she was attacked, fatally, by two coyotes; a shy animal not known as a species aggressive towards humans.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6895020.ece

Note added 3 November:

It is also available on mp3 from Boomkat for £8.99 (€10, US$14.75) but I don't actually know if that facility is available internationally.

What is new, what is not?

This is an interesting question right now... I'm thinking about all the new music I have heard - live, recorded and in some cases both - in 2009. That has also made me think more about the music, regardless of release date, that I have listened to most frequently in the last two months.

Much of it falls into both categories and a yet a considerable proportion does not. More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that even when it does I have never explicitly mentioned it. 'The Local', at EOTR 2009, might not be the most prepossessing tented venue in festival land but, for everything it lacks in that regard is more than made up in other ways. It is not particularly well appointed...

...and, if you are playing, you need to fix it for yourselves. It was also home to many artists that you simply don't yet know, but needed to see and hear, and this is is one of them.

Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo, live at EOTR 2009 and...

...this is the set-list for it.

These tracks come from two albums: Photos, Fires, Fables (2008) and Despite The Snow (2009), both of which I bought after seeing this live performance, and have been played countless times since. An act that employs piano accordion always stand a good chance of getting my attention and, as my luck would have it,this was just one of several that I have seen this year. Yesterday someone ended up here searching for "unusual musical instruments", a category that is in some ways in the ear of the beholder. I have seen a few played live this year, including bassoon, auto-harp, stylophone, several xylophones and also a few toy instuments too...

All Hallows Eve...

The traditional British late Autumn party-night, for kids especially, was the very obviously sectarian Guy Fawkes' Night, traditionally celebrated with fireworks, on 5th November. In the last decade or two it appears to have been eclipsed to some extent by another with which it, perhaps rather surprisingly, shares much in common.
You could advance many possible reasons for this, and with some justification, so here are two:

• Church of England and Catholic rapprochement.
• The creeping advance of (at least recently) US customs and celebrations.

I agree that the matter of Guy Fawkes and the grievances that Catholics harboured after the 'Reformation' makes it a sectarian issue and one that, after more than three centuries, still understandably touches a raw nerve. The interesting thing is that, if by adopting Halloween instead (adopted by the Church - long pre-reformation but banned by Cromwell during the 'Commonwealth' - as All Hallows Eve in early Medieval times), the differences have been smoothed over by celebrating something that was adopted, and carefully woven in, from Celtic Christian ritual that it in turn had adopted and were tenets of earlier pagan beliefs (and it is not the only one - Whitsun and Harverst Festival being others) instead. If that gets around the perceived problem then it is just fine by me and clearly time is a great healer.

So now we, or to use as an excuse the kids, have both fireworks and pumpkins!

Pumpkins are indeed something of a revelation: we used to have to make do with attempting to cut lanterns out of swede (called turnips in the north of England and Scotland). They are smaller, less colored and less translucent than pumpkins and they are, unfortunately, also industrially hard when uncooked!

So to the music that might fit such an occasion; as well as anything from my former suggestions in (2008) and (2007) here a few recent releases...

I've recently mentioned two 12" EPs by 'Demdike Stare', the shady side of Manchester's modern electronic witchcraft and, while they might be tricky to get before Saturday, this is the album and the track list is indeed most promising...

1. Suspicious Drone
2. Haxan Dub
3. Regressor
4. All Hallows Eve
5. Jannisary
6. Haxan
7. Extwistle Hall
8. Trapped Dervish
9. Nothing But The Night
10. Conjoined
    
11. Ghostly Hardware

I know that this is an even greater problem but, should you want to spend the whole day in what is, arguably, even more gloomy territory then James Leyland Kirkby is the one and I've alluded to this, the final part of the LP trilogy, already...

...don't imagine that only the kids will like the sweets and 'pumpkin hunt'.

There are two obvious trails through the darkness - the nu-acoustic/folk path or the ambient/ electronic path - and just take your choice but strange to relate they are not so different as you might expect. Less scary is the folk-orientated one and anything by 'The Smoke Fairies' would not go amiss.

Bring on the witches, fairies and the other forces of darkness and light any time... and how about a vampire or two?

If so then also add any 'Twilight' soundtrack that you can lay your fangs on and the latest, 'New Moon', features 'Death Cab For Cutie' and Ben Gibbard's haunting lyrics as well as many other highlights so what more can I say?

Enjoy!

Progress:Reform (revisited)...

This is for whoever just asked about the lyrics for 'Progress:Reform'. I was thinking about this today, if only by proxy. Is Royal Mail about to self destruct in a similar way?
It is quite possible and I have mentioned my concern before - look at the effect the miners' strike of 1983-4 had. Yes, it was an industry facing major issues of falling demand, over-staffing and tragically adversarial industrial relations but that is relevant. Royal Mail, I fear, is now staring into the same abyss and the result could be as damaging as that which harks back to the Railway industry of 1963, which is where this track (as yet incomplete in lyric as I have to do them line-by-line) comes from...

The Beeching Report

Is this the price we pay for progress?
Taking one step forwards
For every six we take back.
Does your dirty oil-stained money
Make you happy?

Do you just want to be remembered?
To book your place in history?
[You will be!] {whispered choir}
Reform, reform!

You are taking apart what we made
With our hands and and our hearts
Our hands and our hearts
Are not just tools to ply your trade.

They are ours to live our lives
And you are taking them away.
Feel free to wrap you hands around our necks
And I'll feel free to do the same.

That's not all of it and probably due to its length they didn't play it at Latitude 2009, more is the pity, but at least this is a start on the lyric. It is a remarkable piece of writing from a remarkable band.

Memories Live Longer Than Dreams --- Don't Look Down

It is something of a change, to say the least, to go to a gig with a group of friends. That was Bellowhead at the Cheese & Grain in Frome yesterday evening and what a show it was. I can quite truthfully say that I haven't seen one obviously better this year, and not for want of trying either, but personal preference might play a part. I have however seen a few that run it close, which only serves to show just how fortunate I have been, and it was on my doorstep! It was so good to have company that I never even thought to take any pictures, let alone take the measures needed to stand a chance of getting anything worthwhile, and I don't regret it for a moment.

The title of the post is however double-edged - it is also that of the final installment of the Leyland Kirby double-vinyl trilogy - and yes, I have! Now that is dealt with I think it time for another more sensible, or simply more varied, selection of new music I want.

That however is not a prospect that is going to test me any less...

Matty Groves, lyric, Alela Diane

Thank you to whosoever searched today for the lyric to 'Matty Groves', as performed by Alela Diane. A definitive answer is difficult, as I heard it live at 'End Of The Road 2009' and it is not, as far as I know, an Alela Diane album track but it was in so far as I could tell from memory quite faithful to the 'In Real Time - 1987' Fairport Convention' rendition and this is the lyric for that:

Matty Groves
A holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the year
Lord Donald's wife came into the church, the gospel for to hear
And when the meeting it was done, she cast her eyes about
And there she saw little Matty Groves, walking in the crowd
"Come home with me, little Matty Groves, come home with me tonight
Come home with me, little Matty Groves, and sleep with me till light"
"Oh, I can't come home, I won't come home and sleep with you tonight
By the rings on your fingers I can tell you are my master's wife"
"But if I am Lord Donald's wife, Lord Donald's not at home
He is out in the far cornfields bringing the yearlings home"

And a servant who was standing by and hearing what was said
He swore Lord Donald he would know before the sun would set
And in his hurry to carry the news, he bent his breast and ran
And when he came to the broad millstream, he took off his shoes and he swam

Little Matty Groves, he lay down and took a little sleep
When he awoke, Lord Donald was standing at his feet
Saying "How do you like my feather bed and how do you like my sheets
How do you like my lady who lies in your arms asleep?"
"Oh, well I like your feather bed and well I like your sheets
But better I like your lady gay who lies in my arms asleep"
"Well, get up, get up," Lord Donald cried, "get up as quick as you can
It'll never be said in fair England that I slew a naked man"
"Oh, I can't get up, I won't get up, I can't get up for my life
For you have two long beaten swords and I not a pocket knife"
"Well it's true I have two beaten swords and they cost me deep in the purse
But you will have the better of them and I will have the worse
And you will strike the very first blow and strike it like a man
I will strike the very next blow and I'll kill you if I can"

So Matty struck the very first blow and he hurt Lord Donald sore
Lord Donald struck the very next blow and Matty struck no more
And then Lord Donald took his wife and he sat her on his knee
Saying "Who do you like the best of us, Matty Groves or me?"
And then up spoke his own dear wife, never heard to speak so free
"I'd rather a kiss from dead Matty's lips than you or your finery"

Lord Donald he jumped up and loudly he did bawl
He struck his wife right through the heart and pinned her against the wall
"A grave, a grave," Lord Donald cried, "to put these lovers in
But bury my lady at the top for she was of noble kin."

If there are subtle differences then and with luck this will at least help you with the greater part of the remainder. It is a traditional song so bear in mind that there are probably many versions of both the lyric and its accompaniment in existence and, in particular, I think Joan Baez may have recorded one that is notably different.

Added October 15, 2009:
Well here's something interesting that reinforces the point about alternate versions, even ones by the same artist.
The lyric above may actually be that to an idealized or a recorded version. I've just listened to 'Matty Groves' from 'In Real Time - 1987' Fairport Convention' very carefully indeed and they are are some subtle differences:
Some are totally trivial and are common in any canon but one, which struck me as being rather more significant, is that in the live version the servant who relays the tale of adultery is now female (consistently so, therefore I don't think I have misheard it) and the wronged party is Lord Arnold (not Lord Donald). It answers another issue that struck me as slightly strange yesterday evening:
Why would yearlings (sheep, cattle or any other kind) be in cornfields? It seemed rather strange agricultural practise to me, but then what do I know? Listen carefully and it is this:

He is out in the far country bringing the yearlings home.

That makes much more sense and 'the far country' is a well known, if somewhat archaic, term for the distant parts on one's estates, if one were lucky enough to have so much as the ground beneath one's feet to call ones own! The Lord Donald/Lord Arnold dichotomy may be merely a regional variation, each using the name of a local dignitary or a play on it, as much traditional music was carefully veiled sedition in any case.

Much later, still to this day indeed, there are regional variations even though the locations may not be far apart at all. The song 'Stanley Market' (Co. Durham), dating from the 19th century I suspect, is 'Bedlington Market' when just across the Tyne in Northumberland. It is recognizably the same song but, as above, the lyrics vary somewhat.

New Music 2009 - Major labels and foreign language music.

Don't say that I didn't warn you because I did so yesterday. Why am I suddenly being positive about some major label releases? That is easy to answer and, really quite selfishly, because they are releasing music that I want to listen to and I have no problem with that whether it is self-released or done under the auspices of a major label.

I have no problem with foreign-language music either and have posted about this before. I've got most of the released recorded output of both and so, on that basis, I don't reckon I'm taking much of a risk here!

Strange to relate that Shakira is here, but with the album that is mostly in English although her native language is Spanish (and three albums with major releases in that language alone), but the all-Spanish album is this...

She is Canadian, of Portuguese origin, but has chosen to release her fourth album entirely in Spanish and the reviews that I have read, of both these albums, are glowing. If you have a open mind about new music, and given the kind of music I like, you can probably see why they are both on my wish list.

Not that I have any details, yet alone album art, but another to watch out for, and another Canadian singer/songwriter on a mission to surprise, is the album 'Joy' by Fefe Dobson (21 Records) and failing that try this instead.

For the background to this, her third album, which I said I would buy even if I had heard nothing from it, see this link:
http://rpgreenhalgh.blogspot.com/2009/02/driving-to-idaho-what-happened-to.html

Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was

I'm back from a break in posting, but not listening, with more than a few things to share. It is a while now since I've added a "New Music I Want..." post.

In another two months it will be the time for that "Best of..." consideration again but what immediately strikes me is that while most items I want are recent they are very varied. This is to the extent that they need to be divided in to several posts, or at least that is my current assessment and one of them, shock horror, is going to be about new releases by major label artists. Not just that, this is about releases that I actually want!

This, however, is at the other end of the scale altogether...

Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was - #2 in a trilogy of vinyl LPs by Leyland Kirkby.

Like the last (and the next) it is only available on 2 x 12" vinyl each limited to 450 copies worldwide. Cheerful it is not but cheer up: once the vinyl is all done there will be a 3-CD release incorporating all six LPs so the future isn't quite so bad after all and, furthermore, it is curiously uplifting listening.

The Fine Art Of Surfacing.

This is for whoever just asked about it and because, as I mentioned last week, I Don't Like Mondays either.

It is now thirty years old and this is an original - Ensign Records ENROX11 on vinyl.

(click the image to open in a new tab)

Once the hell raiser himself, now long the voice of worldwide compassion, but at least one of his daughters tows-the-party-line. That is so rock-n-roll but, with Peaches as a name, who can blame her? It is, however, still a great album.

Here, as a complete aside, is another picture from Acoustic+ on Friday - live and local:

Ladyraz live at Acoustic+, 25 September 2009.

Recode - Live and Local 2

I've seen plenty of great new and less-than-new acts this summer and they have come from most continents, so perhaps that might result in a sense of overload?
It is still however a very special thing to be able leave home for a venue that is ten minutes away on foot. The music is good, and £4 ($6.50, €4.50) for four bands is a bargain and almost all in my experience are well worth seeing.
Yesterday evening the acts at Acousic+ were all good but one was quite remarkable for the publicity and mobilisation of their fan base, which was obvious from the moment one arrived at the venue, but publicity does not always a good act make!

That for me was Recode but in this case it lived up to the hype. Formed just ten months ago it is not only good musically but also amazingly professional. It was actually (guitarist) James' 21st birthday and what a way to celebrate it!

That is in itself not enough but it also has a definite, tight, clean and complete sound that is certainly not immediately derivative and also great original songs.

Wonderful. Stand-out songs for me are 'Consequence' and thus described "this one is a newbie" 'Today'.

Beacons, Black Ice and crossed-wires

It is autumn here now even though the weather is still remarkably good generally. This evening when driving from work I took the back-route home, which is through some woods, and while there was the faintest drizzle in the air you didn't need that or the slowly changing colours of the leaves to indicate it because you could just smell that it was now autumn. The UK is not a country of great climatic extremes, or indeed climate at all, which is probably why we are obsessed with the random variability of our weather instead.

Now why have I mentioned that you might ask? Well, much music has associations in as much to say it goes better with some seasons or weather or other associations (even if the they actually have to be experienced in foreign climes). If that were not true then surely the attractions of Ibiza would be no more than those of the Isle of Wight. (The latter does, to be fair, however host two major festivals and is thus trying very hard indeed and the sun shone at Bestival 2009, I am told.) I also think that opening a festival is an unenviable task...

It is often like this. There is always an amazing feeling when I come across an album that is show-stopping, which I was quite unacquainted with, but this is it seems even better if it happens live and that is why I waited ten days to order the album. [It arrived today, hence the comment.]

To hear a full set by a band live in such circumstances, and then twice in one day, was something quite new to me and I wondered if the album would then prove a disappointment in some way. Not a bit of it... it is a wonderful album and while much of it has ostensibly weather related themes, predominantly winter ones, they are as much metaphorical as literal.

In fact the album could equally well have been called 'Crossed Wires'. This is the interior artwork on the CD (Bella Union - BELLACD199) but the front cover has a clue to this even though the wires are barely above the snow.

It is very difficult to chose any favourite tracks but Black Ice is an obvious contender.

Black Ice

I took the bus down Bathurst Street and saw where,
all the lonely people meet down there.
I sat on a pile of cigarettes and blew,
icicles with one sharp breath towards you.

There's black ice, no sign.

Temper me and temper this I've tried,
to fit in everything in a small time.
The winter brings a heaviness, this weight,
is a hand over the things I shouldn't say.

There's black ice, no sign.

They are a seven-piece, much given to changing and swapping instruments, so even their festival-opening set on the 'The Big Top Stage' Friday lunchtime was a fairly complicated affair. It was however as nothing when compared to their 'surprise session' appearance at 2am Saturday on the tiny stage in the Tipi Tent, not least because for some of it they were joined by fellow Torontans 'The Acorn'.

That made eleven of them on a tiny stage and it was another blistering performance.

Now try to sort out the out all the wires.

I Don't Like Mondays.

Autumn isn't so bad, even though it is Monday and one that marks the point at which for the next six months it will be dark more than it is light. It is however, with the exception of the six weeks from the start of December to early January a very good time for new music.
I did note, with minor dismay, that Sir Cliff Richard was at #40 in the BBC singles chart yesterday and please don't even consider an attempt at UK Christmas #1 .
That quibble aside, and if I have enough new music, I'm pretty contented. Last Saturday somebody asked me about my favourite albums of 2009 and, while slightly informative, I hinted that it was my hope that at least a quarter of them haven't even been released yet as it is still only September. I am still finding ones that in truth should have been worthy of inclusion in my lists for 2007 and 2008 and the long-list for 2009 is looking like a challenge to come in a couple of months time.
The sheer diversity is perhaps what intrigues me most but then again that is the target I set myself back in 2000. Pop is most certainly still not a dirty word but the fact is that, almost a decade later, not only am I sticking to the original concept it has also evolved into something far beyond what I envisaged and that surprises and pleases me in equal measure.

Three very different 2009 releases - all excellent in their own genre and all on vinyl.