Black Is The New Black

Note added 18 May 2009:
***Nancy Black live in Frome - 5 June 2009 as part of Acoustic Plus at the Cheese and Grain***

Yesterday I mentioned the part that traditional music shops still have to play in the current music environment. One aspect that has changed immeasurably in the digital age is one that is as new and as revolutionary as downloading and yet less often mentioned in wider circles. What is that?
Well, for better or for worse, you are reading one of many manifestations of it!
User created digital content has just made the sharing of music easy and global, it has done the same for the sharing of information about it. Barely a decade ago the truism was that 'everyone is local to somewhere' now, thanks to the internet, it might better be summed up as 'anyone is local everywhere', or at least have we have the means to exploit that potential if that is what we want to attempt.
If you hear a band or album that surprises you can review it for an audience of millions - almost instantly and for next to no cost except your time and effort. The obvious question I think is this: "Isn't that too good to be true?"
"Yes and no" is my unhelpful but considered answer. If I can have my opinion I have to accept that you can have yours too, that you can let me know it, and that we might not agree. That is part of the bargain and why I will publish comments to this blog even if I don't actually agree with them. One outcome that critics levelled at this explosion of content, be it MySpace or customer reviews on Amazon or blogs, was that it would create homogeneity based on the lowest common-denominator. It might not be thus if I were a music critic by profession, but from my point of view it has been anything but that way. Everyone is still local to somewhere, just now I know about artists that in the earlier situation I would almost certainly never knew existed.

Add to that is the fact that there is plenty of local live music worth hearing. I have mentioned Bristol-based Phantom Limb before and their gigs at the Griffin Inn are already local legend and they play there again on 2 April 2009.
The previous evening, and just a couple of minutes stroll away, is the opportunity to see another local act that is gathering good reviews from further afield:

www.myspace.com/nancyblackmusic

Is the hype justified? I'd say that it is.

On the subject of hyped artists or acts one that most certainly has been so in recent months is London's Florence and the Machine, so you might think that new releases are easily available in the UK. Well that is not quite so, and another example of the fact that it has not become a case of one-size-fits-all globalisation. I have the A Lot Of Love, A Lot Of Blood 12" EP on pre-order...

...and while it is from Puregroove in London, is a US import item only!

Even in these digital days...

Once upon a time every town had a record store and they were there for browsing, talking and a source of unbiased (well mostly) advice. They of course reaped their reward by tempting you to buy things!

In these days of digital downloads, Myspace and and the like you might think that they are no more. It is true that they are now rare but they still exist and, along with the ongoing popularity of live music and vinyl, are determined to fight for a place amongst the new order. In fact they are now more valuable than ever and a resource to be cherished. Those that exist remain places where enthusiasm, shared by the staff, exceeds all else - and it is possible to claim that the pub band you saw last night is the next big thing whilst also admitting the need for an old Donovan album; for research purposes only you understand!
Most now also do on-line sales in a very professional way, and it is something in which they can excel, and I have mentioned many as sources of various items, often on vinyl or otherwise unavailable, already on these posts and they are scattered across the UK. Several are, unsurprisingly, in London. Puregrove is one (and now also a label) that I have mentioned before and this is another.

Rough Trade - a record label and also a record store or two.

This one is not a label but it is in fact the oldest continuously trading record store in the world...

Spillers, in Cardiff since 1896.

What I have never done is to mention that, fifteen minutes walk from home, there is just such an establishment. [Click on the images below to enlarge and these were taken by me yesterday morning.]

In fact there are two parts - the above is the one that specializes in physical digital formats - and a couple of doors away is the other branch...

They all deserve, and really need, your support.

Latitude 2009

Just a very quick note: Tickets for the fourth installment of Latitude, held as always at Henham Park, Suffolk, went on sale at 7pm UST (GMT) this evening - 23 March 2009. It sold out well in advance in 2008, so don't ponder too long before joining in. The dates are 17 - 19 July 2009, with the camping area opening from around midday on 16 July.
The main stage headline acts are:

Friday: Grace Jones
Saturday: The Pet Shop Boys
Sunday: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

For the latest additions see here Latitide 2009 - news and for criticism see here.

I was there in 2007 and 2008 and, don't even doubt it, I'm going again in 2009.

See you there?

Preaching To A True Believer...

I receive regular bulletins from amazon.co.uk and amazon.com and that is fine as I have signed up for them. Earlier this week I received one that made me smile like the Cheshire Cat. While on that subject I might mention that in 2002 said mythical feline lent its name to the first album by 'Blink 182'. More importantly I well remember the days, in the penultimate decade of the last millennium, when hands were wrung, prayers said and obituaries written.
It started thus:

Dear Customer,

Everyone knows music sounds best on vinyl. As you've bought or browsed vinyl-related products, we thought we'd let you know about some of the 260,000 plus vinyl records we have on site. With everything from classic albums to new releases in every genre--be it an old folk 12" or the latest DJ favourite--you're bound to find something to add to your collection.

'No shit, Sherlock!' is to wantonly borrow the title of a column that specialises in abstracting statements of the obvious in the free paper Metro, which is widely distributed on public transport in the UK, but all credit to Amazon too: Some, even many, new vinyl releases are local or otherwise limited in some way, and that makes life difficult for a mass-market player but I can't fault Amazon for trying and the Marketplace sellers are also a vital resource and they can frequently supply things not easily found on Amazon itself:

The world has become a small place for illegal downloading and for legal vinyl.
Artist: Irish; Release: US 12" vinyl only; £4.60 (UK, delivered) and tangible :-)

Vinyl has, despite the current poor Sterling exchange rates, become cheaper in real terms than it was twenty years ago and is also - and this was an issue particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s - now usually of unimpeachable quality with 180g being the gold standard but even lighter ones are usually excellent too.

Then there are the myriad other releases, often also (sometimes only), available on vinyl. One such that I have on order and am much looking forward to is the début solo single 'Wounded Bird' by La B, who has already appeared in this archive in a different guise, and it is available to pre-order from Spillers Records in Cardiff (scheduled release date - 23 March 2009).

Note added: 22 March 2009:
This 7" single will now be released on 30 March 2009.

From Home To Home and 6 Day Riot

Several people have arrived here looking for this album in the last week or two and I couldn't see quite why. Now I've twigged and realised that there is an on-going problem with the 'I've just listened to:' list on the side-bar.
I try to link items with blog posts that they obviously refer to but it is such a spider-web that to do so comprehensively is not really possible; not least because I will be completely unaware of many of the connections.
You have two direct options here: tell me what I've missed and ask me if I know what you want (e-mail), or just start a discussion (please feel free to use anonymous comments if you prefer).

Here is one album that it would seem to fall in that category; I have it, included it in my 'I've just listened to:' list but I have never specifically posted about it:

From Home To Home - Tamara Schlesinger (2004)

You should still be able to find this very commendable album on CD at a reasonable price but given that the band she currently fronts, 6 Day Riot, is in the ascendency it might be better to do so sooner rather than later and not least because their first album, Folie à Deux (2007), is in another league - one of those rarities on which I find it near impossible to choose my most or least favourite tracks. Lyrics to both these albums are available if you ask.

6 Day Riot is on tour soon - click image below to enlarge :-)

New music I want in 2009 - Part 4

Every twenty years or so it happens; somewhere that has neither an obvious right nor reason to threaten the very core of music suddenly rises from its place, as generally regarded in musical terms at least, as the epitome of nowhere remarkable to the very top of the pile. No city has bettered Seattle in that respect - and happily it doesn't change everything. They were still playing The Eagles and Dire Straits incessantly on local radio in Seattle when I was there in 1999 - fully a decade after it became the fuzzy-felt board of 'grunge'; a creation that borrowed from aspects of heavy rock, metal and glam-rock all used in varying proportions. At times, although this might seem a curious observation now, it also featured whimsy and (sometimes cunningly satirical) humour in the lyrics.
The zenith of grunge lasted less than five years; some of the pieces stuck and others just fell off but its legacy, and it is almost worldwide, remains very apparent two decades later. Sub Pop, lest it be forgotten or should the young at heart now feel less so, is still going strong and celebrated its twentieth birthday in 2008 with a party headlined by Pearl Jam.
Little wonder therefore that it is hard to predict what might happen next. I wonder if the average American music consumer has even the faintest idea that Blackpool is on the NW coast of England? I don't know if they have pub quizzes in the US but, if they do, it might be useful to know and, like the famous Blackpool trams, you can wait for ages and then two strange things will arrive almost at once! Blackpool already has, in the artist 'Little Boots', one of the most hyped new UK acts of 2009 but it also has another very likely to become well known. The interesting thing is that they sound nothing like each other or for that matter bear any resemblance to the Seattle revolution of twenty years ago. At least that is not apparently so!
'Little Boots' is all electronic, italo-disco and that sort of thing, and is looking like one of the 'flavours of 2009'. She is finishing her début album in Los Angeles but the trans-Atlantic love doesn't end there - as you will probably already know if you've tried to find a copy of her US-only 12" Arecibo EP. I have no problem with that at all but, although also from Blackpool, Karima Francis isn't part of that scene: she's a singer-songwriter who mainly composes songs on acoustic guitar. There are many who say that there are more than enough of those already. They may yet be wrong.

The Author - Karima Francis

Blackpool aside the one thing that they have in common, and before either has released a studio album, is that both can reliably reduce a live audience - including press reviewers - to putty whilst leaving them feeling awestruck rather than manipulated. In 2009, as never before, that is a pretty trick.

Another artist making waves, and from just across the sea in Dublin, is Laura Izibor... Irish soul would be an alternative listening choice on 17 March!

Kathryn Tickell - NXNE versus SXSW!

SXSW is the largest "altenative-indie" showcase in the world and it takes place in venues across Austin, TX each March. Although called a festival it is much more an industry convention but strange in that sense. In an industry that is in many sectors on the verge of desperation, it also has the ability to bring UK artists to popular attention here as well, if not more so, than in North American markets. It has probably also done much to increase the profile of US-based folk/roots/country inspired music in the UK, something that has been a very apparent, and in my view welcome, trend in the last three years or so.

What they are wont to forget is that we also have a huge traditional canon of our own, played in a bewildering range of styles and on a vast range of instruments, that cover almost every topic from the positively ancient to the most modern in almost every way imaginable. What is not so easy to do, quite so simply, is to scan a 12" album cover as it is too large.

Ranting Lads - High Level Ranters

I mentioned this 1976 album [on the phone, in a private conversation, yesterday] and not even a half-decent image can seemingly be found on the internet. That is not a problem - or at least not round here - for this a photo of the original 12" album (TOPIC - 12TS297) taken about an hour ago. In keeping with the album there were no clever digital tricks involved, except to employ a lack of them; no flash, no tripod, and a 1/16 second exposure on my F20 using only the diffuse background lighting in my sitting room. It was originally 2048 pixels each way but, to make it more suitable for posting, I have reduced it to a more manageable 800 x 800 pixels but it seems to have lost little, if anything, in the transformation. Using flash for this kind of thing always results in undesirable brightness and burnt-out reflections. Using a tripod is fine but I decided to try without --- it is easier to centre the image this way. The challenge is to stay sill enough for 1/16 second - and this was the best of three.
I can't wait until Saturday when I'm going to see the Kathryn Tickell Band. It's been a long, long time since I have heard Northumbrian pipes (and Hardanger-tuned fiddles) played live and The Cheese & Grain has much to recommend it as a venue for such music.

Kathryn Tickell - live in 2004

The slightly rustic surroundings do nothing to spoil the atmosphere but nevertheless it also has surprisingly good acoustics for such a venue, a bar serving real ale from Frome's own 'Milk Street Brewery', and it is less than a twenty-minute unhurried walk from home.

Lucky Ones - lyrics - Amy Studt

The Lucky Ones

One last chance to say the word we never said
One last dance with you might help me to forget.
There’ll be no mourners slowly trudging through the rain
But we won’t be alone and never will again.

We are the lucky ones in the final days of the dying sun,
Move across the shifting sands
‘cos there’s nothing left to lose.
We are the lucky ones with no regrets
when tomorrow comes.
And I could let it all slip away if I could share this last dance with you.

One last requiem of love straight from my heart
As the seams begin to stretch and pull apart.
Bathe in the memories of all that you have ever seen;
So strange when you face the end
You’re more alive than you’ve ever been.
Isn’t it wonderful, isn’t it beautiful.

We are the lucky ones
And we don’t know if tomorrow will ever come
We are the lucky ones,
No, no, no, no.

'The Lucky Ones' is a fine track, and on many albums it would be the finest, but for all its merit it is not even in the running. That honour, and have no doubt about it, goes to a song that is almost too good to be true.

Perfect pop, with a lyric and song structure that defies categorisation quite magnificently: 'She Walks Beautiful' is that song.

It's been a long time coming... Amy Studt update

I have lost track of the number of people that have ended up here because they were seeking information on Amy Studt and her second album. In that regard she is second only to those seeking the same sort of information on Fefe Dobson!
I have written twice before on this subject:

Whatever happened to Amy Studt?
Amy Studt - album update
She Walks Beautiful - lyrics

I had almost given up hope but, an age after its download-only release...

... My Paper Made Men is finally released on CD!

Was it worth the wait? Yes, absolutely! It has a bonus track, Lucky Ones, but that is not the point at all. What struck me first, and I have the legal download version too, is just how vastly superior it sounds when played on a half-decent hi-fi system. For whatever reason, it is much more noticeable than other such comparisons I have made.
It is a much more intense, dark and thoughtful than her previous album and it really shows to full advantage here. I thought it good as a download but now it is something quite special and that, while it is just my opinion, seems to be shared by many writers whose reviews have come to my attention. It certainly isn't party music, or perhaps even music for sharing with friends, but then neither was the much under-rated False Smiles (I remember reading a review that dismissed it in two words "Avril-lite") and I still like and play that too.
I'm pretty tolerant but one thing that irks me is people who feign the like, or dislike, of this-or-that in an attempt to align themselves with a current trend. I'm going to play both albums, back-to-back, this evening and there is a category of music that, while the actual selection is unique to each of us, everyone should have. Guilt-free music is vital at those times when nothing else matters much.
It is to be hoped that a live tour will follow but I currently have no information on this. If you know anything, be it gospel or mere rumour, or just want to ask a question however trivial then please feel free to add a comment (it can be anonymous) or e-mail me.

Note to 19 Recordings:
We have My Paper Made Men on CD and that is great; now how about a vinyl edition?

Doubtful Comforts - Blue Roses

Doubtful Comforts, the first single to be released by Blue Roses under her new moniker, is out now and I've just been listening to it. It is a single sided 7" and is another worthy addition to the music of Laura Groves. I haven't yet worked out quite which instrument(s) she is playing, let alone the lyrics.
It is sung in a high register that, were it not so natural and unforced, might be be seen as showing off. It isn't; neither will I mention the comparison that came to my mind.

This is sure to appear on the album Blue Roses as will, I suspect, one or all of those that I have mentioned before. This does not guarantee commercial success but it looks like being one mighty début album nevertheless.

American pop - music I want in 2009, Part 3

I can be strange this way.
I know that Taylor Swift was one of the US artists of 2008 but made no commercial in-roads in the UK. Her first UK single release, Love Song, is now being played on the radio here quite intensively. I like it and I'm not afraid to admit that; except to rue the fact that the album Fearless is not yet widely available in the UK. I'm usually not one quite so impatient, it is to be released in the UK in a month or so, but for once I'm glad to be so!

Last week temperance wasn't my strong suit so I ordered the US version on a whim. Now I'm very glad that I did - today I heard that the UK album version is going to be "sanitized" by the removal of the banjos and fiddles.
I know I can cope with the original, which some in the UK call the 'country' version. To add to that, unless you have been living under a stone for the last few years, you might have noticed these instruments often in UK and US alt/nu/anti-folk and actually in far more surprising situations.

Love Song has just been confirmed #2 in the UK single chart for the week ending 28 February, beaten only to to the top spot by Kelly Clarkson with the single My Life Would Suck Without You and two American solo artists at the top of the UK charts does much to restore the balance again but don't think the UK is going roll over and lie down. This is just as it should be!

A Balloon Called Moaning

A Balloon Called Moaning - what does that mean as an album title? Well nobody seems to know except those responsible, and they are not telling! This is the first release from a band that I had not heard of until I saw them play on the 'Sunset Stage' at Latitude 2008 and I think I've found live picture from that gig that I haven't used before.

L -R: Justin Stahley, Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Daffydd.

Ever since it has been on my list of bands not to forget.

When I discovered in January that Pure Groove Records were to release their début album I could hardly wait.

Eight tracks and 29 minutes: some would call it a mini-album. It is however several minutes longer than they were allocated to play their set at Latitude - but it doesn't take long, for better or for worse, to make a lasting impression.

Call it what you like but there is no point reviewing the tracks individually.

I could easily have been disappointed by the weight of my expectations here, as has happened many times before, but this is just brilliant and I'm so glad that I saw them live first.

Driving to Idaho. What happened to Nerina Pallot?

Driving to Idaho...
The track that arguably took her from Dear Frustrated Superstar territory, after endless battles with the suits at the label that released her first album, had that title. Her second album was to be Fires and it was originally released in 2005 by the label 'Idaho' that she set up for that purpose.

Fires (2005) - IDAHOCD001

In 2006 she was signed to 14th Floor Records, a Universal imprint. Fires was then remixed (more sparkly, as the artist herself put it) and given a major re-release. It was good too, and it went platinum in the UK. Call me reactionary if you like but I actually still prefer the original Idaho version for its less intrusive production and have them both. For months in 2006 the songs from this album could be heard almost whenever the radio was on. The singles from it were largely well received and successful given the full treatment and promotion.

14th Floor 825646387076 14FLR16V LC003077 (2006)

They were good songs, well written, arranged and sung and then, as suddenly as she had appeared, she vanished.
Probably not for much longer though - she's now got to choose the tracks that will constitute her third album. That might take some time as, a prolific songwriter and lyricist, choosing at most a dozen from apparently about sixty songs is always going to be a challenge. It will, when it appears, be one that I'll be quite happy to buy even if I have not yet heard a single track from it.

Method of Modern Love

Six weeks in and 2009 in music is getting into its stride. It is sounding good and certain trends are clear:
Firstly, that festivals are not necessarily going to suffer as a result of the recession. Glastonbury sold out over a week ago and the only tickets that will be available in early April will be returns. After last year's wobble, that this happened before any acts have been officially confirmed surprised me at first. On reflection I have decided that perhaps this result is in part because of the recession. Perhaps folks who enjoy music and can tolerate camping have, while making cut backs to expensive holiday plans, realised just what good value in terms of both time and money a long weekend at a festival can be.

The second thing, and it will doubtless be apparent at this summer's festivals, is the subtle shift towards more music that is pop and fantasy-inspired and often electronically based. This is no sudden change, and it certainly won't stop the likes of White Lies conquering all the territory they lay claim to, but it should make 2009 very interesting indeed. It took a while but electro-pop finally returned to the mainstream in 2008 and I wouldn't be surprised if its disco-cousins don't do the same in 2009 and that is where some of these new electronic toys will see use live.
They've been a source of much controversy and creativity since the analogue Moog synthesizer appeared in the late 1950s, with the more compact, robust and practical transistorized version following in 1961. They are still used and have many devotees, not least for the warm sound they produce. The Dubrecq stylophone followed in 1967, a hand-held keyboard played with a stylus, and it was really mainly intended as a 'toy instrument' for children. It too gained a large following and was therefore successfully relaunched in 2007.

This is an example of the 21st century stylophone.

You will almost certainly see one being played sometime this year - it is well suited to the style of music favoured by Little Boots and others. Another much more recent and complex electronic instrument also used by Victoria Hesketh first appeared in 2007.

Yamaha Tenori on.

It is not obvious exactly what it does or how you play it but, put very simply, it is a computer specifically designed to be used to play music. As you probably know I'm a big fan of acoustic music and traditional instruments but I can't wait to see someone in the flesh actually playing one of these.

On that general subject one of the giants of 1990s electro/dance pop is back. The single below is a new one released to promote the forthcoming 2-CD compilation - London Conversations - The Best Of Saint Etienne - but I wonder if there is actually rather more to it than that particularly given the success of Sarah Cracknell's collaboration with Mark Brown in 2008 - The Journey Continues.

This is the first Saint Etienne single in many years: 'Method Of Modern Love', was released on 9 February 2009. It is available to download but why would I want to? This is the real vinyl deal. This is 0116 of 1500, some of which were also signed.

Across the Atlantic they are at it too and they have also developed a liking for vinyl! More soon...

Chrome's On It - Telepathe (12" vinyl single)

Chasing The Tiger's Tail

As a kid you get on a fairground roundabout and you are probably not paying so you don't consider where you will get off, or even what might happen in the meantime. It is an adventure and about enjoying the here and now. If that is simply an ice-cream you didn't expect to get, then that is good enough when age ten...

'Fat Cat' bankers that made themselves rich on the cards of others' houses are the current bêtes noires but this is also how and why the established music industry went wrong. It did it rather earlier however, and without such global ramifications, but it did it none the less.
Did the world's financial sector notice the possible parallel?
Well, if it did we were not told. Now some senior bankers have said "sorry" in a lengthy and guarded way. The sort of tongue-tied language couched in weasel-words - against which Wikipedia would rightly rail on the grounds of lack of candour - but that at worst would come with the label 'Parental Advisory'. Had they had come up with a contrite explanation, that could justifiably be labelled 'EXPLICIT CONTENT', it would have been better.

There is that human traît, which we all have to a degree, to believe that good as things may be they could be better if...
The problem is when it runs riot. If I mess my life up because of the way I believe this to be true then you can just say "that was all your fault" and the rest of the world will carry on as it did before. It is all a matter of scale and, on that scale of reckoning, things globally are currently pretty bad.

As in life so it is in music and vice versa. Some artists are already funding their albums by selling small shares (typically £10/ $15) to supporters on which a return on future royalties will be payable if such happens - this mutual 'Credit Union' approach has a great deal of precedent in other times and situations. Given that it links diverse artists and their supporters directly, particularly in the digitally connected world, it could have profound implications for the music industry.
It is in any case a cyclical industry, not least in terms of consumer taste, for who would have thought in, let's say the summer of 2007, the US market would now be so enamoured of pop, that there would be so many UK winners at the 2009 Grammys or that the UK, while apparently already in a deep recession, is flirting not only with electro-dance but also italo-disco while simultaneously maintaining an addiction to much that is, more or less, acoustic?
Can you really imagine Emmy the Great collaborating with Norman Cook - the Cinderella of acoustic indie with pop and dance legend Fatboy Slim (DJ, and former Housemartin)?

No, of course you can't!

That is a good answer, and thank-you, except that it is wrong.

I make no apologies if the above seems like a Luke Haines lyric, from the Black Box Recorder School of Music, but the fact remains that you can: www.thebrightonportauthority.com

Try putting your mind, guitar, or instrument of choice, to this hybrid song:

I had a dream, no destination,
A sense that it would end like this...
In a trunk at Brighton Station
As an unsolved case.

I love the place I come from
I'm happy where I am.
I can't stop chasing the tiger's tail
I'm tempted to taste some forbidden delight

But I just don't get it.
I don't let it get to me.
The only way into this song is walking.
But you'd rather run.

Blue Roses - an update.

This is an update to my earlier post for those of you who have been looking for more information. The first Blue Roses single, 'Doubtful Comforts', is now scheduled for release in the UK on 2 March 2009 on Salvia (XL Recordings) and the album is due to follow sometime in April. In between touring with Guillemots and Emmy The Great she not only found the time to write it all; it is also self-arranged and self-produced. I do not know the album title or track list as yet.

If you can't wait even that long here is a 2008 single that, released as Laura Groves, is still available:

Salvia TIC 001 (2008) is available from Rough Trade.

The only problem I have with it is that it only makes me want the album even more! The 'b-side, and that it genuinely is for it is physically available only on 7" vinyl, 'Bridges' is very short but also a wonderful resumé of her musical style, fluid vocals and observational lyrics.
In a genre with much competition Blue Roses will surely be one of the 'must hear' acoustic artists of 2009.

Note added 14 February:
'Blue Roses' is also the title of the album and it is pencilled in for release in the UK on 27 April on both CD and 12" vinyl. It is now available to pre-order in both formats from Pure Groove.

He doesn't like it when people love me
But he can argue so eloquently.
His words are like knots
Which cannot be unpicked by the likes of me.
Sometimes bridges burn themselves down.
I never knew when to...

One album, two possibilities - and it fails on both counts.

I doubt that I would have bothered to try to drive through the snow in order to get to work today were it not that this album was in the CD autochanger. If it had been indoors I would have just stayed at home instead (like, as it turned out, almost everybody else). It took me so long to get to work that I was actually able to listen to it once-and-a-half-times and, at over 43 minutes, it is not short. It is my first received album release of 2009 and so it is obviously my favourite, but I think it likely to remain one and if the rest come up to this standard then it is going to be a year to remember.

An album with such ambitious intent could quite easily have become arch and pretentious or, on the other hand, just another formulaic indie-pop-rock cross-over. I think it does neither hence the title of the post - the music and lyrics are both very strong throughout but, ultimately, it is the singer that makes the song and sometimes so much more than that which is merely written.

Nina Persson demonstrates that facility in spades.

It is very different to the music she made with 'The Cardigans' or indeed her duet with Sir Tom Jones - a cover of 'The White Stripes' Burning Down The House. She also duets on Your Love Alone Is Not Enough with the 'Manic Street Preachers' and that appeared on the Manic Street Preachers' album Send Away The Tigers (2007).

I've listened to Colonia twice more at home this evening. The best general description I can muster is that it is equally comforting and disturbing and I'm certainly not getting bored of it. As for my favourite tracks that is truly no easier to say than after the first time I listened to it. That is the sign of a really good album - if you want three then try these:

• The Crowning
• Love Has Left The Room
• My America

The achievement no less remarkable is this: it is never obvious just what an incredible tightrope this album actually treads. It involves both Nathan Larson, her husband who is better known for film music and it shows to great effect, and fellow Swede Niklas Fisk. Joan Wasser (Antony and the Johnsons and, perhaps more importantly, Joan As Policewoman) also provides violin and viola.

Just buy it!

In Europe, except Scandinavia, it is released on CD by Reveal Records (REVEAL 50), the inlay booklet contains all the lyrics and this album will also be available on vinyl. In the US it currently only available on import, handled by 101 Distribution, but available from amazon.com at a price.

A thought and a rumour.

A thought:
This is an unusual post as it is something of an operational announcement.
I regard all visitors to my blog very highly and, to try and discover what inspires you, I watch the very limited blog statistics that I can gather accordingly.
I think I have noticed a certain problem:
You are looking for items I mention in my 'I've Just Listened To...' list located in the side bar and the post associated with it has nothing about that artist. There could be several reasons for this but these are the most likely:

• I haven't posted about that item.
• I have posted about this artist but that post is not on the page that you are currently viewing.

I'm currently trying to improve links, including forward ones from old posts, but it is an endless struggle. I try to make links from 'I've Just Listened To...' to items, even if only as an aside, of artists that I have mentioned. If the side-bar mention is a clickable-link then that should take you straight to a post of at least some relevance. If there are problems please let me know (see below) and, similarly, if you think some pages should be cross-linked please suggest which ones and, for the benefit of everyone not least me, why. You might think that obvious but in different ways, that, to one who writes and thinks in a different way that may not seem so. If not then try Google: search "rpgreenhalgh", complete with the quote marks and the item you are looking for, again enclosed in quote marks. Here is an example:

"rpgreenhalgh" "fur and gold"

It will likely return many 'hits' (and you may have to view similar searches not included, as offered at the bottom of the page) but you should be able to pick out the more promising ones from the synopses. Please don't feel bad about it; I do just this when I can't remember where and when I posted something and, for goodness sake, I wrote and posted it in the first instance! I need to do a bit of work there.
If you can't find something then please feel free to contact me directly. I can't promise that I will respond to every question but ask me a simple one, like 'What is the catalogue number of ***some album*** that I have mentioned?' I probably can and will. Either post a comment/question or e-mail me: contact details can be found in the sidebar: About Me>View my complete profile.

A few words of warning:
Your contribution can be credited to you or, if you would rather remain anonymous, I will respect that. You can post an anonymous comment via Blogger and it is simply your choice. It will not affect my decision, as moderator, whether or not to publish it and you can disagree with me as much as you like but - for the good of all - posts that are clearly offensive, libellous, etc. will be not be published and I'm glad to say that I have never had to invoke this yet.
I'm not saying that you can't tell me that you think my current favorite act is utter s**t, because you can, and I might unwittingly post something similar about yours. Maybe I already have!

These are merely some ground rules.

A rumour:

It's the BBC story that just runs and runs; the one that says TOTP could be back for good and 2009 looks to be an extremely appropriate year for it. Booked to run for just a few weeks when it started in 1964 it ran weekly for over forty-two years, in it's heyday had a UK weekly audience of around fifteen million, and that was on a Thursday evening! What channel wouldn't kill for that now?

The title screen in 1968 but not the icon I remember.

I might be wrong but I think that for many of a certain age, and I am one, this single is still inextricably connected with Top Of The Pops.

Back To Bat... Music I Want in 2009 - Part 2

The only reason this blog exists at all is because of my innate curiosity. The only reason that, rather than just wondering about it, something actually happened instead is entirely due to one album. That album is 'Fur and Gold' and the artist is Bat For Lashes.

Live @ Latitude 2007

The UK release date for 'Two Suns' is 6 April 2009.

As winter turns to spring, and almost two-and-a-half-years after that début, the second Bat For Lashes album will appear, even fuller sounding and more eclectic than the first, and it is 'Two Suns'. Written and recorded, even if that were not the original plan, in New York, California and mid-Wales the result is something quite different.

Never yet one to turn down an opportunity to raid the costume box, one thing that you can rely on is that, seen live, Bat For Lashes will be nothing if not a true all-round stage performance.
This summer's festivals? Let's hope so!

Doubtful Comforts - luck can do you like a shotgun.

'Want To Listen' Music 2009 - Part 1: Hot on the heels of my recent post there is a début single from Blue Roses. 'Doubtful Comforts' is released on March 2, 2009 by Rough Trade. It is available for pre-order now and there is a limited vinyl 7". For an update on this artist see here.

If you want temptation, but don't blame me, then start here:
http://www.roughtrade.com/site/

An album that has very much become on my 'want to listen' list is by an artist who is well known, particularly for the band she once fronted; it is 'Colonia' and she is Nina Persson, formerly of The Cardigans, in her 'A Camp' persona for the first time since the eponymous album in 2001. After the passage of eight years it is, rather unsurprisingly, not quite the same beast and, arguably, it is an even better one. [See my update on this item - 6 February 2009]

Well that has dealt with Shipley and Stockholm, at least for now.

'True Love', and the patience of a saint?

Good things take time but ever since I mentioned the 'Bad EP - Emmy The Great' 7" vinyl EP in August 2007 I have been, and continue to be, amazed by the number of people looking for it.

Well here is more good news in 2009 - at long last I can tell you something important!
One of the long-mysterious, yet hardly underground, treasures of UK nu/alt/anti-folk (or whatever you care to call it) is about to release her début album True Love. If you are really quick you might get a signed copy of the CD for £10 + p&p, which would be a bargain, mail order from Pure Groove in London.


I'm certainly no saint here because I've put my money where my mouth is - I've already pre-ordered my copy - which is why I'm telling you this. That said, a vinyl release is also expected (no release date known to me as yet) but don't say that you weren't warned!

Rain On My Window - Jill Jackson - lyrics

Thank-you to whoever just asked for this lyric: I've been meaning to do more lyrics for ages and you finally put me up to it and it is, as it happens, raining on my skylight window as I write.

This is what I think the lyric is but it comes with the usual proviso:

Rain On My Window

How do I begin?
How do I begin?
Now, to fly away...
When I can't feel the wind on my face.

I've been running out
I've been running out
Of these things to say...
There's another girl in my place.

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

There's nothing like the sun
There's nothing like the sun
That I see in your smile
And now the day is gone it leaves me cold.

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

Tears are in my hands
Tears are in my hands
And they cut like ice
How am I gonna live without my soul?

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

And there we will meet
Somewhere between
A prayer and dream
God only knows how my heart goes on!

Without you, without me
Without you, without me

I could walk the world
I could walk the world
A thousand times
But I could never find a love like this.

And here comes the rain on my window.
It seems like an old friend to me
Who is crying down on my shadow
And knows how lost I can be
Without you, without me.

Without you, without me.
Without you, without me.

It is a brilliant album from start to finish and one that should be far better known. If I were sent to a desert island with just one album from 2008 then this would likely be the one.

Richard

Fefe Dobson - Miss Underestimated

This is as much hope as fact - release dates have come and gone but it is true that ever since I wondered and then posted - What Happened to Fefe Dobson - it has been one of the most accessed posts I have ever written. The problem has been that which made me write in the first place! I didn't know and it seems that, popular though she obviously is, neither did anyone else willing to tell.
This is a brief resumé, as I understand it now:
Album #2, Sunday Love, was binned when her recording contract was terminated by Universal and since then the rumours have just run and run. I don't promise, as this is just a preliminary post, but there could be light at the end of the tunnel!

This single is now available, as an mp3 download, from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and she appears to now be signed to label '21 Music'. It is said to be the first single and also the title track from her new album though I have no idea of a release date - here, there or anywhere. If you know if this is correct or not, can add more, even if it is only hearsay, then please post it and let us all know.

Blue Roses

Blue Roses will possibly be new to most of you but the artist behind it has actually been mentioned in these posts before. In the spring of 2007 I bought a compilation CD of tracks released by new artists titled 'Something I Learned Today' and released by UK independent label Dance To The Radio. Of the artists featured thereon several, including I Am A Cub Scout and Sky Larkin', have become better known especially on the UK Festival circuit. The modest price of the CD was, for my money anyway, worth it if only for just one track 'Coast' - an acoustic, deceptively simple song with eidetic imagery and the creation of unsigned artist Laura Groves.

She is back as 'Blue Roses' and is no longer unsigned as she has joined the already eclectic roster signed to XL Recordings, which includes such well known acts as Radiohead, The White Stripes, Vampire Weekend and Sigur Rós .
While I can not imagine it will sound remotely like any of the above, an album is in the making and I for one can't wait - another one to watch out for in 2009.

Something I Remembered Today

It is that time again when, and never more so than this year, somehow looking forward seems more appealing than looking back. It is true, but the two can happily co-exist in a world that seems to have become just too complicated and frantic of late. Yes, we can have the immediacy of the internet, MySpace and the all rest of the new technology, but it also means we have hitherto unimagined access to music of all kinds, both new and old.

This really matters for it is more realistically indicative than almost anything else. I think it is not a sign of bunker-mentality, rather the opposite in fact. While it may matter to the individual listener the fact is that, be it acoustic folk, thrash metal, wonky, dub step, anything in-between or even something as yet unknown, it can be made available to millions of potential listeners almost as soon as it is recorded and - although it might help oil the wheels - that no longer necessarily requires major label backing.
Twenty five years ago it was a thrill to spend hours in dusty, sometimes flea-ridden, second-hand music stores on the lookout for anything rare or unusual on vinyl. There were things called "stock lists", available by snail mail and typed on wonky manual machines, that were probably out of date well before they were completed! I still adore vinyl but would be amongst the first to admit that the technology that we now take for granted has bought with it both new opportunities and, if used wisely, untold potential. The real challenge, and that is which is almost always the case in such circumstances, is a matter of balance; it is to make the best of the newly revealed potential and the avarice that will probably accompany it.