Honeyblood's 'The Third Degree' has been my song of the week. What a wonderful, jubilant, modern guitar take on a 60s-esque tune. LOVE it.
Bought the Honeyblood discography on Bandcamp Friday.
Also bought Sam Barton's 'Acid Apple Satin Walls'. Great new record. Electronic, experimental elements. And 'We Painted Our Faces And Gave False Names' is a thing of beauty. One of my tracks of the year.
Also discovered Blue Boredom. Lovely female-voiced synthpop. They remind me of someone but I haven't figured out who yet.
Interviewed John Andrew Fredrick again for the latest episode of Etcetera ETC With Young Southpaw. My first repeat guest. And always a pleasure to chat with the elegantly loquacious Mr. Fredrick. So I was listening to his new Black Watch album, Fromthing Somethat, of which this is my favourite song from it:
In other news, finished William Boyd's 'Armadillo'. I really enjoyed reading it, though I was convinced the end could have gone a couple of different ways and I wasn't so sure about this relationship with Flavia, with it coming from so little.
Now I'm onto 'The End' by Fernanda Torres. Really enjoying this. Ostensibly about the lives of five male friends in Rio, but it's almost as equally the story of the women in their lives. Very fun, bawdy, but emotionally packing a punch as well.
Re-read Nabokov's 'The Vane Sisters' two nights ago and was once again deeply touched by its beauty and inventiveness.
TV-wise, I continue to be enthralled with The Bureau. Devoured Season 2 in four days and now onto Season 3.
I keep hearing so much great stuff, thought I'd revive this blog to share it. A weekly post of all the great artists and tunes I've discovered or revisited during the week
First up is Judee Sill. Wow! Her songs are so lovely. John Andrew Fredrick of The Black Watch posted 'The Kiss' the other night and I was hooked. Sent me down a rabbithole and I've now heard all her recordings and can recommend the entire catalogue. Boston bassist extraordinaire Eric Donohue hipped me to her BBC Recordings which are just her solo and they are wonderful.
I heard 'The Kiss' first and then shortly after, perhaps her most popular song, 'Jesus Was A Cross Maker' which I've probably listened to five times a day since.
But as I was saying, JAF has posted some great stuff lately, including Prince's 'Starfish And Coffee' which has been stuck in my head a lot and I'm greatly thankful for that. What a tune!
As is 'Baltimore', which I've been listening to a ton lately with everything going on:
It was jazz great Eric Dolphy's birthday yesterday. His bass clarinet version of 'God Bless The Child' is one of the my favourite pieces of music:
I've started rewatching all of Letterkenny again. What a fantastic show. It's hilarious and they really take the time to get the writing and the soundtrack right. Discovered White Reaper that way, and 'Last Fourth Of July' is my favourite song I've heard this year, it's in my head constantly. Like a perfect cross between later My Chemical Romance, The Ramones, & The Misfits.
And another great discovery is The Foots, three piece Australian band from the 90's, on Lost And Lonesome Records. Two Foots reissues now on Bandcamp and some really good tunes on them, including my fave 'Fickle':
Lost And Lonesome is Mark Monnone from The Lucksmith's long-standing record label. Back in February when I set out to drive from Connecticut to Los Angeles that first day in the car I listened to the entire Lucksmiths discography. It was great, they had so many excellent songs. I was really glad, and also sad, to be at their last London gig back in 2009. On that same drive I started listening to Dory Previn again, and I've kept thinking this year it would be a good idea to document the songs that are with me at certain times, hence reupping this blog, especially with Judee Sill reminding me of Dory Previn. Whose 'Going Home' soundtracked so much of the rest of that cross-country car ride:
