Friday Photo #31

We may have dodged the heavy snow that blanketed so much of the country over the past week, but my little corner of Suffolk nevertheless felt the sharpness of winter's arrival. The temperatures have been hovering around zero and there was a severe hoar frost on Sunday that made everything look stunningly beautiful, though I'll admit that beauty hasn't been at the forefront of my mind at 5.15 every morning as I've hacked away at my ice encased car.

The river that forms the border between Suffolk and Norfolk flows 100 yards from my front door and I spend a lot of time over there, clearing my mind and keeping my eyes open for any interesting wildlife that might be about. Kingfishers are a regular, if fleeting sight, whizzing by a couple of feet above the water in a silver blue blur. On Sunday, however, set against the heavily frosted trees, these remarkable birds lost their usual camouflage and I was able to observe several of them quite extensively, sitting on overhanging branches gazing into the glass calm river and occasionally diving in to make a catch. I use the word too often I know, but the whole experience really was magical. Today's photo was snapped on Sunday, from one of my vantage points on the Norfolk bank. Unfortunately my trusty camera phone simply isn't powerful enough to actually capture a decent shot of a Kingfisher.

Cabane (featuring Kate Stables) - Now, Winter Comes

Rozi Returns

As This is the Kit's near-two year 'Moonshine Freeze' campaign draws to a close and Kate Stables prepares to head home to begin writing its successor, bandmate Rozi Plain gears up to release her first album of new material since my favourite LP of 2015, 'Friend' (...and if for some reason you don't already own 'Friend', go get it here now!) Rozi's new record 'What a Boost' is issued on Memphis Industries on April 5th and 'Symmetrical', the first tune from it, arrived earlier this week.

At the end of the month my first concert of 2018 will be a This is the Kit/Rozi Plain double header, held in a teeny-tiny room as part of Independent Venue week. To say that I'm excited would be an immense understatement. Expect absurdly over-the-top lyrical waxings in due course.

Hotter Colder

New LPs these days, eh? Often released on limited edition coloured vinyl, usually with gratis downloads and sometimes even enhanced with enticing free bits and bobs - but how many arrive with a tea towel designed by a member of the band? Not many I'll be bound. My copy of 'Moonshine Freeze' did though. It's the 4th album by the consistently terrific This is the Kit, a band I've championed long and loud plenty of times in the past, so I won't bang on too much, other than to note that this time around they appear on the Rough Trade record label and are produced by long time PJ Harvey cohort John Parish. Buy it, is my frankly straight forward advice.

Here are Kate Stables and Rozi Plain risking pneumonia for our entertainment.

Friend of a Friend

Some may remember that Rozi Plain's 'Friend' was my favourite LP of 2015 - and if you're still to fall for that album's many and varied charms, please take a few minutes to check out the tunes I posted from it last year (here and here). Next week sees the release of a companion piece to 'Friend', appropriately titled 'Friend of a Friend', which gathers together a selection of alternative versions, session tracks and remixes from the project. The haunting 'Marshes' is the first taster.

Live and Direct - This Is The Kit

Monitor problems. Mysterious and elusive crackling guitar cables. Another guitar requiring retuning mid-song. The drummer's phone briefly interrupting proceedings. A bass guitar that decided to separate from its strap, again in mid-song. All this before the end of the gig's third number. A lesser band might have crumbled at this point, but This is the Kit are made of sterner stuff, overcoming these trifling hurdles to play a joyful, spellbinding concert in the unique environs of the 18th century Octagon Chapel in Norwich.

Unsurprisingly, the set drew heavily from last year's excellent 'Bashed Out' LP, though for me, the absolute highlight of the evening was one of a brace of fine new songs we were treated to, which, judging by the quick inter-bandmember conflab before its performance, is currently being road-tested in more than one arrangement. I didn't catch the title, but hopefully they'll give it another airing when they play at the 6Music Festival in the middle of February.

Albums of the Year 2015 - 6 to 10

Here we are at the end of another year. Where did it go? A big thank you to everyone who stopped by my little corner of the internet over the past 12 months. Particular thanks go to all my blogging chums who continue to inspire me every single day. I'll leave you with numbers 6 to 10 in the countdown of my favourite albums of 2015. Top 5 tomorrow!

A Happy New Year to you and those you love. Let's do it all again in 2016. 

6) This is the Kit - Bashed Out

7) Low - Ones & Sixes

8) The Apartments - No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal

9) The Staves - If I Was

10) The Charlatans - Modern Nature

The Tracks Of My Year

I'm currently trying to hammer out a list of my favourite 10 albums of the year and as time wears on, I realise that it's a task I should've started a lot sooner. So while I'm mulling it over for the millionth time, here are 5 of my favourite individual tunes of 2015.

5. Drinks - Hermits on Holiday. When I posted this in May, blogging chum Swiss Adam memorably described it as 'weirdo lo-fi shit, in a good way'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

4. Lonelady - Hinterland. The scratchy post-punk-funk of Lonelady (think Gang of Four meet A Certain Ration) was pretty much the soundtrack to my year. One of my live highlights too.

3. Birds of Hell - Hometown Rage. This haunting lo-fi snapshot of Pete Murdoch's childhood concludes with a genuinely moving snatch of a 78rpm recording of his late Grandmother's voice, echoing down the years.

2. Daniel Knox - Blue Car. Singer, songwriter, part-time movie projectionist and Instagram artist extraordinaire, Daniel Knox played locally in March. Standing a couple of feet away from him as he sang the stunning 'Blue Car' was an absolute 2015 highlight.

1. This Is the Kit - Silver John. The lyrics are a gentle musing on the end of life as we know it, but in spite of the heavy subject matter, 'Silver John' is like a thick warm coat on a bitterly cold winter evening.

This Is The Kit

I've been a very lucky lad so far this year. The stream of local gigs has been steady and of consistently high quality - although I've just realised that I've foolishly neglected to mention some of the best of them on these pages. Never mind, I'll catch up with those in the end of year round-up.

One band I really wanted to see, but unfortunately missed out on, was This Is the Kit. Their third LP 'Bashed Out' is very good indeed and the terrific single lifted from it, 'Silver John', will, I'm certain, also feature prominently in that end of year round-up. One of my songs of 2015, no question.