Due to my inbox being flooded with requests for this, I feel I must oblige. So, in no particular order, here's my top ten indie hotties:
Annie Hardy, the one woman potty-mouth shoegazeathon that is Giant Drag.
Obscure indie folkstress Rozi Plain.
Sophie Ellis Bextor was in an indie band before conquering the pop charts. I obviously stopped liking her once she became successful. I put most of her appeal down to the fact that I fancied her mum on Blue Peter when I was about 6.
One half of the Raveonettes; Sharin Foo!
Polly Harvey, of course!
Meg White, primal drummer extraordinaire from The White Stripes
Muse of the Noughties, the exceptionally talented Laura Marling.
Um, Elastica generally speaking...
Debbie Harry from Blondie invented the whole indie chick thing in the first place.
And let us not forget Zia McCabe from the Dandy Warhols!
Calling on DebbyM, Treefrogdemon, AliMunday, Carole, Bethnoir, TracyK, Cauliflower, Frogprincess, Mnemonic, and any other female looking in...
* Very very sorry. Didn't mean to be exclusive, of course fellows may have a say, too. *
Let's talk about boys that are hot hot hot. No, wait, that look good in cocktail dresses...no no that's not it. Let's talk about boys that play guitar well. Yeah, that's what I mean.
Okay, so he's not playing a guitar, and I don't think he's hot, but I love this video. There is something beautiful going on. Must be the tail...
The winner from last round, Marnie Stern, takes on the grunge betty riff-mongers that make up Veruca Salt with their 1995 classic "Seether". Boy, I was a huge fan back when I was 17, I wonder why.....
Again, Stern shreds from the word go, whereas the Salt save the big solo for a change amongst some monster riffage. Ow!!
Your winner please? And suggestions for who they can face in the next round?
After 100 years of blues recording, you wouldn't think there was much new worth doing. I'm a lifelong blues fan, and I'll defend the art form until my death ..... but its not a genre of innovation or current discourse. By and large there's not been a pressing need to buy blues records beyond the chestnuts rereleased or recorded after the 60's and 70's blues revival.
Except R.L. Burnside, a contemporary of Mississippi John Hurt, Fred McDowell, Skip James and Son House. Like his Mississippi brethren, he was largely unknown until old age. But unlike them, he chose not to live only in the past.
In 1998 he released Come On In, an experimental mix of acoustic blues with electronica production easily filed with the other curious artistic breakthroughs (Buffalo Girls) you never listen to.
But Come On In led to Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down, which got it absofuckinglutely spot on. It's one of the best blues albums ever and proof that blues need not be relegated to museums and documentaries. The tape loops, scratching and electronic tricks are still there, but the overall balance is more organic.
It's a bleak album, filled with songs of death and betrayal. Yet it is strangely uplifting, perhaps because it is (or should be) a resurrection. The blues had a baby all right, and this is what it sounds like.
Hopefully someone with better wordishness than me/I will have a go now in the comments. I just think it is one of those rare fully realized artistic visions that any collection is incomplete without. I'll link to Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues - an autobiographical take on Skip James' Killing Floor Blues - Got Messed Up and Miss Maybelle to give you an idea. .
My album of the decade: A Camp (the eponymous debut) 2001
Not a note out of place, not a wasted moment. Perfect from end to end and in exactly the order presented. Many people, it seems, love their album from this year ('Colonia' - and it is truly great..perhaps in another ten years, i'll be writing about it) but I prefer the first album. Like The Sunday's Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (apparently also a big influence on A Camp's Nina Persson) this an album which never stops thrilling me with its charm. You know when you're on to a real winner when this keeps happening.
Marnie shreds from the word go, but goes especially nuts at the 2.34 mark, whereas Anita bides her time before letting rip with a truly satanic backwards solo at the 2 min mark.
Tim Hart of Steeleye Span has died of lung cancer aged 61. That's him on the left in front, and this photo, from the Grauniad website, has the bottom half cropped so you can't see the rollup in his hand. From the obituary: "Their [Steeleye's] novelty Christmas release, Gaudete, led to a collaboration with Mike Batt, the creator of the Wombles pop act, who produced their eighth album, All Around My Hat (1975): the title track reached No 5 in the UK singles charts. Further hits eluded the band..."
Well, I like All Around My Hat a lot, but as many people don't, I thought we could listen to Gaudete instead. 'Tis the season, and all that. I expect it's the being in Latin that's the novelty.
I'm more than a little obsessed with this track at the moment. I've only ever been able to find 4 tracks by Sir Lord Comic, and this is one I don't have. Catcher (I think it was) once asked about songs we'd like to use in a movie soundtrack, and this is absolutely one, for me.
Anyway...When I first met David he lived in an older apartment building, with an unfinished attic. We used to escape from roommates up there, there was an old couch, not much else. But somebody had scrawled in large letters across the wall "Trust in god, but take some care yourself." Always stuck with me, somehow. Anyway. With the New Year coming up, have you ever heard a strange or surprising piece of advice, or received it from an unusual source? Did you heed it?
...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for Mrs Frod who was beginning to throw out some pretty hefty curses during the early stages of labour.
It feels like a long time since I introduced you all to Squiggle (as he was known) and now, at last, I would like you all to meet Barnaby William Denham Sandford:
(Sideburns model's own)
He pitched up at just after 6 pm on Christmas Eve, by rather necessary C-Section (he was, after all, 10lb 6oz...) and is now home, happy and fully awesome. It made it all a rather odd festive season, but it has been the best one ever. Mini Frod is unbelievably happy with him and has been a model big sister. So far.
So as a result I've rather missed out on most of the end of year stuff, and the mighty Festive 'Spill (New Year's resolution: be better at 'Spilling) but it has all meant that, by a country mile, my song of the year is this:
Two well-known suburban floor-fillers in a proper face off for the end-of-decade New Year.
I'm actually grateful that songs like this exist, if only because Simon Cowell was not allowed to get his expensively manicured hands on either of them. They both contain precious elements of the (subtle-but-defining) nostalgia, humour, mishape and glory of real people - things which the X Factor would like to believe it trades in, but actually ends up cr-ping all over.
Remember though, friends, the crap-o-meter is only for fun and I sincerely mean that, I really do
As ejay said the other day; what Steenbeck wants, Steenbeck gets. A random word for a new topic seeing as the mothership seems to be undergoing her annual service. This photo of a certain "Padre Jony" brought the word "Vocation" to mind. So there it is folks. Songs about vocations. Shane's definition (see comments on Magicman's post below) will take some beating!
Shurely Shome Mishtake ?? We were promised a nice lazy ramble through to New Year's Eve, no rush, no names, no packdrill. No mandrill I wouldn't have thought. But no, Boxing Day after a weedy six hours of sleep (you're lucky - Ed) I rise and shine, take the beef from the fridge, sign on to the RR blog with an absolute CRACKER of a fresh start song, not only about fresh starts generally but introducing a band who were IN THEMSELVES a fresh start as I have already attempted to explain here regarding their first single "Virginia Plain." The first track off the eponymous first album is right on the money : an announcement of starting again.
"Next time is the best time we all know"
I talk, of course, of the great Roxy Music and their opening gambit : "Re-make Re-model"
They certainly remade and remodelled rock music into a sci-fi glam nightclub lounge art-rock act, and for that I and millions of others will be eternally grateful.
Will repost resquiggle if the blog goes live again.
I thought I'd better respond more fully to you all, as Christmas arrives. I was going to post a thread called "HE'S BEEN, HE'S BEEN!!" as I've just taken the picture of the presents under the tree, but having uploaded the pics from my camera, they're rubbish, so I'll have to go and re-take them before I go to bed. Instead, here's one of Darcey and her mates playing out on Christmas Eve, for no other good reason than (i) I was reminded of an old photo of the then-toddler Darcey by barbryn's post; and (ii) I'm quite pleased with the ones I took today. Jess, by the way, was just out of shot, building a snowman bigger than she is! Bless!!
.. but the speed at the new house is slower than a snail on a euro tunnel train...........................
Merry Pranksterish Fun Filled Wrapping stuffing and nonsense to all of you lovely people... last years Spill Santa gets repeated.. just like real tele.
Fans of Two Pints of Lager will recognize this pub in Runcorn where Tin and Williamsbach met before Christmas during the Swiss Mister's visit home. It was a quick visit shoehorned into the Christmas schedule at the last minute, but Willie says he's looking forward to meeting more RRers when he comes Bach next time.
When I was a kid I had a picture book about Father Christmas, and there was one double spread with no writing, but just a picture of FC with his reindeer and sleigh flying across the sky in front of the Northern Lights. I wish I still had that book...
I've been SO busy what with this and that (you know how it is) that I've only just finished reading all the 'Spill comments - and as for the Festive howevermanyitis, I haven't even listened to one whole set yet, so I'll have to comment later.
Just heard that the Milton Keynes contingent (that's the one that includes my grandsons) WILL be setting out tonight - I had left it up to them, saying we could always have Christmas next week if they wanted, because of the weather. We used to do this in the past when I didn't have a car, so we could go on the train to my parents'. But it's not the same, you know.
Here are two of my favourite Christmas songs...and I hope everyone has a splendid Christmas!
Sorry that these are so hastily put together (Mrs J is pulling me towards the door for christmas shopping) and if anyone has any better ones, feel free to chuck extra questions into the comments box.
1. All families have some kind of quirky tradition that is practiced only by them. So, what's your quirky christmas family tradition?
2. What christmas tradition can't you stand that you would like to do away with?
2. I know we shouldn't mention music, but it's christmas so all indiscretions are surely forgiven! Personally, I love cheesy christmas songs. What's your bestest cheesy christmas song?
3. Which public figure would you most like to give a christmas present to? Who would it be and what is the gift?
5. New Year's Reolutions are made to be broken of course, but you've got to make 'em to break 'em. So, what are your resolutions for 2010?
It's often said that the Biblical meaning of Christmas is neglected these days. Who better to remind us than a Polish glamour model performing the music of Chris de Burgh in a bangin' Eurodance style?
Just got home from my last day at work - ever! Well, at that work, anyway. So it's time to sit back and relax and enjoy the festive season with a huge weight lifted from my shoulders and a spring in my step. Or at least there would be a spring if wasn't for this stupid cold that I've had for over three weeks (featuring, a cough which has lasted for a fortnight and has gone down to my chest and every time I cough, my whole body aches from head to toe). Bless ...
Anyhoo,I know we've all got loads to do and lots of music to listen to already (courtesy of the extraordinary festive 'spill lists) but if you need a bit of inner warmth in your life, this playlist may just be the answer. I've been listening to nothing but Christmas music on my journeys to and from work over the past few days and this is just a small sample of the stuff I've particularly enjoyed. It's full of cheese (of course) but it's the sort of strong aromatic cheese that goes so well with a glass of red wine drunk in front of a roaring open fire - or, better still, some port. Or in my case ginger beer. Or in fact, since I don't eat cheese ...
This also allows me to wish every darned wonderful one of you a stress-free, fun-filled festive season. Enjoy every moment - I know I will.
I really think that I don't want to hear this - an apparently female Father Christmas on vocals backed by four anonymous crew members from the original series of Star Trek, judging by their costumes.
So 'Spillers, what are your suggestions for a possible track listing?
Wishing all on t' Spill a very merry Yule with peace, happiness and prosperity in the new year. Bring in the holly, ivy , pine cones and mistletoe and don't forget to wassail and dust your Yule log before setting it a smoulder - now must go and light the candles...
Two Christmas classics going head to head..can you cope?
A vaguely military theme unites them, only three short years of actual time between them, but a million Christmas music albums later, they're both still around. Time to pick a winner.
Well, here is the back garden in the snow. I feel sorry for the birds and other wildlife. It has been a trying week, with Mr Munday taken in to hospital and mini Munday sent home from school, poorly. But they're all home and feeling a bit better now and it's time to show my face at work, having been off since Tuesday. The only question now, is, how long will it take me to get to Leeds today? And will I actually get there in time to do any work before I have to try and get back again? And me chilblains are giving me gip ... here I am, waving goodbye:
Have a good day, people, and be safe, wherever you are.
The tree we have outside that's really outgrown its pot. Picked as a 12" sapling in Scotland some years ago, I now can't even reach the top with the stepladders! Sorry about the light quality of the photo; DarceysMam has taken the good camera to Granny's house. (The snow isn't really that orange! I might redo this in daylight.)
Anyhow, this is a notice, of sorts. Training/consultancy work has been so scarce in '09, I've had to get an additional, employed job, starting tonight, to avoid serious damage to the savings. As that's the midnight shift (so that I can at least try to keep my business going during the daytime), I won't be joining in the MFF any more on the mothership, and my weekday blogging is going to be restricted to sneaking the odd 20mins in a morning if it is my wife's turn to take the girls to school.
I haven't had to jump-on-command (other than to DsMam, natch) for a decade or so; this could turn sour very quickly!!! Wish me luck. Of course, if anyone knows a company in need of any Industrial H&S training, you could save me the ignominy ... distance no object, as Abahachi already knows.
Just this much snow is needed to bring a country to a halt, in Switzerland they would laugh about it...... Curious if I am able to get to work tomorrow, the National Railways already have announced that they will be running a very reduced schedule tomorrow....
The Scottish BaMS (Bloggers and Music Sites) network has announced the results of their poll for the best LP of 2009.
Bams is also a scots word for heidcase, numpty or radge - incase you're wondering, which is quite apt.
Lloyd from the excellent Peenko blog put this together, and hopefully this'll be the start of a network of blogs with a Scots bent supporting each other and providing a network to raise awareness of the amazing music that's rocking Scotland at any one time (they do already, but it could be bigger)
So, I got asked to vote (hopefully next year all 'Spillers can take part - i didn't want it to bogart our own "Overs" awards) as did:
There were 166 albums represented, which then boiled down to this top 20:
1. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage (61) 2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (54) 3. De Rosa - Prevention (53) 4. King Creosote - Flick the V's (51) 5. Withered Hand - Good News (45) 6. The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead (43) 7. We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls (40) 8. Beerjacket - Animosity (38) 9. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More (32) 9. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career (32) 11. My Latest Novel - Deaths and Entrances (28) 11. Malcolm Middleton - Waxing Gibbous (28) 13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - s/t (25) 14. You Already Know - s/t (24) 14. Broken Records - Until the Earth Begins to Part (24) 16. The XX - s/t (23) 17. The Antlers - Hospice (21) 18. Sufjan Stevens - The BQE (19) 18. And So I Watch You From Afar (19) 20. Wilco - The Album (18)
Andy from The Phantom Band had this to say:
"This makes us feel very honoured because the opinion of people out there giving opinions is what matters most, rather than the financially influenced press. It always amazes me that people would take it upon themselves to go out and champion a band or an album or a band for no material gain, but it gives me faith in human nature. Blogs and reviews have been the only advertising we've ever had. Apart from all those people who got online and promoted us, we'd like to thank those little almost-stale doughnuts you get in big tubs from Sainsburys for keeping us fat during the recording. We obviously also have our Producer Paul Savage and the wonderful people at Chemikal Underground to thank for letting us do what we want. These guys are the quiet heroes of Scottish music for sure."
It's a good list, and there's a couple of bands on there I don't know, and will now go and check out.
And now, the end is near And so I face the final curtain My friends I'll say it clear I've stated my case of which I was occasionally certain I've lived a year that's full (foolish?) I've travelled each and every (pop-related) highway And more, much more than this, I think you'll all agree, I did it my way
Exactly eleven months ago today (on 20 January 2009 to be precise) I embarked on a task (or rather a series of tasks) the stated aim of which was to "to convince those of you who need convincing ... that pop music needn’t be clichéd, sickly sweet, overly simplistic, or anodyne". Whether I've done so or not is difficult to say. The first few tasks certainly inspired some fascinating debate on the subject of what exactly pop music is. I don't think we ever reached consensus on this matter but the lively discussions helped me to focus on the task(s) in hand by giving me a better understanding of what people think they mean when they talk about pop music.
An unlooked for benefit in posting these monthly instalments has been to allow me to rationalise what it is that I personally find attractive in music. It may not necessarily be a good thing to analyse these matters too much but I think I can now say categorically that, for me, good music should have as many as possible of the following attributes/qualities:
1. A pleasing melody 2. A tune that sounds simple but isn't 3. Intelligent lyrics 4. An element of light and shade 5. A sense of sincerity
There may be more and some of them may be at best difficult to define and at worst, highly subjective, but for me those are the important ones and I can look at each of the acts that I've included in this herculean effort and without fear of contradiction state that each one of them ticks all of those boxes.
I have deliberately chosen acts which had generally speaking failed to trouble the Marconium so the list is hardly representative of my broader taste in music. I didn't consider bands such as 10,000 Maniacs, The Go-Betweens, Belle & Sebastian, Cocteau Twins, etc. etc. - all of which would appear on the list of my all time favourite bands - of all time - because they're all well represented on the A-List. Something I was trying to get to the bottom of was, why were the acts I had in mind being ignored. Was there a perceived lack of coolness? Did they not fit the typical Guardian reader's image of grown up music? Or were they simply not as well known? I really didn't know, and to be honest, I'm none the wiser now. It's a mystery to me, why certain groups or artists with an extensive body of work - groups who consistently produce songs with intelligent, thoughtful lyrics about real people, living real lives - should have failed to achieve even one A-Lister while Metallica (for example) have three RR hits. Go figure ...
Let's have a reminder of the acts I've chosen for your consideration - the figures in brackets represent the number of A-Lists achieved pre-task:
1 - Microdisney (0) 2 - Everything But The Girl (2) 3 - Coldplay (1) 4 - Steely Dan (2) 5 - Aztec Camera (0) 6 - Ben Folds (1) 7 - Crowded House (0) 8 - The Blue Nile (1) 9 - Prefab Sprout (1) 10 - Shack/The Pale Fountains (0) 11 - James Taylor (0)
Everything But The Girl and Steely Dan have each added one to their totals since I posted their particular task (and I would say that I'm not claiming any responsibility for these additions but of course the EBTG A-List was from my own nomination a couple of weeks ago so I have had an impact but not as a result of the tasks). However you look at it, a collective total of 10 A-Lists from those acts is simply not good enough.
All of this brings us very neatly on to the latest task in hand [Eventually! Ed.]. I'm not sure when I first considered Dean Friedman as the subject of the final Task of ToffeeBoy (almost certainly on one of the frequent occasions when I'd posted a Dean Friedman nomination on RR only to see it greeted by the inevitable dondless silence) but I think it would be fair to say that I've left the toughest task till last. At least that's what I thought until two weeks ago, when our current guru Mr MacInnes pulled the rug from under my feet by including my (very lighthearted and ever so slightly tangenital) nomination of The Deli Song (Corned Beef On Wry!) in his B-List for the Meat topic. Which rather undermined the point I was planning to make: namely, that Dean Friedman was almost certainly a lost cause as far as RR was concerned - maybe there is hope after all.
Despite this slight hiccup, I stand by my assertion that Dean Friedman is a tough task. Six albums in 33 years is almost Blue Nilean in its paucity so for a start there's not a huge amount to choose from. Most of you will know one or more of his hits (Ariel, Woman Of Mine, Lucky Stars and Lydia) and although I think there's much to admire in these four songs, they're by no means representative of Dean at the top of his game. Each of the albums (with the notable exception of the 'adult comedy' album Squirrels In The Attic which to be honest is best avoided) also contains a number of songs of rare beauty and depth, suggesting to me at least that there's an immensely talented songwriter struggling to get out. But what makes my task so hard is that there's another side to Dean Friedman - the man who was capable of writing the painfully (almost disturbingly) moving Song For My Mother and Shopping Bag Ladies has also perpetrated some intensely annoying novelty songs on his adoring public (the track Special Effects on his third album is frankly unlistenable). There's an unfortunate lack of quality control going on here.
On the surface, Dean Friedman doesn't have a lot going for him. He's not going to win any beauty contests and, I'm sorry mate, but your voice is at times a little too whiny (even to a fan like me). But when he gets it right, I really do believe that he's up there with the very best in the business. Real songs about real people living real lives with sincerity oozing out of every pore. Most of the songs sound like they're based on real incidents in his life (The Letter must surely be - I sincerely hope that Song For My Mother isn't) and you get the impression that he genuinely enjoys the process of making music and sharing it with his fans. Anyway, that's enough from me - listen to the music and judge for yourselves. Oh, and if you buy only one Dean Friedman album, let it be the eponymous debut.
