Monday Long Song, Christmas Edition

Monday Long Song / Busy Birthday Week - Part Two

After deciding that I was going to travel to Nottingham and join in the fun at John and Bright Ambassador's inaugural Sunday Vinyl Session, I had a poke about the interweb to find out what might be going on in town during the evening, by way of entertainment. Amazingly there was a gig of interest at the Running Horse, in the very same room where I'd be spending the afternoon discussing all things Bowie. Johnny Dowd was in town. So after dinner and a brief pit-stop in another cool little bar, John, Jenny and I headed back to the pub where we'd met just a few hours earlier.

I knew only a little about Johnny Dowd before the show, but what I did know definitely ticked my boxes. Prolific, maverick, alt-country oddball doesn't begin to adequately describe the man and the music he makes. He's a dark poet, as funny as hell and as serious as your life. After the show we chatted to a couple of fans who are following Johnny's tour around parts of the UK. 'Completely different every night' said one. 'A totally different set from yesterday's' said another. I'm linking a short documentary on Johnny's 2015 UK tour at the bottom of this post, which is worth 18 minutes of anyone's time and will probably tell you more about him that I ever could. Johnny Dowd is 71 and already visibly more frail than when 'Disco Sausage' was filmed. If he tips up in your town anytime soon, I'd highly recommend that you give him a go. I really hope that I can catch up with him again one day. It was late, I'd had a long day, done a lot of driving and (for me) a lot of drinking. I was bushed. Hugs were exchanged between myself and my wonderful hosts and I headed off down the hill to my hotel. I suspect that I was asleep before John and Jenny had even caught their bus home.

On Monday morning I wandered into the centre of Nottingham in search of sustenance and enjoyed the most delicious breakfast/brunch in the Cartwheel Cafe - Roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, sun-blushed tomatoes, potato hash, roasted beetroot houmous, red amaranth and spring onions drizzled with garden pesto. It really was amazing, as was the Rwandan coffee that accompanied it. After ambling around for another half an hour, I necked an espresso at Outpost Coffee for the road and headed off to Cambridge.

David Thomas Broughton is part singer-songwriter, part avant-garde performance artist - the clipped Northern diction of his sonorous baritone (think a 21st Century Jake Thackray), guitar and various electronic gizmos are looped, dissected and reassembled to inject sometimes spontaneous elements to each individual performance. He's a baffling prospect to many, but once you fall under his spell, it's hard to look away. He had the entire room in his hands on Monday evening in Cambridge. On Tuesday morning I bumped into him in the hotel lift as we were both on our way to check out. Not wishing to come across as a weird stalker type, I merely thanked him for a great show the previous evening and told him I'd catch up with him later in the day in Norwich.

I was in Cambridge and, as it was my birthday, I figured that I deserved a treat or two, so I made tracks for the frankly magnificent Relevant Records. I'm so glad that this place isn't my local record shop. I could have easily dropped a months wages without even starting to dig deep into the bins. As it was I behaved myself, coming away with Nursery Rhymes by Bill Wells & Friends (a physical copy of which I've been after since posting about it here), second hand copies of John Cale's 'Paris 1919' and 'Future Songs' by The Doozer, plus the Joe Strummer RSD 12" of 'Forbidden City'. Then there was more food, more coffee and a drive onto Norwich, where David Thomas Broughton's performance was in a public bar and free of charge. Unfortunately this meant that a contingent of the audience were not only not there to see him - they simply didn't get what he was doing. This resulted in much peripheral chatter from sections of the crowd, which was a shame as they were missing a terrifically engaging show. After the gig, I wearily drove the last 20 miles home through the night, the first day of my 60th year completed.

Broughton didn't play 'Silent Arrow' at either of the shows I caught on this tour, but it's become something of a personal favourite of mine and illustrates what it is he actually does pretty well.

David Thomas Broughton - Silent Arrow

Albums Of The Year 2016 - Part 2, 1-10

So to my favourite 10 albums of 2016. In truth, some of the positions on this list (and on Part 1 here) could be interchangeable, depending on my mood - the Top 5, however, is set in stone.

10) Julia Jacklin - Don't Let the Kids Win

 An extremely strong and assured debut from this Australian singer/songwriter. Highly recommended.

 

9) Heron Oblivion - Heron Oblivion

The pastoral folk of Meg Baird from Espers, meets the crunching electric wig-out of Ethan Miller and Noel Von Harmonson from Comets on Fire. Like Sandy Denny jamming with a full throttle Crazy Horse.



8) Hintermass - The Apple Tree

Jon Brooks (from The Advisory Circle and Pattern Forms) and Tim Felton (from the much missed Broadcast) concoct an album that combines big dollops of pastoral loveliness with occasional splodges of gentle blippy weirdness.

7) Nick Cave - Skeleton Tree

Stark, beautiful, devastating.

   

6) David Bowie - Blackstar 

If I'm lucky enough to still be around in 20 years time and am questioned, by an as yet unborn whippersnapper, about the defining music of 2016, I'll simply whizz over to my hologramic record collection on my trusty hoverscooter and play them 'Blackstar'. And even in 2036, I've no doubt I'll still break down in tears when 'I Can't Give Everything Away' kicks in.

   

5) Community Radio - Look Now You're Cursed 

The third of four Australian acts in my Top 10. Hats off to Brian for introducing me to these guys. 'Look Now You're Cursed' is chock full of superior guitar pop. I'm running out of superlatives - listen to it and buy it here!

   

4) 75 Dollar Bill - Wood/Metal/Plastic/Rhythm/Rock 

Much like the Our Solar System album mentioned in Part 1, I can get lost in this one for hours. Swipe me, it's fantastic! Essentially a duo, 75 Dollar Bill move freely between Malian desert blues, Indian drones, Mississippi delta stomps plus all points in-between and either side. I'm delighted to see 'Wood/Metal/Plastic/Rhythm/Rock' turning up on so many end of year best-of lists - all thoroughly deserved accolades. (Sample the whole LP here)
 

3) Chook Race - Around the House 

I've been banging on about 'Around the House' for the last few months to anyone who'll listen. Even if no-one's listening, I still bang on about it. Check out this poptastic lo-fi jangle-fest for yourself (here) and you'll fall in love with it too. (Please come and tour the UK guys.)
 

(.........and there's nothing between the top two, so..... )

=1) Alasdair Roberts & James Green - Plaint of Lapwing 

Alasdair Roberts' work may be rooted in the folk tradition, but actually extends far beyond mere genre limitations. 'Plaint of Lapwing' is a collaboration with James Green of The Big Eyes Family Players and is released on Clay Pipe Music, a London based label run by illustrator Frances Castle. This album sits easily among Alasdair's finest, the warm analogue feel of the record belying the file-sharing nature of its creation. Never one to stand still, in 2016 Alasdair also contributed to 'Wild Hog', the lovely second album by The Furrow Collective and already has a new solo collection, 'Pangs', prepared for release at the end of February 2017.
 

=1) David Thomas Broughton - Crippling Lack 

When you fall under David Thomas Broughton's unique spell (as I did in 2005 with 'The Complete Guide To Insufficiency'), you're in it for the long haul. Broughton is part superb singer-songwriter, part avant-garde performance artist - his sonorous baritone, guitar and various electronic gizmos are looped, dissected and reassembled to inject sometimes spontaneous elements to each individual performance. 'Crippling Lack' is a huge undertaking for both artist and listener. Three slabs of vinyl weighing in at a hefty 100 minutes - featuring guest turns from the likes of Beth Orton, Rachael Dadd and Aidan Moffat - though crucially, not a single second is wasted. A towering work. (Check out the full album here.)

 

Albums of the Year 2014

And so to the final post of 2014, my favourite albums of the year. It was a devilishly tricky old business ranking them, with positions changing a number of times as I listened and re-listened to the shortlist, though the top five were never in any real doubt. I've featured several of these artists on the blog over the past 12 months (click on the red highlights to check out the original posts and music) and hope to return to a few of those that have yet to grace these pages in the future.

Top 20

1. David Thomas Broughton & Juice - Sliding the Same Way

2. Quilt - Held in Splendor

3. Mazes - Wooden Aquarium

4. Boy and Bear - Harlequin Dream*

5. Jane Weaver - The Silver Globe

6. St Vincent - s/t

7. Robert Plant - Lullaby & the Ceaseless Roar

8. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold

9. Micah P Hinson - MPH and the Nothing

10. Gruff Rhys - American Interior

11. Gogo Penguin - V2

12. Courtney Barnett - A Sea of Split Peas

13. Sun Kil Moon - Benji

14. Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra - Pulsion

15. Real Estate - Atlas

16. Pete Fij & Terry Bickers - Broken Heart Surgery

17. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

18. Big Blood - Unlikely Mother

19. Karl Hector & the Malcouns - Unstraight Ahead

20. The Soundcarriers - Entropicalia

Favourite Reissues/Compilations etc

African Gems (Various Artists)

Haiti Direct - Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, 1960-1978

Wilco - Alpha Mike Foxtrot

Musi-O-Tunya - Give Love to Your Children

Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako

Virgin Front Line - Sounds of Reality

Bob Dylan - Basement Tapes

Captain Beefheart - Sun Zoom Spark

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
William Oneyeabor - Complete

Bunny "Striker" Lee - Full Up

Hailu Mergia - Tche Belew

Bubbling Under...

King Creosote - From Scotland With Love

Temples - Sun Structures

Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems

Toumani Diabaté & Sidiki Diabaté - Toumani & Sidiki

Tinariwen - Emmaar

Hiss Golden Messenger - Lateness Of Dancers

Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather

Sinkane - Mean Love

Damien Jurado - Brothers & Sisters of the Eternal Son

The Furrow Collective - At Our Next Meeting

Ibibio Sound Machine - s/t

Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains - Piano Ombre

Joan as Police Woman - The Classic

Aldous Harding - s/t

Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal

School of Language - Old Fears

Tuneyards - Nikki Nack

Joe Henry - Invisible Hour

Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit

Eno & Hyde - High Life

Teleman - Breakfast

White Fence - For the Recently Found Innocent

Childhood - Lacuna

Golden Gunn - s/t

The Coral - The Curse of Love

Hookworms - The Hum

Rachael Dadd - We Resonate

Tweedy - Sukierae

It just remains for me to say a big thank you to everyone who stopped by in 2014 and also to all the bloggers out there who I read, listen to and am inspired by every day. A Happy New Year to you and those you love.

Let's do it all again in 2015.

(*Special thanks to Shell Hunter over at Tune Doctor for the Boy & Bear release date info!)

David Thomas Broughton

Last week, in a tiny subterranean bar, I attended my third David Thomas Broughton concert in five years. It was by turns funny, scary, touching, confrontational and beautiful, but above all it was, as always, a unique experience. Part singer-songwriter, part performance artist, Broughton treats his songs as raw material, to be dissected and reassembled at will, looping his voice, his guitar and various electronic gizmos, while incorporating any inanimate objects that come to hand. He wanders off mic and off stage, singing on the move, in the middle of the audience, even from half way up the staircase leading out of the venue.

Broughton's sonorous baritone (think a 21st Century Jake Thackray) is currently complemented by The Juice Vocal Ensemble, with whom he has recorded one of 2014's finest albums, 'Sliding The Same Way'. Over Juice's often unsettling, aural backdrop, Broughton's clipped Northern diction tackles dark themes on the LP, sometimes using very blunt language. 'I will glass every one of you pricks in this bar', isn't a line you'll find anywhere in the Folk tradition and was delivered with such mesmeric conviction during last week's concert, that I'm sure I wasn't alone in shifting uncomfortably in my seat. An essential album and an essential live performer.

Pastie From Greggs Bakery