Into the Void

DISCLAIMER: I did not write this to Blood On the Tracks. I listened to Faces’ A Nod Is As Good As A Wink…… hence I spoke extensively of them and Rod Stewart and not as much about Meet Me in the Morning as much as I probably should have to justify the title. Me and my manager at my new job were talking about mundane tasks on days off the other day. He mentioned he’d been tidying his house to Blood On the Tracks by Bob Dylan. I followed suit and did exactly the same, focusing specifically on that bit behind the sink where the washing up water splashes. Ours seems to get especially wet and takes a lot of drying, lest the water build up and go grey and opaque. Our next shift together we listened to Blood On the Tracks whilst opening up shop. I mentioned I didn’t particularly care for Meet Me in the Morning. I didn’t like the schmaltz, I specified. I think I ended up railing slightly against other such schmaltzy numbers and why I dislike them. Anyway he asked for a review of Meet Me in ...

Cloudy Playlist!! Spotify Link!! 1. M. Sage (w/ Fuubutsushi band: Chris Jussell, Patrick Shiroishi & Lake Mary) - Lavender The opener from a gorgeously enveloping winter jazz record. This is the second in this band's seasonal series. They're all worth checking out. They might be one of the best bands I've ever heard.  2. SBTRKT - Hold On feat. Sampha A classic cold weather London track. Starting work at half 6 in Victoria Park made me think strongly of this; knew it had to slot into a winter playlist somewhere.  3. A.A. Bondy - Killers 3 Alt. Folk goes ambient R&B. Modern folktronica that, in no way, sounds predictably like the last few years of Bon Iver. The harmonies in the chorus that float off into nowhere are absolutely sublime.  4. Simon & Garfunkel - Cloudy I love a title track.  5. Bon Iver & St. Vincent Had I never begrudgingly downloaded TikTok, I'd have likely never come across the Twilight soundtrack again. I'd have missed out on this gem...

Listen Here!!!! Spotify Link!! 1. Boston - More Than a Feeling Hard Rock; FM Rock; Classic Rock; Dad Rock. Dodge it for being perennially uncool and you'll be missing out. This song reminds me of the winter of 2009. It also reminds me of a Barclaycard advert: a man rides a rollercoaster through the city; he's backlit by exactly the kind of sunlight I'm thinking of. 2. Bruce Springsteen - 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) A track that captures the same kind of sunlight as Astral Weeks: bucolic yet bleak; the New Jersey boardwalks and seedy characters reading like a stateside transposition of Madame George. A yearning accordion is always, of course, going to work well in the winter sunshine. 3. Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto No real reasoning here. I just love the energy. Changed the pace of the playlist nicely. 4. Hall & Oates - Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song ) Try and tell me that the opening plucky guitars don't sound like coziest pair of trackies you've eve...

D iscuss the emergence of new forms of popular music in 20th-century Africa. A two-way exchange was fostered in the 20 th Century: the advent of increasingly modern recording technology introduced new influences into African music; Western artists took lead from the rhythms of Afrobeat and sun-kissed sounds of Highlife. African musicians trained in the West - honing their craft alongside jazz musicians, returning to create something radical and distinctly theirs. Some would use this as a playful sonic template whilst others would use music as a weapon: it is impossible to ignore how Fela Kuti’s instrumentals were platforms to lament post-colonial Nigeria. Ever the provovateur, Fela prioritised traditionally African styles and modes - his rebellious spirit transcended his music. Afrobeat was a genre born of resistance. It only takes a brief scan of the spare, caustic lyrics and the simultaneously aloof and sharply critical rhetoric of Fela Kuti on record and in conversation, respective...

This last year there has been two pandemics underway. One far quieter than the other – creeping in as slowly as First Light. Ambient. Touching every corner of the music world from country, in William Tyler’s ‘New Vanitas’, to jazz, in M Sage and the Fuubutsushi Boys’ seasonal drops. Thankfully these are shining examples. Thankfully these aren’t coasting on a single droning note. M Sage's 'Fuubutsushi' series (L-R): Fuubutsushi; Setsubun; Yamawarau; Natsukashii. Not that single droning notes, as an avid fanboy of Celer and Pallette, bother me all that much. Maybe we’re in need of soothing. Maybe ambient artists have too much time. Does anyone care about the endless stream of music the genre puts out? Has anyone ever cared about the amount of ambient music that’s ever been released at any one time? In all fairness, the genre’s mastermind, Brian Eno, even said ambient was intended to be as ignorable as it was interesting. Perhaps people are now just embracing that ...