British People in Hot Weather

We're back home in Norfolk after a week down in olde London town. What was that bloody weather all about? Temperatures in the mid 30's with ridiculously high humidity does not make The Swede a happy boy. I had a big wobble on Monday and genuinely thought I was going to pass out while I was on the Tube, even though I'd kept my water intake high. To top it all, the car's electric windows jammed shut on Tuesday and have refused to open since - there's no aircon, it's been utterly stifling. As I type this though, it's 19° and raining steadily - absolute bliss. Time to start catching up with what's been going on while I've been away.

The Fall - British People in Hot Weather

Shuggie Otis

I'm not good with heat, or humidity. The combination of the two turns my brain to mush and I grind to an undignified halt. Of course, by the time you read this it could be snowing. I'm still stepping very lightly around my old laptop while I await the arrival of its replacement, scheduling posts several days in advance to ensure some form of continuity. I do have plans for when I'm up and running with the new technology though, including using a Box account to feature tunes from my collection that I can't find elsewhere online. More of that as and when Dell see fit to make a delivery. I really just dropped by to whinge about the heat.....

Shuggie Otis works particularly well in this weather, nowhere better than on the 1971 title track of his second LP, 'Freedom Flight'.

Storm Is Rising

In 15 years of living on the coast in the 1980's and 1990's, I watched many a big storm roll in from the sea, crash, bang and flash overhead for a bit, before moving on inland. I've never experienced a storm like the one we encountered in the early hours of Saturday morning though. It was the Mother of all storms. In fact it was the Mother, Father, Sister, Brother and complete extended family of all storms. I grabbed my camera and tried to document the cacophony kicking off in the skies around us, but this was as good as it got.

Misty Mist

Down the garden, over the allotments and across the marsh beyond. I always stop to look out of our bedroom window, whether I'm on my way into bed at night or stumbling out of it at the start of a new day. It's never the same view twice. Here's what I saw this morning.

I could write a whole piece on the range and variety of mists that gather on the marsh, but would struggle to illustrate any of them. Successfully capturing mist on camera is akin to capturing lightning in a bottle, for me anyway. This morning's mist/frost/sun combo was particularly beautiful though. And as I looked out, I too was being observed. I guess the view in the other direction is no big deal to this little 'un.

Later in the day, we endured a private mist of our own - inside the house. The next door neighbours were sanding down a beam and, as our two houses were once one and thus we share some floorboards, a gentle sawdust fog drifted up and through the rooms, leaving a fine covering over everything. I'd only vacuumed yesterday too.

Saturday Scratch #6

By all accounts, this weekend is going to be a scorcher, so there's really only one Lee Perry tune I could select as the heat piles on. Scratch wasn't actually referring to the physical temperature in this masterpiece, rather the song is barometer of the violent, political period during which it was recorded. Having said that, the pervading wonky, slightly wading-through-treacle feel, perfectly mirrors the mush my brain becomes after a few hours of anything over 25° - and today is going to be considerably warmer than that!

'I-man a-go cool-out

'pon the hill-top'

Enjoy your weekend and don't get burned.

Previously on Saturday Scratch.

Yo La Tengo

At the risk of having severe abuse hurled in my direction, can I just say....it's too hot! I realise I'm in the minority here, but the temperatures of late have been perfect for me - it's just the biblical quantities of rain that I've had an issue with. Now though, after just a couple of days of non-stop sunshine, i'm wilting!

So today I took a drive with the windows down in order to get some air movement going on. The mp3 player was on shuffle, as it always tends to be in the car, and up popped this - as the little repeated piano figure eased it's way into my brain I swear I actually felt a little cooler and more comfortable.

The track is 'Let's Be Still' from Yo La Tengo's 2003 LP, the appropriately titled 'Summer Sun'. The band have released a dozen albums and a plethora of singles, EPs and compilations since the mid-1980s. They're also known for their eclectic range of cover versions and make an annual appearance on New York's WFMU radio station fundraising evening where, in exchange for a pledge, they'll turn their hands to any tune the listeners request. The band even released a limited edition compilation LP of these one-offs entitled 'Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics'!

It's a hot and humid evening. Let's spin this one more time.