New Music 2018 - Part 19 - I'm All Ears - Let's Eat Grandma

I have taken a month off blogging but that certainly doesn't mean that I haven't been listening; be that recorded or live. I spent a wonderful three days at a brand new folk festival last weekend too. There will be plenty about that here sooner rather than later.

To ease back into writing this seemed an obvious start. It isn't folky at all. It is precipitated by the release of the second full-length album by a band that I saw live last summer.

I'm All Ears - Let's Eat Grandma (Transgressive Records, 29 June 2018).

The twisted pop and psychedelic leanings of their début LP 'I, Gemini' were quite something. It is worth noting that Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth are not twins, indeed they are not even siblings. Both from Norwich they met at the start of primary school education. It was certainly a very adept album release, or at least I thought so. Then I saw Let's Eat Grandma live. That is the point at which I realised this was something very special.

Let's Eat Grandma, Big Top stage, End Of The Road Festival, 2 September 2017.

Difficult second album syndrome? My inclination is that this is every bit the equal of their first and, if anything, even more surprising. They do eclecticism and see no reason to apologize for that. This album covers a lot of ground in its eleven tracks and 51 minutes. It is all the more likeable for that.

Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears:

• Whitewater
• Hot Pink
• It's Not Just Me
• Falling Into Me
• Snakes & Ladders
• Missed Call (1)
• I Will Be Waiting
• The Cat's Pyjamas
• Cool & Collected
• Ava
• Donnie Darko

It is also not the only album that I have that includes a song 'Cat's Pyjamas'; there is another quite different one of that name on the 2003 album 'Amorino' by Isobel Campbell! It is another beautifully off-kilter LP that is worth your attention, as it happens. It is here.

New Music - Part 26 - Kevin Devine

Kevin Devine is probably little known, at least to most of us here in the UK. He has used crowd-funding to produce two albums, one acoustic and the other not, that will be released shortly and simultaneously (and that is an interesting concept in itself).
Here is a track, For Eugene, from one of them.
The oh-so-subtle, that you might hardly even notice, backing vocal is courtesy of Isobel Campbell. It is a far cry from her three albums (and an EP) with Mark Lanegan, but equally an extremely interesting call to arms.

I have only become to know of this in the last hour. I'm always really pleased to hear about things like this. 

Thoughts of Festivals - Latitude 2011 again.

I decided to continue the theme. Almost as soon as I posted the previous one I was already half hoping that someone will convince me to change my mind.
Here are some more photos from Latitude 2011, starting on the main Obelisk Stage again and then working through the others.
  

Wanda Jackson covering Amy Winehouse's 'You Know I'm No Good'.

That it has a clock in it as rather strange: in her introduction to the song Jackson spoke of her concern for Ms. Winehouse's health.  Almost exactly a week later it was announced that she was dead.
  

Isobel Campbell again, on the same stage that her former band Belle and Sebastian had headlined on the Saturday in 2010.

A highlight for me this year, and not just because it is tented and out of the rain, was the Word Arena; they had done a pretty good job of picking the acts for this and they were very varied, which formed the basis of the post about Festival Variety in late July. Here are a couple more pictures from the Saturday.

I have only ever seen a few acts that come from New Zealand performing live. Ladyhawke (second album eagerly awaited) and Otago's Ruby Suns being two that come to mind. This is the lead vocalist of the third one...
  

Alisa Xayalith of The Naked and Famous during a volcanic set.

  

As the rain continued to fall some good old-fashioned party spirit was needed and what better to conjure that than Bellowhead?  Complete with a fiddle-duel.

  

That is the two larger stages done, at least for now, with the Lake Stage and Sunrise Arena to follow soon.

Its funny what you miss, its funny what you don't...

They are back and not just in knitwear, although that is what the image above is of. Neither can it erase the memory of the circumstances in which I lost my "Old World Underground..." t-shirt.

I miss Metric, a lot, but they have promised a new album - already in the can - that will be released in early 2009.

Here's another surprise: Sunday at Devil Dirt was certainly one good thing in 2008; now Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan have spoiled us with a bonus for Christmas! It is a CD EP called 'Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart' and, while the title track does feature on the album the other five here, also recorded during the album sessions, do not and tend to be more mellow than those tracks that appeared on the album.

The artwork for the EP...

...probably mirrors the sentiment and 'Asleep On A Sixpence' and
'Rambing Rose, Creeping Vine' particularly do so.

Dog days, please smile down upon us...

This follows from a post I added last year, Soothing Music for Days That Bode Ill, which apparently still has resonance with others judging from the number of times that post has been visited in the last couple of weeks. It is no secret that I often still feel the same way too and, while I can recommend those albums no less a year later, the world has not stayed the same.
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan have since released Sunday at Devil Dirt and the remainder of the lyrics are here. As one of 'The Gutter Twins' Mark Lanegan has also released an album with Greg Dulli, which is another that I would like to hear but either the music, or merely my appreciation of it, has expanded again.

Empty dish is still sitting where I'm gonna leave it.
This lamp hasn't been lit in quite a long while,
The wick doesn't reach what's left of the oil.
And the rain is coming and I'm overcome.

These bad newspapers they pile up unread
Dogs gaze out the windows, I know how they feel.
Adventure! adventure! Or sit by the door?
Open, open sesame! I'm overcome.

Figurines, dripping faucets, laundry and dust,
I hate to leave this a mess but I must....

Keepsakes can be anchors and anvils and such.
Like pianos and pets and the people we love.
I can't change the world from this place on MySpace
Spiders tag walls with their names in this place.

Figurines, dripping faucets, laundry and dust,
I hate to leave this a mess but I must...

Oh its never a clean break when you're trying to leave
But song birds need homes in live oak trees.

Maybe I've just not got the right idea about what I think they might be but I can't yet figure out the lyrics for the two lines that follow:
I hate to leave this a mess but I must...

Can anyone help? The song remains however, despite the time I've spent trying to figure those lyrics, one of my favourite album tracks of 2008 and it is 'Overcome' from the album Anchors and Anvils by Amy LaVere.

Leaving that topic aside for a moment, here is another album that rather appealed when I read about it. Some might say that it is slightly twee folksy Americana and had I simply invented that which follows, just to amuse myself this evening, I know that you would not have believed me.

The thing is that I didn't tell fibs - indie label Static Caravan released it - and it is VAN161.

It is of the most improbable heritage. The two acts that combined to produce this met on MySpace. Neither of them come from America and, at least at the time of its release, never the twain had met!
One of them, Phelan Sheppard, is a Londoner signed to Leeds-based The Leaf Label best known in this blog as the home of Parisienne Colleen (Cécile Schott) and her beguiling ambient/electronica, while the other half of the equation is moomLooo in Tokyo.

Held to a promise...

Earlier this week I said I would complete the lyrics of 'Sunday at Devil Dirt' sooner rather than later. Today I was held to my promise and issued with a challenge.
The source was http://www.alwaysontherun.net/ and, while this kind of thing may not always be possible in such a short time frame, here they are.

Piano Tango

This has no lyric, it is an instrumental track.


The Flame That Burns

The flame that burns
Flame that burns
The flame that burns
Flame that burns

The flame that burns
Flame that burns
The flame that burns
Flame that burns

Takes you through the years
Takes you through the pain
Can't stop the tears when they fall like rain
For the flame that burns
Flame that burns

Beware my child
Beware
Take care my friend
Got to take care

You don't know who to love
Don't know who to trust
When it hurts so bad blood flows where it must
For the flame that burns
Flame that burns

Unto eternity
One day we shall
We shall be free
When stars rain down like dust

Have heart my child
Oh but you must
Don't you hang your head
Don't you feel no shame

If I were with you now
I would do the same
For the flame that burns
Flame that burns


Shotgun Blues

Oooh daddy layin' on my bed
Oooh daddy layin' on my bed
You'd better take that shotgun
And fill it full of lead

Oooh daddy love to hear you moan, low
Oooh daddy love to hear you moan
I know the night's for rambling
But baby come on home

Oooh daddy climbing on your knee
Oooh daddy climbing on your knee
Got an itch needs scratching
You take good care of me


Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart

If you ever find that you've fallen behind
Please keep me in mind sweetheart
If your love is true then the money's on you
And you'll know what to do sweetheart

Summer was high when you caught my eye
Though I was pledged to another
The feeling was strong when you came along
Now Lord only knows how I suffer

Oh I hope you change your mind
Leave that old love behind
Just keep me in mind sweetheart
Please keep me in mind sweetheart

If it's part of God's plan
Then you'll find where I am
Just keep me in mind sweetheart
Please keep me in mind sweetheart


Something To Believe

There's a mocking bird
Singing in the tree
Outside my window
Looking down on me
Give me a reason
Something to believe
Another season
I will sit and grieve

That bad old sun
Forever shining on
The world keeps turning
Though my hope is gone
I close my eyes
And when the day is done
I hang my head
And dream about no one

Show me direction
And I'm good to go
I'm trying hard
Always fall so low
And when I fall
There'll be another star
I'm chasing my tail
Always running

Oh it is so hard
With the answers I find
Weary of heart
Weary soul
Weak of mind
Oh it is so hard

Now you heard my song
Will you turn and go?
Give me a reason
And I'll say it's so
If you stand by me
I could never leave.

You'd be the reason
Something to believe.

Something to believe.
Something to believe.
Something to believe.


Trouble

Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day
Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day

When the neon lights that find you
Leave our memory far behind you
Down the line I will remind you
Listen how I love you

Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day
Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day

When the world steals all hope from you
Woder where you dreams have gone to
You're the one I still belong to
Listen why I love you


Sally Don't You Cry

Oh Sally don't you cry
Oh Sally don't you cry
A man's a man
Does the best he can
Oh Sally don't you cry

Oh Sally don't you moan
Oh Sally don't you moan
Go hang up the phone
Give the dog a bone
Oh Sally don't you moan

Sally it ain't so bad
Sally it ain't so bad
I see you are mad
But he's the best you've had
Sally it ain't so bad

Oh Sally sail on by
Sweet Sally sail on by
Oh the times are hard when you question why
Oh Sally sail on by
Oh Sally sail on by
Oh Sally sail on by

Sunday at Devil Dirt

To whoever asked here today about the lyrics to 'Sunday at Devil Dirt' here are those for the first side of the 12" LP and I'll try to add the rest in the next couple of days. They are taken from the inner sleeve of that release.

Seafaring Song

I travelled the world around
Wandered far from home
Sailed the ocean 'neath foreign skies
Still further to roam
Back into my baby's arms
Safe from this world of woe
That was such a long, long time ago.

Captain hollered
The cabin boy stared into the sun
Shadows waltzing so close behind
Ever far I run
Back into my baby's arms
Safe from this world of woe
That was such a long, long time ago.

Sirens capture my trembling heart
What's to be will be
Moon is hidden
The deal is done
Spread her wings o'er me
Back into my baby's arms
Rising soft and low
That was such a long, long time ago.


The Raven

And in the dawning of a day in late September
There came a weeping from outside my chamber door
Weary from fever I rose up, looked out, beheld her
A raven with a broken wing yet nothing more.

I turned my head but once and bird became a damsel
With lips of cherry, ivory skin and lustrous hair
Opened the doorway wide and smiled for her to enter
None in my lifetime ever seen a beast so rare.

Sweet thighs of ruin how I loved her and I loved her
She muttered low and held me to her infant breast
Deliverance was long and strong as god's my witness
Babylon burning, sorrow numbed with each caress

You came (and let the night in)
You came (for you were broken)
To hold, to heal, to touch
You needed me too much

And with the meadowlark when all had done their duty
The morning glory vine awoke with dew below
I breathed my last the day the warning bell as knelling
She smoothed her feathers down flew back out my window.

You came (and let the night in)
You came (for you were broken)
To hold, to heal, to touch
You needed me too much.
(repeat x 3)


Salvation

Salvation salvation
I never really wanted to believe
I always thought you flattered to deceive
Salvation salvation
My blood is flowing slowly like the tide
And blood is thick and so's my old grey hide

Gotta get up and moan (x4)

And I went out in that bad old world to roam
And I was like a stranger coming home

Salvation salvation
I'm fortune's son and I took what I could get
I loved you dear and I never will forget
Salvation salvation
When my bridges burned all I saw was you
On the other side too good to be true.

Gotta get up and moan (x4)

And I went out in that bad old world to roam
And I was like a stranger coming home
And I went out in that bad old world to roam
And I was like a stranger coming home


Who Built The Road

Who built the road that led to my self esteem?
Twisted and crushed black metal and bones
Who passed the buck who pressed my flesh to yours
Spilling like wine and sweeter than tears?

Oh I hope we more than survive
With trembling visions that terrify
So who built the road, who turned it all around?
Pick though the wreck scramble in the dust

Who built the road, who was the foolish one?
Step at a time two hearts in the fire
Who lit the touch? Who fanned the flames
With sparks in the dust-spent rivers of desire?

Oh why don't we learn from mistakes
We stumble along with so many more to make
So who built the road? Who could foresee
That the answers we sought were many miles to go?

We were so lonely at times
Fading away, sitting side by side
And we built the road, we were the chain gang
The cross that I bore the devil at my side
Dark angel within the everlasting fire.


Come On Over (Turn Me On)

Like a thief crawling through the night
Like a drunk brawling in a fight
How should I know what is right from wrong?
Come on over, turn me on.

Sunday best, you're my favourite suit
You make the team, you're no substitute
I know baby I'm your favourite song
Listen up and come on over, turn me on

Is it any wonder?
Is it any wonder how we lay awake all night?
Is it any wonder?
Hoping one day I see the light.



Tell me baby, tell me pretty lies
See the spider been out catching flies
When you leave me I know it won't be long
Before you come on over, turn me on.

Is it any wonder?
Is it any wonder how we lay awake all night?
Is it any wonder?
Hoping one day I see the light.

Like a blind man driving at the wheel
Like a hound dog scratching out a meal
You and I both know where you belong
Come on over, turn me on.


Backburner

Put it on the back burn momma
I ain't gonna let you down
Put it on the back burn momma
Promise you I'll stick around

Everyone up and hidin'
Bump and grindin'
I ain't gonna let you down
Promise you I'll stick around

Put it on the back burn momma
I ain't gonna let you down
Put it on the back burn momma
Promise you I'll stick around

Everybody up and hiding
No back sliding
I ain't gonna let you down
Promise you I'll stick around

Put it on the back burn momma
I ain't gonna let you down
Put it on the back burn momma
Promise you I'll stick around

New albums I want ...

Like some fictional character - in this case Piglet - I'm minded to shout "Help, help and rescue!" My problem is however a very enviable one and it is simply too much new music (that I want to listen to) appearing too fast.
I'll do my best and continuing the female singer/songwriter theme of recent posts here is another one who, to be honest, could keep a modestly ambitious label in albums all on her own. Her last studio album was Harpo's Ghost back in 2006 - which for her, if not for Portishead, is an age between albums!

Liejacker will be released on 19th May and is her eighth studio album in ten years, which is particularly impressive for someone who is still just twenty-eight. I haven't heard the new album yet but I strongly suspect that the title gives something away; if it is not political, pugnacious and possibly rather stripped back to basics I shall be both wrong and disappointed. It does, I believe, have the occasional guest contribution and most notable amongst them is Joan Baez.

Another under-appreciated star of the UK female singer-songwriter world releases an album this Monday (12th May). She is Isobel Campbell and this is her second collaboration with Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Gutter Twins, &c.).

That's finally fixed! You can find lyrics for some of the tracks here and I've kept the linked sites transparent:
http://www.lyred.com/lyrics/Isobel+Campbell/Sunday+at+Devil+Dirt/
http://www.songs-lyrics.net/al-Isobel-Campbell-lyrics-Sunday-at-Devil-Dirt-lyrics-lmoolra.html

The 12" has all the lyrics on the back cover so, if you want them, please just ask (using comment or e-mail).

If it is anywhere near as good as Ballad Of The Broken Seas (2006) it won't be in my CD player forever --- but that is simply because 'V2 Records' have made it available on vinyl. It is true that Campbell now has a higher profile than when, in 2002, she left Belle and Sebastian but that is not to deny that this remains an album that should be better known. So should the earlier ones and this is the first...

Belle & Sebastian "Tigermilk" (1996).

Post-2002 she released two albums as 'Gentle Waves' and then, simply as Isobel, the remarkable Amorino. There are others too, not least three more B&S albums recorded before she left the band, and so here we have another creative powerhouse.

Soothing music for days that bode ill...

One morning earlier this week, and for some reason not readily apparent even to me, I felt particularly unenthusiastic about the thought of going to work. I got in the car and turned up the CD loud, somewhat forgetful of the fact that the previous morning (when I was feeling rather positive) I had changed the CDs in the auto-changer.
The CD that came on was something that I bought on a whim when it came out but had not really paid much attention to ever since. The album in question was Ballad of The Broken Seas - Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - released in early 2006 and garnering a nomination later that year for The Mercury Prize, which was won by 'The Arctic Monkeys'.

It did the trick for me though - the day passed quickly as the few tracks I heard on the journey to work spent the day going rounded in my head and they reminded me of why I had taken a chance on this album in the first place; that was because I already owned a 2003 release called Amorino, also by Isobel Campbell. As soon as I got home that evening I listened to both in full and was blown away (again).
Ballad of The Broken Seas features an as seemingly unlikely pairing of vocalists as ever there were; her dreamy soprano voice is of the almost-not-there kind (Amorino showcases this beautifully), while his previous output - on solo albums, with Seattle' s 'Screaming Trees' or when collaborating with 'Queens of the Stone Age' - is a full and gritty roar and, at least on his solo albums, also depressingly down-beat.

It was to prove an inspired collaboration; as well as providing contrasting but also amazingly complementary vocals there is a real spark there. It, and the Mercury nomination, allowed Campbell to incorporate influences from Americana in her music and finally get away from the tag "twee-pop" that her detractors have tended to pin to her music thus far.

I bought Amorino before Ballad of The Broken Seas was released but if you are new to her music, whether the post 'Belle and Sebastian' work (she left that band in 2002) or B&S pre-2002, then I suggest you might do better to start with Ballad of The Broken Seas as it is probably more easily accessible. Amorino can be rather "strange" at times and no more so than the wonderfully weird track 'The Cat's Pyjamas'.

All this led me on a hunt for other items in my music collection that were both of a calming "chill-out" nature and that I hadn't listened to much for some time.