Today I got Third, the new Portishead album. What can I say after one listen? The Portishead essentials are all there: Beth’s heart-rending vocals, Adrian’s vintage guitars, Geoff’s favourite bass and organ sounds, the overall noir film-score vibe. What’s gone is the Hip-Hop. No crackly vinyl drum breaks, no comfortable old grooves. No scratching even. In it’s place is a much more experimental approach to creating beats, one that wouldn’t sound out of place coming from Luke Slater or Autechre. While there is a lot of variety between tracks, the overall result is a harder sound, more demanding to listen to. This isn’t classic chill-out music. The sample track, Machine Gun, on their MySpace page should give you an idea of the harder end of the new Portishead sound. I love the first two Portishead albums, and I like Third a lot. But be warned, you might love the first two Portishead albums and hate it.
-Posted Thu, 01 May 2008 17:47:00 GMT by John Thu May 01 12:47:00 -0500 2008
I’ve not been very good at listening to the radio recently. It just never seems to enter my mind to switch it on at the moment, despite the fact that I have a DAB radio and can therefore enjoy the wonders of 6Music. Perhaps it’s because I have my radio alarm clock tuned to a particularly annoying local station, all the better to force me to wake up and switch the thing off.
Anyway, not listening to 6Music means that I keep missing things like Billy Bragg playing live on last Sunday’s Stephen Merchant show. Luckily for me, a certain friend who is both a regular 6Music afficionado and a Billy Bragg fan told me about this, and I was able to listen to it via the internet before it was replaced by today’s show. Mr. Bragg was entertaining as ever, and the songs from his new album sounded good enough to persuade me to purchase a copy.
But I was also very intrigued by the very last track Stephen Merchant played: the improbably titled My Allergies and Me by one Joe Dangerous. An intriguing sound that reminded me of Eno, Cluster, Boards of Canada and Radiohead. A visit to Mr. Dangerous’ MySpace page revealed that he has several other good tunes to his name. My Allergies and Me has just been released as a single; hopefully an album will be forthcoming soon. In the meantime, he has a suitably moody video:
-Posted Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:51:00 GMT by John Sun Apr 27 15:51:00 -0500 2008
Billy Bragg’s website has some interesting information regarding his forthcoming album, Mr Love & Justice:
[Billy Bragg and his band The Blokes] are joined by the legendary Robert Wyatt, the guest vocalist on a track called ‘I Keep Faith’ recorded in South Thoresby, Lincolnshire. The collaboration came about when Bragg, in search of fresh rhubarb for a crumble, was in nearby Louth where he met Wyatt who lives in the town.
“I hadn’t seen him since Red Wedge (the 1986 Labour Party youth vote initiative),” says Bragg. “He found me some rhubarb and then came along to the recording session and sang beautiful vocals to the chorus of ‘I Keep Faith’ – it was like angels singing!”
Which is all very lovely, but what about the rest of the rock pantheon that (my sources in Lincolnshire reliably inform me) dwell in the Louth area these days? If Billy had only popped into the newsagent he might have run into top synthesizer player and composer Dave Formula, who could have added a new dimension to the BB sound. If he had lingered a little by the frozen veg section in Spar, he would probably have bumped into Barbara Dickson, who I’m sure would have been delighted to join Mr. Wyatt on backing vocals. And had our Billy ventured as far as the chip shop, he would have undoubtedly have run into John Shuttleworth, who could have added his unique contemporary Bontempi sound to Billy’s latest meisterwork.
So although I am looking forward to hearing Mr Love & Justice, a part of me will always think of what could have been…
-Posted Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:27:00 GMT by John Mon Feb 25 16:27:00 -0600 2008
The last guitar shop on St. Michael’s Hill closed at the end of January. One day I walked past and all appeared normal. The next day I walked past and it was emptied of stock and there were signs in the window claiming it was relocating (further investigation revealed that it has relocated to the rent- and rates-free safety of being an internet-only operation). The day after that it had transmogrified into a flower shop, which really is not very rock’n’roll.
Once upon a time there were three guitar shops on St. Michael’s Hill (and another barely quarter of a mile away at the top of Horfield Road). It’s not really an obvious location for any kind of specialist shop. The only thing in its favour is that it’s close to the university, and thus hundreds of students walk past every day. My best guess is that at one time, there were enough earnest students wanting to be the Next Big Thing In Rock to keep all those guitar shops in business.
I wonder what’s changed. Do students not want to play guitar anymore? Do they prefer buying their guitars from the big, shiny music shops in the city centre? Or do they buy everything via the internet now?
As for me, I now have fewer options when it comes to picking up a new set of strings or a roll of gaffa tape on my way home from work.
-Posted Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:53:00 GMT by John Thu Feb 21 11:53:00 -0600 2008
I’ve given up waiting for it to be cool to like Lindisfarne again. I’ve also given up caring about being cool. And for some reason, Lindisfarne’s January Song came to mind today. Right now, I’m feeling unseasonably positive (whether that will last beyond Quadragesima Sunday is anybody’s guess). When I’m not feeling so positive, I tend focus on the sad side of this song, which speaks to me about the sense of loss caused by the ephemeral nature of the things we care about. But today I’m able to look at the hopeful aspects: the support of friends that helps us get through the bad times, and the knowledge that love will always bring new hope. Let’s help each other get through January, for who knows what February may bring.
I’m feeling rather sorry for a man I know,
The world he holds in trembling hands is asking where to go.
And as he stares out at me from the mirrored wall,
I see that he is trying to cry, but the tears they will not fall.
His life is passing by behind his tired eyes,
Like the colours in the January sky.
And useless it is to question things concerning the past,
It seems so very obvious that nothing at all can last.
And just as sure as tomorrow will soon be yesterday,
The love you thought you occupied will surely drift away.
But I need you to help me carry on.
You need me need you need him need everyone.
And love is such a small word for something that is so vast,
But in it lies the future, the present and the past.
And speaking now of changes, I sometimes feel the fear,
That the reason for the meaning will even disappear.
But I need you to help me carry on,
You need me need you need him need everyone…
Words and music by Alan Hull. From the album Fog On The Tyne by Lindisfarne.
-Posted Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:36:00 GMT by John Fri Jan 18 02:36:00 -0600 2008
Whilst looking for something else entirely, I found this video of John Entwistle playing Won’t Get Fooled Again. What’s special about this is that the camera stays with Entwistle throughout the song, and you’re hearing just the bass part (almost, there’s a bit of spill from the rest of the band). In all the recordings I’ve heard of The Who, the bass is always mixed so low that you can’t make it out properly. Here, you can hear exactly what Entwistle is doing, and see how he’s doing it. The only downside is that he’s looking a bit bored. Considering the complexity of some of what he’s playing, that in itself could be seen as an achievement.
I guess I need to do a lot more practicing.
-Posted Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT by John Thu Jan 10 23:01:00 -0600 2008
Yesterday we went on a trip to the seaside at Hornsea. On the way back we stopped off at various points along the Holderness coast, which is eroding at quite a pace. We saw several places where roads near the cliff edge have been closed. Looking at an old map, it seems that this road near Aldbrough once ended at a T-junction with another short stretch of road that ran along the top of the cliff. The cliff-top road is long gone (it was probably where the beach is now), and successive landslides are moving the end of this road further inland.
-Posted Tue, 01 Jan 2008 14:14:00 GMT by John Tue Jan 01 08:14:00 -0600 2008
Lynne Truss may have cornered the market in missing punctuation, but it’s good to know that other brave souls are committed to exposing superfluous punctuation. Foremost among them is The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. Hopefully it will provide you with a little post-Christmas mirth.
-Posted Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:36:00 GMT by John Fri Dec 28 18:36:00 -0600 2007
