Mighty Music Mashup

Found another great customisable internet radio service: Pandora. Check out My Profile.

To add an extra dimenshion there is a Pandora FM mashup that feeds tracks listened to on this site into your last.fm profile.

I'm happy to say that they don't restrict the buying links to iTunes (of which I am not a fan), but also links to amazon (call me old fashioned, but I like my music on CD or Vinyl).

Driving Music

Driving music for my trip to Edmonton yesterday was provided by...

1. Tom Jones - Reload
2. Texas - The Hush
3. The Divine Comedy - Regeneration
4. Ocean Colour Scene - Marchin' Already
5. Beverlay Knight - Affirmation

The fine sound of factories

Last night was the very fine Sound Factory acoustic night. The evening started with the inventive multi-layered sound of Atlum Schema (otherwise known as Andy Mort), along with some friends (covering keyboard, acoustic guitar and bongos between them). As well as this 3 piece, there were some solo songs, with just a loop box to help enrich the sound. This is done with aplomb, combining human beatbox with vocal harmonies and his acoustic guitar playing. All this from a support act, set the bar pretty high for the next act.

The main act consisted of alternating songs from Cathy Burton and Dan Wheeler both singing and playing acoustic guitar. They were accompanied by Matt Weeks on keys (either Wurlitzer or Rhodes piano). All three of these musicians have a good history of working together, lending some instrumental or production work to each others albums, and this helped them to gell on stage. Their set had a variety of songs, which fitted the acoustic instruments and setting well. Despite the lack of Bass and Percussion, the songs never felt thin or lifeless. Between the songs, whilst retuning there was a little banter, although Dan Wheeler seemed more comfortable with this than his stage companion. However, both himself and Cathy Burton introduced their songs well, and it was nice to hear the root of what inspired them, and once performing the songs, there was nothing missing from their composure. Lyrically this performance was also strong, touching on elements of their Christian faith without being "preachy", instead focusing on how this faith affected and helped them, and also covering other life experiences.

All in all, the acts performing were of high quality, and I would recommend seeing any of them in concert. This can be exemplified by the fact that following on from this concert, I now own albums by all three artists.

Review of the sound factory at St. Paul's Church, Leamington Spa 15/09/2006 - words by Martin Eyles

Virtual Shelf

Take a look at my new Virtual Shelf. It needs a modern browser (try firefox or safari), but I think it is worth the effort (then again, I would say that :-P). Let me know what you think of the page, or my musical taste, or whatever in the comments.

If you get bored of that, you can take a look at my last.fm profile to see what I've been listening to on the ol' computer (but alas, not what CDs and vinyl have been spinning).

Off to italy...

...will post my photos when I get back. Make some interesting posts for me to read when I get back. See you all in just over a week.

PS. if you are bored, try to think of as many lyrics/bands/albums/songs with places in the title. Lyrics is worth 1 point - there must be loads of them - but if you can come up with bands or songs I think that should be worth extra points - dunno how many yet. Leave them as comments hear, or tell me in the pub next week.

Unexpected Nasty Horn Solo

(Note, nasty to play, it is nice to listen to)

Just discovered at tonight's orchestra rehearsal that I have a really tricky solo to perfect for Thursday. This was rather unexpected, as the 4th horn part doesn't normally have much in the way of tricky solos. I really wish I'd been able to make the earlier rehearsals now. Anyway, it looks like I will spend this evening listening to a CD of the piece, to work out how it goes, and spend lots of time practising it tomorrow

By the way, the piece is Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and this bit is about 7 and a half minutes into the 3rd movement, and I am playing it this Thursday, 8PM at All Saints Parish Church in Leam. Hopefully I'll be able to play it by then.

Charlie Hunter

Just got to recommend this fantastic musician Chalie Hunter. He plays an 8 string guitar, which alows him to play bass and lead/rhythm parts at the same time. Check out his website, where you can download music and watch videos of some of his performances.

Reading (2) & Listening

Well, started on that reading now. I'm reading "Northern Lights", the first in the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman. It is a very gripping book that keeps you coming back for more (or at least it has so far).

Also I have been reading "Beyond Confirmation" by Stephen Hance, which is telling me good things (although I have to go further than reading for it to be any use - I have to put them into practice, which historically I'm not good at doing with good things).

Listening wise, I recommend "Speak for Yourself" by Imogen Heap. I have had it only about a week, but have already listened to it several times. It's all good, but of particular interest is "Hide and Seek", which involves just Imogen Heap with a vocoder (and just a little overdubbing or reverb in places). It is a really special track, and almost justifies the album alone. The album does have it's subtle moments like this, but also has some more upbeat sections to fit other moods.

Right, I think that'll do for now. Take care everyone, and I'll see you all later.

Last Slybob Gig :'-(

Well, last night was it. Now Slybob are no more. Still, at least they went out on a high, and at least we can still all listen to their music on CD.

Entering into the Jug and Jester, it at first appeared nothing special was happening. After asking at the bar, I approached the far room, and then you could see, in this room the anticipation. Yes, it was clear that there really was something special on it's way. Some of us already knew the music of Slybob, but there were still more who were to discover it. One thing was clear though, this room was getting fuller, and was going to hit capacity. Clearly enough of us knew what was comming.

The first band began. The Buck Brothers. They had plenty of volume, and a few good riffs, but in reality they just didn't reach me with the music. Their music was ok, but it didn't get me going. Never mind, this wouldn't matter, they were merely the appetiser. At the end of the set was a short break, a chance for people to meet friends and anticipate the next act.

After what seemed like an eternity of setting up, Slybob finally began their last performace. The set started with quite a lot of new material, but it had the same qualities that had always existed in their music. The crowd was enjoying this - a great deal. The vocals were spot on, in tune with good harmonies. The guitar rang with joyful and melancholic sounds, and the rythms were tight. Many classic tunes were played, and yet, all too soon it was over. They still hadn't played one of my favourites, but it wasn't over. The crowd cheered and pleaded for it to continue, and so it did, with a least 3 more tracks, including "Safe", an absolute classic track.

Thankyou Slybob. It was great while it lasted, and I hope that the future is bright. I look forward to hearing what new projects are up your sleeves.

---

PS. If you don't know who this band is, check out their website, where you can listen to some of what remains of their music, and find out what is comming next.

The last deli...

Last night was the last delicatessen ever, or at least in its present form. It was of course a fantastic night. It took a while to get started, but once going, amazing stuff. The DJs were on top form, playing tune after tune after tune, and there was some juggling, and of course much dancing. Alas, many familiar faces have moved on from leamington, but it was good to see Rob and Al (founders of the event), Mike, and The Paddy Monsta there.

Being in sugar, and finding out that the re-furb had been there for 3 years (and I had not seen it before), made me realise how long it is since I've been to deli, but I am happy to have been there, when it was sent out in style!

Anyways, I will try and post some photos at some point, but as I am not yet in the digital age, it will have to wait till my film gets developed.

Ta-Ta for now, M

Medulla

I finally get this - well not completely, but enough to enjoy the entire album. When I first bought the album (probably in the first week of release), I listened, and didn't really like it, then listened again, and got to like a few bits. I hadn't had it on since these couple of plays... until now.

Now Björk albums have often had some challenging or unusual elements before, but you've always been able to get into bits of them straight away, and the whole thing after a couple of plays. With Medulla however, the entire album is based on experimental choral music, and it is all challenging. It goes beyond using choirs (although it uses them lots) and uses throat singers (with a very unusual sound), Björk's voice, and some other guest singers (such as Robert Wyatt), sampled multi-tracked, and generally mashed up. This was very tough listening when I listened to it many months ago (and this even with my, by then, wide taste in music).

So what would happen at about half past 11 last night, but I get a strange urge to listen to it again. Maybe my mind had be processing it secretly in the background all this time, trying to understand it, and finally thought it had an answer. So I put it on, and it is a revelation (musically). Suddenly, I enjoy the rythms, the sound, the experience. I can see beyond saying "it's experimental - not sure I like experimental", and see all the richness in these voices. So now I recommend this album. Buy it, listen to it, put it away, and wait. It will be in your CD player again - one day - and then you will love it!

Pink Martini

Saw a fantastic band called Pink Martini at warwick arts centre last night. So I thought I'd blink to them. (blink: verb: to link to a website from a blog) Click on their name above to go to the site. You can listen to them there, buy CDs and also look at the tour dates, to see when they are visiting your area.

I must say that their percussion section was especially good. Very tight rythmically, and very versatile. However, this is not to say the rest of the band wasn't good - I thought they were all good. They were good enough to get many couples dancing by the end (alas I didn't really have anyone I knew with a compatible dance style (I do ceroc, and the only ladies I know there do ballroom), and I can't dance solo to save my life. Shame really, would have been nice to dance.).

Music is GREAT!!!

This last few weeks I have new-ley been listening to...

• Carole King "Tapestry"
• David Gray "Life in Slow Motion
• Atlum Schema "The Final Scene"
• The Corrs "Home"
• Katie Melua "Piece By Piece"
• The Futureheads "The Futureheads"
• Sheryl Crow "Wildflower"
• Franz Ferdinand "You Could Have It So Much Better"

All highly recommended. I hope to listen to...

• Rodrigo "Concierto De Aranjuez" etc. from BBC Music Magazine
• Badly Drawn Boy "One Plus One Is One"
• Shola Ama "Much Love"

over the comming week.

Once again, music is fantastic!!!!! Go listen to some.

Strange Multimedia Corporate Sprawl - Part 1: Music

Sorry, couldn't think of a better title for this. Just a random comment on this strange thing that is happening in the digital age. And to get me in the mood for this, I shall be listening to vinyl whilst typing (although really I am mainly a CD guy, I do have some nice stuff on vinyl. This evening I am enjoying an Acid Jazz compilation called... Jazz).

Firstly, record labels are abandoning sense and offering MP3s, AACs, WMAs, maybe even OGGs. They offer these online, and yet moan if we rip our own CDs to these formats for use on our own players. Then they copy protect the CDs - except they don't - I've not found a CD that doesn't rip (note this really is for personal use - they are an alarm clock, courtesy of the scheduler in windows and auto playlists in media player - and they are music for long journeys, when I can be bothered to take my MP3 CD player).

The strangeness continiues as they then decide to make new record labels that only release in these compressed formats. This is awful for the quality. I like MP3s for portable use, alarm clocks, general convienience etc., but at the end of the day, when I want to listen to recorded music properley, I go back to CD and Vinyl, on a dedicated seperates system. It is just a better sound.

Things continue to get stranger. They release high definition formats, such as SACD and DVD-A, but then put on watermarks, that actually alter the sound. Sound benefits might be gained on these formats, but the average cheap system will probably make them sound worse than a decent CD player (although on a decent system they should indeed be better). Then they have a big format war, which means you have to get a universal player.

Departing the corparetness and recorded stuff a bit, I have another gripe about live gigs DJs etc. The Music is Too Loud. Call me old, but I should be able to hear when I leave, without having to wear earplugs. Wierd thing is, I sometimes have my music on at a volume at home which some people think is loud - I do want a decent volume. And yet this isn't really loud at all. It is a lot quieter than any live gig.

And this brings me on to what I think is my last musical strangeness gripe. Power! Why is it that your cheapo sound system is quoted in PMPO as something like 400 watts, and yet has less power than a decent amp with a quoted power of just 40 watts? And why do people in cars put their subs on at disproportionate levels to the rest of the music. There is nothing particularly wrong with lots of power and loud subs, as long as the power is actually not a fake figure, is making the music sound better, and when the sub volume is at a level which fits the rest of the music, but people seem to ignore this, and then there is something seriously wrong

anyway, that's it for music - next up: searching, messaging, computer wierdness - I will even mention corparate sprawl of this. See you then...