Richard Swift

This time last night I was flicking through some Damien Jurado songs thinking I might post one, but couldn't make a decision, so I put the idea on the back-burner.

Imagine my spooked-outness this morning when I found that sfw over at Tune Doctor had the same idea - and what a fine choice he made!

Here's a tune from Damien Jurado's current producer Richard Swift. When asked to describe his music I usually say a 21st Century Harry Nilsson, but in addition to being a terrific singer/songwriter, multi- instrumentalist and producer, he's also a  film-maker and photographer - oh yes, and he's currently a member of The Shins.

The Old Pals' Act

I must have met The Prisoner of Mars around 20 years ago. He's a man of exquisite taste and prodigious talent and currently has a couple of albums available as free downloads here.

The majority of his music is self composed, but here's his psyched-up take on the Bee Gees 'Idea'.

Something Else!

We've had an abundance of the sweet pop stuff in the past few days, so to cleanse the palette for the week ahead, I've dug out a little free jazz.

Credited to James Blood Ulmer, this is actually more of a collaborative effort with the mighty Ornette
Coleman on alto sax, Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and Ornette's son Denardo on drums.

Ornette Coleman's first three albums, issued at the end of the 1950s are essential components of any jazz
collection. This, however, comes from 1978 and finds him still pushing the music forward. If you like this,
check out his crackling 1976 set 'Dancing in Your Head.'

Perfect Pop - Guest Contributor

By way of rounding off this week's short series of posts, Steven from Manchester has been in touch. Apparently Steven was in a band for a few years in the 1980s and still occasionally finds the time to get up and belt out a few numbers now and then - including these interpretations of some great pop moments.

Thanks for your suggestions Steven and good on you for sticking at it, your big break could be just around the corner.

Perfect Pop...Slight Return

Just a few more suggestions of Perfect Pop moments, following on from Tune Doctor's post on Wednesday, this time of a slightly older vintage.

Rod (with The Faces) when he still mattered, Mott the Hoople's epic penultimate single and Altered Images, from their final and (in my opinion) best LP on which every track is a pop nugget.

 

Perfect Pop

Old Pa's Corner over at Tune Doctor encouraged the suggestion of some Perfect Pop Records, following a great (and heartbreaking) post. I pulled a couple off the top of my head, but held back these to post myself.

Neither tune was released as singles to my knowledge, hence the lack of accompanying videos, but both are sublime, seductive slices of that glorious music we call pop.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Rosebuds and Iron & Wine.

Record Store Musings

As we're celebrating Independent Record Store day, here's something I purchased in 2009 from Permanent Records in Brooklyn, solely on their recommendation, which in turn was based solely on the other purchases I made that day. The self-titled Floating Action album became a favourite of that year and perhaps one I would never have discovered had I not been in that store at that time.

Floating Action has released three albums and is essentially a vehicle for Seth Kauffman who plays everything on the records, drafting in extra musicians for live work. Kauffman also produced the brand new Benny Yurco album 'This is a Future', another fine bunch of tunes I might not have heard had I not walked into that store on that day in 2009.