work as if you live in the early days of a better nation
stuff I hear
I was sorry to hear that John Herald had died. We saw him play in Glasgow, just as he was recording Roll On John, his last — and probably only in-print — CD. He was a great entertainer.
The CD (linked above) was recorded with members of Radio Sweethearts, Battlefield Band and Belle & Sebastian. You’d like it.
Memo to self: must remember to get some Sam Hinton music. And probably the Charlie Poole box set, too.
Can I just say that Dressy Bessy‘s Electrified is currently rocking my world? Their noisy, joyous power-pop is a wonder to behold.
Occasionally my iRiver’s filesystem will throw a wobbly, inserting a section of weirdness into a familiar tune. Tonight, near the end of Neutral Milk Hotel’s The King of Carrot Flowers Pts Two & Three [which, inexplicably, freedb has tagged as The King of Carrots and Flowers (parts two & three); it used to be correct. So much for the self-correcting nature of volksmetadata …] it inserted eight seconds of The Blind Boys of Alabama’s Look Where You Brought Me From.
By ‘eck, that was a fun show. I don’t usually like The Phoenix, but we didn’t have to hang around too long until the show started.
I didn’t record, before you ask.
going to see The Decemberists tonight!
Eels‘ new album is in the house. Two platters of wonderfulness. Best yet, and it has Tom Waits on it.
Glad you made it so long; what the hell were you thinking, anyway?
They’ll be hunchin’ in heaven tonite.
Annoying bug in the iRiver 1.65U firmware for the H120; if you have Gap Delete enabled and play a short track with a few seconds of silence at the end, you lose a short section of the audio. It really ruins Ivor Cutler’s 1974 album Dandruff, where Vein Girl and The Painful League get the ends snipped off. Without Gap Delete, they play fine.
Dang, but did my Of Montreal recording from last night come out clipped. I blame it on:
What I really need is a Reactive Sounds Boost Box; pricey, but nice. I wonder if Church Audio can do me anything cheaper?
But anyway, for now, here’s The Lollipop People‘s Fort Jesus [MP3].
I’m just back from hearing Of Montreal play at Sneaky Dee’s. My, that was a fine show.
The support was, uh, interesting. The first, The Lollipop People. They’re your usual art-rock chamber ensemble; fun enough if Grade-A Canadian Beefheart is your thing. If the second support band’s name Better Than Everyone is true, everyone is in real trouble. They had their troublesome cheapo electronic equipment turned up (and stuck at) suck.
So, Of Montreal; beautiful, melodic, loud pop with just a hint of disco. They pretty much ran through their current album The Sunlandic Twins, but it was a stellar performance. It’s still too soon — and I’m still too deaf — to be articulate on this show. The floor at Sneaky’s was jumping, everyone grooving.
More later. It’s early.
And I nominate the late b. p. helium as 2005’s Carnaby Street Scarecrow.
I joined ivor-list during the week. In this short time, I’ve met on the list:
Robyn Hitchcock and His Sadies
Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON
Saturday May 28, 2005 9:00 pm
Tickets $17.50, on sale now at TicketMaster.
Can’t believe it — a special Toronto gig! No dates yet, but Zoilus has the dirt.
Yay, I’ve got tickets for the Decemberists at Lee’s Palace in May!
Someone’s nicked all The Decemberists‘ stuff: Our Trailer, Stolen.
I hear that Hamilton’s beloved Mayor McCA is heading off to London (UK, that is) indefinitely. We’ll miss you, CA. Our loss is London’s gain.
I just scored a used copy of The Decemberists‘ Picaresque. And it’s not even due out for a couple of weeks.
You’ll like the photos. They’re very silly. Chris Funk looks good as a tree.
We were at Hugh’s Room last Thursday to hear The Wailin’ Jennys. Support was Gregory Hoskins, who has the voice of Jeff Buckley, and the sensibilities of Tom Waits.
The Jennys were on fantastic form. Their lineup has recently changed, with Annabelle Chvostek. We’d seen her open for Evalyn Parry a while back.
Canadian music is a small world. Earlier in the week, I’d been told not to miss The Duhks, but I couldn’t make the show. Wouldn’t you know it, but WJ Ruth Moody was the lead singer of Scruj MacDuhk, the precursor of The Duhks.