I know that there's a lot of love for TeenCanteen in this little corner of the internet. By all accounts, their
long-awaited debut LP is virtually complete and should be with us in the first half of 2016. Carla J Easton, the mighty
voice of TeenCanteen, has simultaneously been working on a side project, Ette, who also have a debut album, 'Homemade
Lemonade', due early next year. Before all that though and with consummate timing, this week Ette released a fine festive
tune, 'Spending Every Christmas Day With My Boy'. Find out more here.
If you enjoyed the recent 'Nursery Rhymes' LP by Bill Wells & Friends (as featured here) and have room in
your heart for something of a similar style, but festive in nature - look no further. In 2012, Bill, in collaboration
with members of Francois and the Atlas Mountains, The One Ensemble and Golden Grrrls, together working under the misleading
moniker of The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland (there are 5 of 'em and it ain't really jazz), released 'Christmas Album'. 'Like 'Nursery Rhymes', 'Christmas Album' is
produced by Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake and the two records share a similarly dark and haunting tone. Familiar tunes
are disassembled, keys are changed, time signatures are tinkered with and the result is a beautiful collection that is less joyful and triumphant and more
bleak mid-Winter. Here's a selection to demonstrate what I'm trying to get at. Check out the whole of this excellent LP here.
Charity Chic caused a good natured kerfuffle last weekend, when he posted a pretty shocking cover of 'Wichita Lineman' by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (check out the grizzly evidence here). All is well in the world once again though, following yesterday's post, which featured a brace of Jimmy Webb penned classics performed by Glen Campbell himself (here).
Many, many years ago, a friend who worked in local radio let it slip that he was due to interview Glen Campbell later that week. The next time I bumped into my chum, I 'coincidentally' happened to have a couple of Glen's singles from my own collection tucked under my arm. My mate took the hint and managed to get the labels signed for me after the interview. Unfortunately, Glen was under the impression that the records actually belonged to my pal, making the dedication out to him instead of me. No matter really, I'm well pleased to have them.
I always though that Roy Orbison should've had a crack at 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix'. Here though are The Mad Lads from the Summer of 1969 with their soulful take on the song. The single, on Stax subsidiary Volt, was produced by Al Jackson of the MG's and proved to be the group's final hit. Check out those moves.
Following their excellent collaboration with Bonnie Prince Billy on 2012's 'The Marble Downs' and recent live work with Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, Trembling Bells take the 'Rock' element of their 'Folk-Rock' genre-classification, up a notch on their fifth LP, 'The Sovereign Self' - actually, we're talking Psych-Folk-Rock here folks. On 'Killing Time in London Fields', there's perhaps even a hint of Psych-Folk-Kraut-Rock. 'The Sovereign Self' is a heady and engaging brew, which, as with so many of the very best albums, just keeps getting better with repeated plays.
I'm not sure how I'm going to mark the end of the year on the blog. At the conclusion of 2014 I put together a long, sprawling post looking back over the music of the previous 12 months (it's here if you're interested), though still managed to miss out some absolute corkers. I doubt I'll have time to produce anything quite so elaborate this time round, but while I wait for inspiration to hit, I've been re-listening to some much loved albums of 2015 that, up to now, haven't put in an appearance on these pages.
French sound sculptor Cécile Schott, who performs as Colleen, released her sixth LP, 'Captain of None', in the Spring and it's a beautiful thing, full of rhythmic loops and delicately catchy vocal shenanigans. Here's 'Lighthouse', my favourite song from that record, plus a live version, filmed in the Summer, that shows just how she makes those glorious noises.
I'm somewhat alarmed to note that I bought Colleen's first album, 'Everyone Alive Wants Answers', back in 2003 - 12 years ago. 12 years! Aaargh! The spooky 'Ritournelle', from that very record, was the first thing I ever heard by her.
It's been a while since the last edition of Saturday Scratch and this one comes bearing some bad news. A couple of days ago, part of Lee Perry's Swiss home was destroyed by fire. Thankfully no-one was hurt in the incident and, clearly distraught, Perry himself took to Facebook to explain what happened.
HALLO MY FANSSOMETHNG VERY VERY SAD HAPPENDI FORGOTT TO OUT A CANDLE AND MY WHOLE SECRET LABORATORY BURNED OUT.MY...
I happened to mention The Kingsbury Manx in a comment I left over at Charity Chic Music the other day. What a fine little band they are. Their sixth LP, 'The Bronze Age', was released in 2013, but the only time I caught them live was way back in 2001 on the New York stop of a US tour they undertook with The New Pornographers - an excellent double bill. The Kingsbury Manx can be a subtle proposition at times and I remember wandering around the hall a bit that evening, in an effort to get away from the chatterers in the audience, not to mention an over zealous Uncle Tupelo fan who wanted me to sell him the t-shirt I happened to be wearing. Anyway, I dug out a couple of Kingsbury Manx albums this afternoon and am happy to confirm that they sound as good as ever. Here are a couple of good 'uns from their self-titled debut of 2000.
