Sam Baker at The Cluny 06/12/07

After acquainting myself with, and immersing myself in, Sam Baker's second album Pretty World when it was released earlier this year, I was super excited to discover that he would be visiting us to play live. I booked up at the first opportunity and have been anxiously tapping my foot in anticipation throughout the interminable wait from then until Thursday night.

This gig marked the 22nd birthday of the Jumpin' Hot Club, who are responsible for booking some of the very best Americana, country, folk and world music acts that come to Newcastle. Thanks to them I have had the chance to see not only Mr Baker, but also Sunny Sweeney (and many others)...both names that not many people round these parts seem to have heard of, but whose music means a lot to me.

Whilst waiting in line to get into the venue, I got chatting to the people just ahead of me, one of whom was Sam Baker! No, not the Sam Baker...not the one I was there to see (nor indeed the soul singer or American football player), but a Sam Baker just the same.

Once we got in, first on stage was Otis Gibbs, who looks like a brunette member of a ZZ Top tribute act, a Hell's Angel, or someone who lives on a diet of squirrels and other small woodland creatures. Thankfully he didn't sound like any of the above and was really rather good (save for his original Christmas songs, which were dire). In an effort to sum him up succinctly, he is deep-voiced Americana with well-written lyrics and his feet firmly on the ground.

Suitably 'warmed up' I awaited our main act eagerly. Baker took to the stage alone with just a guitar for company. The atmosphere which, during Gibbs' act, was eerily silent and made me feel like I didn't quite know if he was loved, tolerated or hated by the audience at large (until the hearty applause) was somehow one of instant rapport and warmth. I had half expected Sam Baker to be a quiet, reserved, somewhat serious and sullen character, but I was wrong.

He was extremely likeable, with the cheeky humour and sparkle in his eye of an impish little boy. He was also very good looking, which again came as some surprise...the photographs that I have seen of him online really don't do him justice.

Throughout the set his running themes, banter-wise, were "Canoe Man" and Lucy, a topless model in the godawful paper The Daily Star (which he had been reading, along with "The London Times" since arriving in the UK).

The definite high point of the performance was Broken Fingers, a song which, even whilst listening to the album, is very obviously about Baker's ordeal in South America in the mid-1980s (see my previous blog). With the man, "broken fingers" and all right in front of us, this song was more deeply affecting then ever,

"These broken fingers. Some things don't heal. I can't wake up from a dream when the dream is real."

This brush with death and the ensuing fallout has, understandably (or perhaps not...I certainly can't, and don't want to, imagine what it must have been like), profoundly scarred Baker...and not just in a physical sense. His songs are littered with subtle references. But what I really love about his music is its simplicity, the lyrics showing us a man who revels in the joy of being here, of the small details in life. At times this feels not just grateful, but euphoric.

The whole set was excellent, including those songs from his first album, Mercy, with which I have yet to familiarise myself (there's a story here...foolishly, in a misguidedly British attempt to be polite, I turned down Sam's offer to send Mercy to me after reading my review of Pretty World. I have seriously been kicking myself ever since!)...but which I have now ordered.

Sam Baker is endearingly rubbish at self-promotion. At the merch stand, there were no t-shirts (as there are none in existence yet!), nor had he brought Mercy along (which I had planned to buy at the show). I held back for a while, waiting for the queue to go down, in order that I could go up and say my hellos. He was a lovely, warm man who was happy to chat, sign a poster (which I'd pinched off the wall!) almost entirely illegibly, and tell me "I really like the way you write". Wow! I replied "Thank you. I really like the way you write too"...speaking of his songs and not the aforementioned handwriting.

This night was what a gig should be, and more people really should have heard of this man. I wish I had more clout, as I would love to join Bob Harris in doing some championing here. I have included one download (which I found at another source online) below for you to get a better idea of what Sam Baker sounds like (you can hear further tracks on MySpace), but please please buy his albums...I couldn't recommend his music more highly. He told us during the gig that, after Mercy was released he would sell a copy, on average, around once every 120 days. He was over the moon with this at the time. Go on, help make his day a little more regularly!

Download: Sam Baker - Pretty World

She Talks To Rainbows Part 5: Blue Is The Colour

Apologies for my absence...I have had house guests. I hope to get back to normal posting now. And so we move on to 'blue'. For the title for this one, I also considered Kind Of Blue (you may remember that my criterion is album titles containing the colour, but which do not also contain a song by the same name), but decided on simplicity and went with The Beautiful South.

This is a looooonnnnggggg list, so buckle up! I discounted songs with 'blues' in the title, as that would just have got ridiculous, but it's still a pretty mammoth one! However, given the popularity of this colour, I am sure that there are still gazillions that you can add :o)

Almost Blue – Elvis Costello
Baby Blue – Badfinger
Baby Blue – Dusty Springfield
Baby Blue – George Strait
Baby Blue Eyes – Joan Armatrading
Behind Blue Eyes – The Who
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea – George Harrison
Beyond The Blue Horizon – Earl Bostic
Big Note Blue – Toby Keith
Big Boy Blue – Ella Fitzgerald
Black And Blue – Mike and The Mechanics
Black And Blue – Van Halen
Black Diamonds And Blue Pearls (Interlude) – Angie Stone
Black Eyes, Blue Tears – Shania Twain
Blackened Blue Eyes – The Charlatans
Blonde Over Blue – Billy Joel
Blue – Joni Mitchell
Blue – LeAnn Rimes
Blue (Armed With Love) – Wham!
Blue (Da Ba Dee) – Eiffel 65
Blue American – Placebo
Blue And Yellow – The Used
Blue Angel – Antony and The Johnsons
Blue Angel – Roy Orbison
Blue Bayou – Roy Orbison (or a lovely cover by Linda Ronstadt)
Blue Black – Heather Nova
Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk – Rachel Unthank and The Winterset
Blue Blue Day – Don Gibson
Blue Boy – Joni Mitchell
Blue Cafe – Chris Rea
Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
Blue Clear Sky – George Strait
Blue Dress – Depeche Mode
Blue Eyed Boy – Kosheen
Blue Eyed Pop (S1000 Mix) – The Sugarcubes
Blue Eyed Soul – Wilco
Blue Eyes – Elton John
Blue Eyes – The International Submarine Band
Blue Eyes – The Wedding Present
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain – Willie Nelson
Blue Flashing Light – Travis
Blue's Gaen Oot O'the Fashion – Rachel Unthank and The Winterset
Blue Guitar – Cowboy Junkies
Blue Hat For A Blue Day – Nick Heyward
Blue Hawaii – Elvis Presley
Blue Hawaiian – Pavement
Blue Hotel – Chris Isaak
Blue In Green – Miles Davis
Blue In The Face – No Doubt
Blue Ink – Laura Veirs
Blue Is The Colour – Donovan
Blue Jay Way – The Beatles
Blue Jean – David Bowie
Blue Jean Bop – Gene Vincent
Blue Jeans – Blur
Blue Kentucky Girl – Loretta Lynn
Blue Lamp – Stevie Nicks
Blue Letter – Fleetwood Mac
Blue Light – Mazzy Star
Blue Lou – Metronome All-Star Band
Blue Magic – Jay-Z
Blue Monday – Fats Domino
Blue Monday – New Order
Blue Money – Van Morrison
Blue Moon – The Marcels
Blue Moon Of Kentucky – Patsy Cline
Blue Moon With A Heartache – Roseanne Cash
Blue On Blue – The Pet Shop Boys
Blue Orchid – The White Stripes
Blue, Red And Grey – The Who
(Round Round Round) Blue Rondo A La Turk – Al Jarreau
Blue Room – Ella Fitzgerald
Blue Saloon – Mike Oldfield
Blue Savannah – Erasure
Blue Shadows On The Trail – Randy Newman
Blue Skies – Willie Nelson
Blue Skies Bring Tears – The Smashing Pumpkins
Blue Sky Mine – Midnight Oil
Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins (or of course Mr Presley)
Blue Sunday – The Doors
Blue Train – John Coltrane
Blues Turns To Grey – The Rolling Stones
Blue Valient – Katastrophy Wife (with Carina Round)
Blue Veins – The Raconteurs
Blue Velvet – Bobby Vinton
Blue World – The Moody Blues
Blue Would Still Be Blue – The Guillemots
Bluebeard – Cocteau Twins
Blueberry Hill – Fats Domino
Bluebird Over The Mountain – Richie Valens
Bluejeans And Moonbeams – Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band
Brown To Blue – Elvis Costello
Bullet The Blue Sky – U2
California Blue – Roy Orbison
Can Blue Men Sing The Whites? - Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Caribbean Blue – Enya
Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire – Joni Mitchell
Crabsody In Blue – AC/DC
Crystal Blue Persuasion – Tommy James and The Shondells
Devil With A Blue Dress On – Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels
Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue – Crystal Gayle
Electric Blue Eyes – The Cranberries
Electron Blue – R.E.M.
Every Shade Of Blue - Bananarama
Faded Coat Of Blue – Jolie Holland
Famous Blue Raincoat – Leonard Cohen
For You Blue – The Beatles
Goodbye Blue Sky – Pink Floyd
Have You Ever Had It Blue? - The Style Council
House Of Blue Lights – Merrill E. Moore
I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song) – The Ikettes
In Blue Hawaii – Brian Wilson
Indescribably Blue – Elvis Presley
Is A Bluebird Blue – Conway Twitty
Is The Grass Any Bluer – Rhonda Vincent
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue – Bob Dylan
Jackie Blue – Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Kelly Blue – Cannonball Atherley (featuring Wynton Kelly)
Lavender Blue – Sunny Sweeney (with Jim Lauderdale) – a cover of Keith Sykes
Little Blue – The Beautiful South
Little Girl Blue – Sam Cooke (/Janis Joplin)
Lonely Blue Boy – Conway Twitty
Love Is Blue – Jeff Beck
May The Bluebird Of Happiness Fly Up Your Nose – Little Jimmy Dickens
Mexican Blue – Jolie Holland
Midnight Blue – Foreigner
Midnight Blue – Kenny Burrell
Misty Blue – Millie Jackson
Mr Blue – David Macbeth
Mr Blue – The Fleetwoods
Mr Blue Sky – ELO
My Blue Heaven – Fats Domino
My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) – Neil Young
My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy – Dolly Parton
Never Seen Blue – Tori Amos
New Blue Moon – The Travelling Wilburys
Ole Black N Blue Eyes – The Fratellis
Pale Blue Eyes – Velvet Underground
Pink Turns To Blue – Husker Du
Pinky Blue – Altered Images
Red Roses For A Blue Lady – Vaughn Monroe
Rhapsody In Blue – George Gershwin
Ruby Blue – Roisin Murphy
Runnin' Blue – The Doors
Small Blue Thing – Suzanne Vega
Song Sung Blue – Neil Diamond
Still Feeling Blue – Gram Parsons
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Suite Madame Blue – Styx
Tangled Up In Blue – Bob Dylan
The Blue Cockade – The Witches Of Elswick
Thin Blue Flame – Josh Ritter
This Side Of The Blue – Joanna Newsom
True Blue – Madonna
Union City Blue – Blondie
Venus In Blue Jeans – Mark Wynter
We People Who Are Darker Than Blue – Curtis Mayfield
When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again – Elvis Presley
Winter Blue – Heather Nova
Winter Is Blue – Vashti Bunyan

"Our chickens want an iPod" - June Tabor at The Sage Gateshead

On Sunday I went to see June Tabor. Upon arrival, for some reason the whole building smelt of tuna fish. Battling through this I headed for the decagonal Hall Two and took to my seat...which was third row, centre. Not bad for the princely sum of £6.75 (Dolly could think about taking a leaf out of Ms Tabor's book...she is charging £60-whatever per ticket, £70-something if you factor in the booking fee. Like she needs the money! I don't care how much it costs "to look this cheap"!).

As soon as I sat down I felt that first wave of sleep hit me. You know when you are so tired that you feel a bit 'out of body'? Cue even more fidgeting than usual in an effort to avoid having to resort to getting matchsticks out to prop open the old eyelids!

When Ms Tabor took to the stage, she was wearing what appeared to be a shapeless black galabiyah, with a black Japanese silk jacket on top. A strange combo...but I was not there for the fashion show. However, coupled with this dark ensemble, for the first half of the show she was lit with a pale blue, which gave her a rather odd deathly pallor.

The band on stage with her was comprised of Andy, Tim and Mark (she only mentioned their surnames once, which I missed due to applause, but from a bit of a scout round the internet, I believe them to have been Andy Cutting, who I seem to recall seeing with Kate Rusby in the past, Tim Harries, and Mark Emerson) and accordion, double bass and violin/viola. Emerson, the violinist and viola player also doubled up on piano in places (on an amazing Steinway)...although not at the same time as playing his fiddles...that would just be silly!

As for Tabor's 'sound' - well, it is very British. Think folk in the tradition of Anne Briggs. For international bods perhaps not familiar with Briggs, think along the lines of Joan Baez or perhaps a slightly more sombre Nanci Griffith. She has a lovely, resonant alto voice and a great deal of confidence on stage. She captures the emotion of the songs she sings admirably. This meant that there was a lot of 'acting' through the songs live which, for me, was a bit OTT and distracting ("Too much acting" as Ally Welles from The League Of Gentlemen would say). The facial expressions, overly considered emphasis and melodramatic phrasing were just a bit of a turn off when seeing them in the flesh, to be honest.

Don't get me wrong, Tabor has an undeniably lovely voice, and I did warm into it all a little by the end of the evening, but there was just something a little too...studied? practised? aware?...about it all. The exception to this, for me, was her fantastic rendition of Woody Guthrie's Deportees, which was an incredibly moving version in which she vehemently spat out the initial consonant sound of the titular word. The high point of the show.

Another song worth mentioning was her cover of Save The Last Dance, with which she, appropriately, closed proceedings. She also told us the story behind the song, which I didn't know before. It goes like this: Doc Pomus, disabled by polio, penned it for his wife, who loved to dance. He was unable to dance with her, so would sit and watch her dancing with other men,

"But don't forget who's taking you home and in whose arms you're gonna be. Darling, save the last dance for me."

All in all an enjoyable evening, and no complaints for £6.75...but, nevertheless, I did come away with mixed feelings about the performance.

If you like June Tabor and for some reason are not familiar with the albums below, go and get yourself a copy NOW!

Anne Briggs - The Time Has Come
Karen Dalton - It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You Best
Shelagh McDonald - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
Judee Sill - Judee Sill

New Breeders album confirmed

Whoop whoop!

4AD yesterday issued a press release that The Breeders will be releasing a new album, entitled Mountain Battles in 2008. They will also be undertaking a world tour...which I, for one, am going to try my very hardest not to miss out on!

The tracklisting is:

1. Overglazed

2. Bang On

3. Night Of Joy

4. We're Gonna Rise

5. German Studies

6. Spark

7. Istanbul

8. Walk It Off

9. Regalame Esta Noche

10. Here No More

11. No Way

12. It's The Love

13. Mountain Battles

You can read the press release over at the 4AD website and hear a track from the album (apparently for one week only) over at The Breeders' MySpace page. This track, We're Gonna Rise sounds a lot more sedate than previous Breeders offerings...let's hope that they haven't completely mellowed with age and that we still get some good ole noisy girls and guitars on the album!

A couple of tracks from their album Title TK to keep you going:
The Breeders - Huffer
The Breeders - Little Fury

You can also download tonnes more songs at The Breeders' website, where, amongst other treats, you can get the whole album Hellbound - A Tribute To The Breeders for zilch!

Desert island disc...yes, just the one!

This is a question I ask of most people eventually...often when I first meet them, in an effort to make conversation and get over my shyness! The question is:

Presuming you knew you were to be stranded on a desert island (with some kind of solar-powered audio device!), what one album would you take with you?

This question is very different from 'What is your favourite album?', which is, of course, impossible to answer...for me certainly! Different albums serve different purposes, enhance and affect mood in different ways, and have particular, and individual, things about them that make you love them etc. etc. etc. So, an album you love because it meant so much to you when you were 14 may not stand up as your 'favourite' album now, but it doesn't mean that the fondness and the fact that you know it backwards have gone away! In my experience, one can have many many 'favourite' albums. Like best friends...why restrict yourself to just one??

No, the trick with this question is that it is not about the definitive choice of 'favourite'...that often changes and grows with you, and can depend on the mood you are in when you give your answer...if you are able to give an answer at all! The essence of my question is 'What do you think you could listen to repeatedly, without there being an alternative available, without getting too sick of it?'. Granted, only one album forever and ever anon, no matter how brilliant, and no matter how much you love it, can become tiresome and over-listened. But what's your best compromise?

My choice, for a lot of years, was Paul Simon's Graceland...a wonderful album (again, in my opinion) with eminently listenable songs. I then, however, factored in how short that album was! I believe I have now come up with something even better!

What is my new one? Perhaps I'll let you know after getting some other people's ideas on this subject. Answers on a postcard please...or a blog comment may me easier and more expeditious! Before you all rush to respond (I shall not hold my breath like!), I feel I must clarify that box sets are not permissable, nor are 'Various Artists' compilation albums...that's just cheating! Ok, dem dars the rules...I await your responses expectantly!

She Talks To Rainbows Part 4: Green

You will notice that the title to this particular 'rainbow' posting is not a particularly snazzy one; if observant, you will also have noticed that previous posts in the series are all named after album titles. In this case, what better to go with than simply Green (R.E.M.)? With that said, you know the form by now, so here we go...

A Certain Shade Of Green - Incubus

All In A Green Garden/Horses Bransle - Askew Sisters

Another Green World - Brian Eno

Ballad Of The Green Berets - Sgt. Barry Sadler

Bein' Green - Kermit The Frog!

Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine - Simon and Garfunkel

Crystalline Green - Goldfrapp

Dr. Greenthumb - Cypress Hill

Evergreen - Faithless

Evergreen - Will Young

Fields Of Green - Rick Wakeman

Five Green Queens And Jean - The Pogues

Forty Shades Of Green - Johnny Cash

Golden Green - The Wonder Stuff

Green And Gray - Nickel Creek

Green Chimneys - Thelonious Monk

Green Corn - Leadbelly

Green Cosmos - Deerhoof

Green Day - Green Day

Green Desert - Tangerine Dream

Green Door - Jim Lowe

Green Door - Shakin' Stevens

Green Earrings - Steely Dan

Green-Eyed Girl - Ted Hawkins

Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf

Green Eyes - Coldplay

Green Eyes - Erykah Badu

Green Fields - Brothers Four

Green Fields - The Good, The Bad and The Queen

Green Grass And High Tides - The Outlaws

Green Grass Of Tunnel - Mum

Green Grass Vapours - Angie Stone

Green Heaven - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Green Leaves Of Summer - Hampton Hawes

Green Light - Cliff Richard

Green Limousine - The Badloves

Green Love - Hilt

Green Man - Mark Owen

Green Man - Roy Harper

Green Man - Type O Negative

Green Mind - Dinosaur Jr.

Green Onions - Booker T and The MGs

Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Green Shirt - Elvis Costello

Green Tambourine - Lemon Pipers

Green With Envy - Grant Green

Greenback Dollar - Kingston Trio

Greenbacks - Ray Charles

Greener - Byrne

Greenwood Laddie/Mrs Capron's Reel/Tune - Eliza Carthy

Grey Cell Green - Ned's Atomic Dustbin

John Of Havegreen - The Witches of Elswick

Light Is Always Green - The Housemartins

Little Green - Joni Mitchell

Little Green Apples - Roger Miller

Little Green Bag - George Baker

Little Green Men - Cyantific

Merry Green Broom - Kate Rusby

Mountain Greenery - Ella Fitzgerald

O Green World - Gorillaz

Off To Dublin In The Green - Wolfe Tones

No. 1 Green Street - Grant Green

Pale Green Girl - Penelope Houston

Pretty Green - The Jam

Pretty Green Eyes - Ultrabeat

Red, Black and Green - Roy Ayers (I missed this one at 'red'!)

Sproston Green - The Charlatans

The Grass Is Green - Nelly Furtado

The Green Fields Of France - Fureys

The Green, Green Grass Of Home - Tom Jones

The Green Manalishi (In The Two-Pronged Crown) - Fleetwood Mac

The Return Of Emerald Green - My Life Story

Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks

Please note that I am not passing comment on the merit (or not...Mark Owen!) of these songs...they merely fit the bill. Speaking of bills...and green...

Now it's your turn...

I'm cock-a-HOOP about finding Jesca!

It would seem that I'm a little behind the times on Jesca Hoop, having just done a Google search in order to find out a bit more about her. But if I've only just heard of her, I presume that there are also a few of you who haven't come across her yet either?

Hoop's debut album Kismet was released on September 18th 2007. I have just ordered it, after listening to her for the first time yesterday, so I'm afraid I can't offer an album review yet...but from the songs I have heard on her MySpace page and her website (warning: when you open the latter it is noisy, for those of a nervous disposition out there...crashing waves, as opposed to crashing drums, noisy, but if you aren't expecting it...) I was convinced to make a purchase.

Her sound reminds me of White Magic and Josephine Foster, with a bit of Imogen Heap innovation, some Regina Spektor kookiness, and some Aimee Mann vocals thrown in. The rhythms are offbeat and unconventional...but not self-consciously so. Raised Mormon in California, growing up singing old folk songs, murder balleds and church hymns with her family, Jesca eventually threw off her shackles to explore the wilderness of Arizona, before returning to civilization and a job as a nanny for Tom Waits (which she did for 5 years). It would seem that he forwarded one of her demo recordings to Nic Harcourt, who then played it on the radio, where it became a frequent request.

This is about all I know so far...but I am excited! Have a listen for yourself...I think you may well be won over by the inventive charm of the songs below.

Jesca Hoop - Money
Jesca Hoop - Enemy
Jesca Hoop - Seed of Wonder

She Talks To Rainbows Part 3: Yellow Fever

"And it was all yellow"

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell

Black, Red, Yellow - Pearl Jam

Blue and Yellow - The Used

Bright As Yellow - The Innocence Mission

Don't Eat The Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa

Double Yellow Line - The Music Machine

Eighteen Yellow Roses - Bobby Darin

Fiery Yellow - Stereolab

Forever Yellow Skies - The Cranberries

Girl With Yellow Hair - Betty Curse

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

I Found My Yellow Basket - Ella Fitzgerald
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - Brian Hyland

Lemon Yellow Black - Jets To Brazil

Little Yellow Spider - Devendra Banhart

Little Yellow Town - Rickie Lee Jones

Mellow Yellow - Donovan

Moon Was Yellow - Frank Sinatra

Read Yellow - Read Yellow

The Yellow Princess - John Fahey

The Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller / Waylon Jennings

Tie A Yellow Ribbon - Tony Orlando and Dawn

Truckdrivin' Neighbours Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) - Beck

Wild Yellow Bloom - Cranes

Yellow - Coldplay

Yellow Balloon - Yellow Balloon

Yellow Bird - Arthur Lyman

Yellow Butterfly - The Scorpions

Yellow Daffodils - Malia

Yellow Fever - Fela Kuti

Yellow Fever - The Bloodhound Gang

Yellow Fields - Eberhart Weber

Yellow Guitar - Kate Campbell

Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam

Yellow Like Cheese - Yellowman

Yellow Magic (Tong Poo) - Yellow Magic Orchestra / Senor Coconut and His Orchestra

Yellow Moon - The Neville Brothers

Yellow No. 5 - Heatmiser

Yellow River - Christie

Yellow River Piano Concerto - Xian Xinghai

Yellow Submarine - The Beatles

Yellow Submarine In Pepperland - The Beatles

Yellow Sun - The Raconteurs

Yellow Sunshine (Explosions In My Head) - Hilt

Yellow Taxi - Matt Costa

What are your additions?

Kristin Hersh releases 'Slippershell' via CASH Music

Kristin Hersh has just today released her inaugral recording for the project known as CASH Music - the Coalition of Artists and Stake Holders. With this venture, she endeavours to "blur the line that's traditionally stood between creators of content and the consumers of that content".

Kristin intends to write, record and post a song each month. We, as the consumers, are free to share this song as we wish - it is licensed through Creative Commons.

So what's the catch? Well, there isn't one. No, really. Listeners are, naturally, encouraged to contribute/donate money in support of CASH, in order to enable the project to grow, develop and reach more listeners. The amount donated is at the individual's discretion.

Another aspect of CASH is that conversation between artist and audience is encouraged. Hersh hopes to build a community - she describes a "read-write", as opposed to "read-only" culture, i.e. she would like to receive comments on the songs that she will be posting...she says that she will read them all...and reply too!

Not only does she invite sharing of these songs for our general aural pleasure, and of course the commenting, she advocates remixing, reworking, re-recording, and indeed the sharing of any creative output assisted by listening to this music. In the future, her intention is to release a CD containing all these songs, which she hopes will include stuff by her fans...now that's cool (I wonder how quickly I can learn to sing, play guitar, etc. etc.).

This is the very inception of CASH. Other artists will be joining in on the fun and its scope growing organically.

As for the song released today...

It is called Slippershell. It is every bit as good as Hersh's album songs, is rousing and very much worth a listen...I have it on repeat currently! You can download it directly here:

Slippershell MP3

...but I would also encourage you to visit the CASH Music website (the link is to the Kristin Hersh page, but there is a 'home' icon you can click on there too), as it promises to get quite exciting over there!

So, go on, make your friend a CD, slip (ha ha!) this baby on there...they'll thank you for introducing them to great new music. Enjoy it...and remember to give Kristin your kind words and support.

I shall leave you with a quote Kristin included in her e-mail, which embodies the intended memetic effect of CASH, and indeed blogging culture, very nicely:

"a blues player walks a song from town to town, playing on street corners, in dance halls, at parties and bars. The song stays when the musician leaves, adopted and adapted to suit various personalities, voices and life stories."

She Talks To Rainbows Part 2: In Orange

Working our way through the rainbow, here are some songs with 'orange' in the title (this was way more of a struggle than red, so I'm guessing that there are lots more that you can add in the comments section).

Agent Orange - Tori Amos
Aging Orange - The Vandals
Blue Burns Orange - Hawthorn Heights
Bruised Orange - John Prine
Cod Liver Oil And Orange Juice - Hamish Imlach
Evolution Orange - Earth, Wind and Fire
L'Amour Des Trois Oranges - Prokofiev
Once An Orange Always An Orange - Al Stewart
Orange - 10,000 Maniacs
Orange - David O'Doherty
Orange - John Spencer Blues Explosion
Orange - Orange
Orange And The Black - The Boils
Orange Blossom Special - Johnny Cash
Orange Coloured Sky - Nat King Cole
Orange County Lumber Truck - Frank Zappa
Orange Crate Art - Brian Wilson
Orange Crush - R.E.M.
Orange Juice Blues - Bob Dylan
Orange Moon - Erykah Badu
Orange Pony - Hilt
Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit - Sonic Youth
Orange Skies - Love
Orangefield - Van Morrison
Oranges And Lemons Again - Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra with Suggs
Pink Orange Red - Cocteau Twins
The Power Of Orange Knickers - Tori Amos
Trip On An Orange Bicycle - Orange Bicycle

Given that this list is so short, how about some tenuous ones?

Tangerine - Led Zeppelin
Tangerine - Moist

Or even...

Let's Tango - The Delilahs
Tango - Throwing Muses

Nope? Oh well, just a thought!

The Witches of Elswick hang up their broomsticks

On Saturday night I was a disgustingly drunken Divinyl...hence the hangover and the delay in posting this!

It was the final ever gig of The Witches of Elswick at The Cumberland Arms in Byker - and what a send-off! There was free bubbly, balloons and sweeties (I am a lass that can definitely be won over with a chocolate eyeball or two!) and general good cheer.

Who are The Witches of Elswick? They are (or, I suppose, as of Saturday night, were) a four part folk vocal harmony group. They sing a capella. They are splendid! Working mainly with traditional folk songs, their arrangements are often complex, but work brilliantly. And with good humour galore.

Becky Graham (top left in the photograph above), Gillian Tolfrey (top right), Fay Hield (bottom right) and Bryony Griffith (bottom left) formed their coven in 2001 when they were all sharing a flat in Elswick, Newcastle (hence the name...a play on The Witches of Eastwick). They have since appeared all over the country and at various folk festivals. Hell, Fay even sung on Eliza Carthy's album Rough Music (her partner, Jon Boden, is one of Carthy's band The Ratcatchers). That's pedigree for you...and also links us neatly to a previous blog of mine >>> The Imagined Village.

Although the group is now no more, they have left a legacy of two albums, Hell's Belles and Out Of Bed. You can listen to snippets of a decent length from the latter here, download three of its tracks from Amazon.com, and hear a 2004 interview with them at the BBC website (which includes the great song Honey For The Bee in full). Enough to convince you to make a purchase I'm sure.

But back to Saturday...

It was 'one of those nights'...and I place the blame firmly on the shoulders of that ludicrously strong honey ginger ale (or at least I would, if ale had shoulders!). It was delicious, but just too easy to drink...and get drunk on! I very rarely get drunk, but on this occasion I was well and truly plastered (which turns me into a dick who talks complete crap!). Example: I lost my wallet, which I was reunited with by the bar maid who, at that time, I couldn't have loved more! I was also abandoned, without so much as a goodbye, by the friends I had gone with. This didn't seem to bother me too much, however...nope, I was outside smoking and chatting chatting chatting to all and sundry!

One of whom was a lovely man called Simon...part of the sword dancing troupe we had seen on stage earlier and the husband of Becky Witch. Somehow he ended up inviting me to the party that they were having back at he and Becky's flat...and what could be a better idea when you are alone, know nobody and are hammered?? (Yes, yes, getting in a taxi and going home to sleep it all off, I know...spoil sports). I would talk random shite to Simon and a woman who was even more drunk than I, Ingrid, well into the morning.

Five hours later (6.00am!) I was in a taxi headed for my bed. A thoroughly cracking evening...but I do hang my head and apologise for being 'that' twat of a party crasher...who repeated herself over and over I'm sure (chosen topic on this particular night = Fay Hield. I was bewitched! I just wish I hadn't insisted on telling her how hot I thought she was (ridiculously!)...unnecessary!). Still, I had a lot of fun, it was refreshing to meet some new people...and they were a lovely crowd indeed...who, sadly, I will probably never see again (far too drunk to swap mobile numbers or e-mails!).

The Witches of Elswick: Women who seriously know how to have fun! Best of luck for the future ladies.

What a night!

Witches of Elswick MySpace page

Skinnimalinks Music

She Talks To Rainbows Part 1: Red Heaven

From Blood Red Shoes to songs with the word 'red' in the title. I plan to continue this thread (as you may have gathered from the title), but there were so many of each colour that I thought it best to start at the start (of the rainbow, that is).

99 Red Balloons - Nena

Ballad Of The Boy In The Red Shoes - Elton John

Black, Red, Yellow - Pearl Jam

Blood Red River - Beth Orton

Brick Is Red - Pixies

Cherry Red - The Bee Gees

Flaming Red - Echo and The Bunnymen

If Love Is A Red Dress (Hang Me In Rags) - Maria McKee

I'm Painting The Town Red - Billie Holiday

Into The Red - Tina Dico

Lady In Red - Chris de Burgh

Little Red Corvette - Prince

Little Red Riding Hood - Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs

Little Red Rooster - Sam Cooke

Little Red Shoes - Loretta Lynn

Low Red Moon - Belly

My Red Self - Heavens To Betsy

Not The Red Baron - Tori Amos

Ol' Red - Blake Shelton

Old Red Eyes Is Back - The Beautiful South

Pink Orange Red - The Cocteau Twins

Red - Belly

Red - Elbow

Red Alert - Basement Jaxx

Red Balloon - Dave Clark Five

Red Bandana - Merle Haggard

Red Barchetta - Rush

Red Blooded Woman - Kylie Minogue

Red Clay Halo - Gillian Welch

Red Dirt Road - Brooks and Dunn

Red Dress - Alvin Stardust

Red Dress - Jad Fair

Red Dress - The Sugababes

Red Guitar - David Sylvian

Red Headed Stranger - Willie Nelson

Red Hill Mining Town -U2

Red Hott - Gossip

Red House - Jimi Hendrix

Red Letter Day - The Pet Shop Boys

Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured - The Arctic Monkeys

Red Light Means Go - Massive Attack

Red Light Special - TLC

Red Light Spells Danger - Billy Ocean

Red Mosquito - Pearl Jam

Red Rain - Peter Gabriel

Red, Red, Red - Fiona Apple

Red, Red Wine - Tony Tribe

Red Right Hand - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

Red River Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes

Red River Valley - Arlo Guthrie

Red Rubber Ball - The Cyrkle

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Elvis Costello

Red Shoes By The Drugstore - Tom Waits

Red Silk Five - Sam Phillips

Red Spot - Le Tigre

Red Vines - Aimee Mann

Redneck Friend - Jackson Browne

Redneck Woman - Gretchen Wilson

Rednecks - Randy Newman

Redskin Rhumba - Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra

Redwing - Hem

Redwings - The Guillemots

Ruby Red - Heather Nova

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry

Run Red Run - The Coasters

Sweet Rhode Island Red - Ike and Tina Turner

The Good Red Road - Devendra Banhart

The Kid From Red Bank - Count Basie

The Red Lagoon - Devendra Banhart

The Red Rooster - Howlin' Wolf

The Red Shoes - Kate Bush

The Woman In Red - Stevie Wonder

They're Red Hot - Robert Johnson (or Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Under The Red Sky - Bob Dylan

Who Drove The Red Sports Car? - Van Morrison

Won't You Ride In My Little Red Wagon - Willie Nelson

You're More Than A Number In My Little Red Book - The Drifters

That's me officially giving up for now...but I'm sure there are tonnes more, so over to you, dear readers...

Blood Red Shoes

Video = It's Getting Boring By The Sea

Blood Red Shoes are a Brighton-based two piece outfit who categorise themselves on their MySpace page as grunge/punk/disco house. This is noisy (in a good way!) female-fronted drum and guitar music. As Q Magazine put it, they are "Like The White Stripes in reverse" - the female of the band, Laura-Mary Carter, on guitar (and main vocals) and the male member, Steven Ansell, on drums (and vocals). They formed in 2005 and named themselves in honour of Hollywood actress Ginger Rogers who, during a filming session, had to repeat her dance moves so many times that it made her feet bleed, turning her white shoes red!

Their debut album, Box Of Secrets, is due for release in early April 2008.

Free, full, download tracks from their website:
mp3 : can't find the door
mp3 : stitch me back
mp3 : meet me at 8
mp3 : victory for the magpie
mp3 : bless his heart

Website
MySpace - where you can also download a further mp3 (How To Pass The Time)

Listen to if you like (or check out if you like this and haven't heard of the following): Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Elastica (my favourite songs by them, Connection, Waking Up and Car Song are not, however, on their MySpace page), Erase Errata, The Long Blondes (who again fail to include my favourite song by them, Appropriation, on their MySpace page), Giant Drag.

I have been memed

I'm not sure Bamboo Blitz realised the anguish she was about to put me through when she did this (seriously, I will agonise about my responses for eternity), but I shall try my best. I desperately wanted to join in on A Guy Who Talks To A Pigeon Called Frank's idea about the soundtrack to his life, but I just couldn't commit myself...my brain was so boggled by the enormity of the task that it nearly burst! And so, to my response to this particular meme (disclaimer: I have responded to this immediately, or I will worry too much about it, be editing ad infinitum and never get round to it, so these are by no means definitive answers...this is a 'top of my head' response!):

8 things I am passionate about:

- MUSIC!

- Film

- Good, and intelligent, conversation

- Literature and good books

- Writing - my ultimate dream would be, one day, to work as a print journalist

- Equal opportunities and rights

- Healthy debate (those lacking in sense of humour need not apply)

- Art and architecture (at a pleb/layperson level)

8 things I want to do before I die:

- Visit Tokyo, Canada, New Zealand, Austin and SO many other places!

- Overcome my phobia of needles (therefore allowing me, also, to expand answer number one)

- Live, at least for a time, in San Francisco

- Achieve some modicum of respect as a writer/journalist

- Know what it is to truly be happy

- Find the courage to be a club singer for a night!

- Have my dad really understand just how much he means to me...I'm pretty sure he has no idea just how great I think he is, even though I've tried to tell him

- Find someone who loves me for me (and because of, not despite, my faults), and in turn find someone I can love deeply and with all my heart (yes, sappy, I know)

8 things I often say

I struggled with this one, and therefore I have used my prerogative and changed it to:

8 experiences that have changed the way I view the world:

- The Staatliche Museum in Amsterdam - I was so overwhelmed by being in a room with paintings by Mondrian, Kandinsky, Van Gogh all at once; it was absolutely mind-blowing (and no, I was not on any mind-altering substances!)

- Visiting San Francisco for the first time - I have honestly never seen a city (or a place at all, for that matter) so beautiful

- Realising that I LOVE country music!

- Amoeba Music - the mother of all record shops (the second time I went to San Francisco)

- My first experience of love (as in romantic love)...and my first experience of serious lust - the latter has never, I don't think, quite left me; I left the former!

- The first time I heard The Pixies

- Ditto Tori Amos (at the age of 12 or 13)

- Discovering Asian, particularly Japanese, cinema - Tartan Asia Extreme rocks my socks...Ringu, Tetsuo and other films have changed the way I view film in general...as has Ichi The Killer

8 songs I can listen to over and over again:

(This really is just an initial response, and is in no particular order)

- Touch the Hem of His Garment - Sam Cooke

- Fever - Peggy Lee

- Protection - Massive Attack

- Down Under - Men At Work

- Anything by Paul Simon! (Ok, so I cheated a little with this one!)

- Ladyfingers - Luscious Jackson

- Abraham, Martin and John - Marvin Gaye

- Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison

(and only just booted off the list was Why'd You Come In Here Looking Like That? - Dolly Parton)

8 things that attract me to my best friends:

- They are genuine, honest and trustworthy

- Great sense of humour

- Intelligence

- Quirky individuality

- Lack of pretence or BS

- They 'get me', or if not, accept me as I am and find my foibles amusing and endearing!

- Easy conversation - by this I mean someone I can chat to until the cows come home!

- Passion - it doesn't matter what they happen to be passionate about, as long as they are passionate about something

Phew! So are the rules that I have to tag a further 3 people?

I don't 'know' very many people in the blogosphere, but the three names I am going to proffer are:

Pablothehat

Sylvie Au Contraire

and

The Guy Who Talks To A Pigeon Called Frank.

Do your worst!

The Imagined Evening?: I have shaken the hand of Billy Bragg!!

...and Martin Carthy! And Simon Emmerson! And I have also been complimented on my coat by none other than Eliza Carthy! I am high as a kite...as the excessive use of exclamation marks may well betray!

I have just returned home from a truly magical evening; and evening spent in the company of The Imagined Village. As per my previous post at the time I booked my ticket, I have to admit that, somehow, this project had previously slipped under my radar. Yes, I knew Eliza Carthy (although not personally!), yes I knew Martin Carthy and, yes, of course I knew Billy Bragg...and Benjamin Zephaniah and Afro Celt Sound System. But together, all on one stage (with the exception of Zephaniah - with us via the medium of film), all at the same time? You're kidding me, right? I was more than a little excited at the prospect of this!

And I really wasn't disappointed (so much so that, rather than my usual agonising over posting, my drafts and edits etc., I had to type it all up straight away, sod the imperfections!). My seat was excellent...practically on the stage, so that was a good start. It was an evening of energy, love of music and heritage and, in the greatest of folk traditions, communion. This supergroup was like some almost unimaginable (except, perhaps, in the Waterson-Carthy household!) get-together of family and friends for a good old sing-song around the piano...well, except for the fact that there was no piano!

...The piano being just about the only instrument not present, however - we had fiddle (naturally), guitar, drums, bass, sitar, cello...and I'm sure others too that I have neglected to mention, or that I couldn't even name! I was completely and utterly captivated throughout...and that is really saying something of me and my ludicrously short attention span!

The premise is to take a modern view of traditional folk music...updating it for today, for a multicultural society, and incorporating non-traditional elements from other musical realms...and what better hands to entrust this to? Billy Bragg was very dapper indeed, bedecked as he was in a moleskin suit festooned with pearlized buttons along every seam (in recognition of his, as he put it, "vernacular garb" - a tribute to the forerunners of London's pearly kings and queens). Carthy Junior was, as expected, stunningly good (her fiddle-playing really is magnificent, and her presence here couldn't be more fitting - she is the riot grrrl of folk, steeped in folk music as a way of life, totally respectful to it, yet a modern young woman who appeared on early CD covers with facial piercings and brightly-dyed hair) and, pleasingly, danced and strutted about the stage like a woman possessed by the sounds of the evening...this music is her blood.

Speaking of which, the proud looks from her dad (and let's not forget that her dad is none other than Martin Carthy!) kept sending her way were touching and human. He has a lot to be proud of...and she a lot to be grateful for.

So far I have only mentioned those musicians with whom I had previously made some personal acquaintance (at home with a CD - they knew nothing of this connection!), but each and every member of this troupe was exceptionally talented...the playing, and singing, was flawless. And, therefore, credit also needs to be given to Sheila Chandra (whose solo work I shall be having a look into - and who is absolutely beautiful), Andy Gangadeen on drums, Francis Hylton on bass (he so doesn't look like a 'Francis' - another almost unnaturally good-looking individual), Johnny Kalsi on percussion, Barney Morse Brown on cello, and Sheema Mukherjee (of Transglobal Underground) on sitar. And I haven't even got around to mentioning Chris Wood yet, who provided vocals and a second fiddle (ha ha!)...and the warm-up act (I cried like a fool at the song about his daughter).

And these are just those contributors who were actually on stage this evening...Paul Weller is on the CD!

If you get the chance to see this esteemed group of musicians, I urge you to do so. This was an evening that left me truly twinkly-eyed and open-mouthed. It was like going to the theatre...as much about the performance, the 'players', the coming together, the being witness to this evening as it was about the music itself. Which was outstanding.

Afterwards I bought myself a CD and took my place in line to get it signed. Knowing that Billy Bragg was just up ahead was terrifying! I get so nervous and star-struck that I find myself tongue-tied and blether nonsense, so I had decided the less I said the better. By the time I got to the panel of heroes, I was shaking and could feel myself starting to sweat, so I was as swift as possible (although I'm sure I still managed to come across as an idiot!), but just to have met them has left me giddy as a kipper. I have a signed CD and tour programme (I didn't even have to ask for the latter to be signed...Ms Carthy offered! And then shoved it under the nose of Mr Bragg. Her life must be amazing, the musicians she gets to meet, work with and know! Hell, she is the progeny of Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy! Lucky, then, that she is also brilliant at this whole folk music shebang!), a big grin on my face, and a spring in my step.

Oh, and when I got into my car to drive home Walk On the Wild Side was playing on the radio! Superb!

I HAVE SHAKEN THE HAND OF BILLY BRAGG!

Initial standout tracks (from the performance...I have yet to listen to the album): England Half English, which epitomised the very point of The Imagined Village (but which, disappointingly, I have just noticed is not on the album...they were also selling a four track CD, which I neglected to look at amidst the bustle, so I'm guessing it is on that); Tam Lyn Retold (a Benjamin Zephaniah reworking of an old mythological folk tale); and Hard Times of Old England Retold.

Music you didn't know you love: The Waifs

Hailing from Albany, Western Australia, Josh Cunningham and sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson are The Waifs.

Their sound is contemporary folk-pop, with acoustic-y guitars, catchy songs and idiosyncratic lyrics. It is all very mellow, with great harmonies.

They have been going since 1992, releasing their first (self-titled) album in 1996. Their most recent album, Sun Dirt Water, was released in September this year. You can listen to (very short!) snippets from that at their website (you will find the music player to the top-ish right of your screen). But it would seem that they are little known outside of their native Australia. This is a great shame, in part due to the fact that they are, despite the album releases, essentially a live band.

For which reason I would recommend introducing yourselves to their music via the 2005 live recordings CD A Brief History. I know what you are thinking...live CDs are often dreadful, right? In this case it conveys what they are about perfectly, containing 32 of their very best (and best loved songs)...my personal favourites being the two featured here, as well as The Waitress, Billy Jones and Gillian. It's a purchase I couldn't recommend more highly...I have even done some internet scouring - the cheapest I am able to find this album is at CD Wow, where it (at the time of writing this) is only £9.49. For a double CD with 32 tracks? BARGAIN!

Check them out...I challenge you to be disappointed!!

Below are a couple of their songs for the aural pleasure of you lucky buggers:

Video for London Still:

And a download of a wonderful song (any song with the line "You mean stuff to me" has got to be good):
Download 'Sweetness'

Although I can't find an MP3 or sample of the song The Waitress to share with you guys, here are the lyrics, to give you an idea of their quirky lyric-writing style:

I thought I’d move to Sydney to get a little piece

Of the city life they talk about in the 90’s

Where everyone I meet don’t want to know my name

They want to know what I do for a living

My songs don’t earn me money or fill my pockets with cash

Every time I go busking I make more in hash

Everything I want is getting further out of reach

Like that funky little apartment down on Bondi

I’ve been getting cozy with a Kiwi boy

He’d kill me if I said he was sweet as apple pie

He’s going to leave me and hit the road

He’s touring with the theater – if you see him say I said...

All the birthday money that my parents sent

Was spent on the phonebill and paying my rent

Frijole, guacamole anything you want

I’m working as a waitress in a Mexican restaurant

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other Tim Burton goodies

The above picture comes from Tim Burton's 'The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories'. I love the dark humour of Tim Burton ('The Nightmare Before Christmas' is simply one of my favourite films...so inventive) and have long been a fan of his stories and animation. I am here to talk about a simply gorgeous website dedicated to the book.

The site was created by an Irish guy called Wayne and is absolutely beautiful and faithful to Burton's work, which contains such entries as 'The Boy with Nails in his Eyes', 'The Girl Who Turned into a Bed', 'Brie Boy' and 'Jimmy, The Hideous Penguin Boy'. You can buy the book, and read reviews at Amazon.

And, just to treat you, here's Mr Burton's short animation 'Vincent':

You can also check out Burton's six part series 'Stainboy' on Atom Films...he is an unusual kind of superhero (all links below open in a new window). Keep an eye out for characters from 'Oyster Boy'!:

Stainboy #1: Staregirl

Stainboy #2: Toxic Boy

Stainboy #3: Bowling Ball Head (my favourite of the six)

Stainboy #4: Robot Boy

Stainboy #5: Match Girl

Stainboy #6: The Birth of Stainboy

The coolest watch in the world?

I have just ordered this turntable watch (my nickname here is because I love vinyl records so much)...will I be the coolest kid on the block or what?

Oh, and whilst I'm on a design tip, check out this great website...free flat pack toys for you to print off and build! How ace is that? I just wish I had a printer...harumph!

Yet more free music! 14 tracks by up-and-coming country artists...

People.com are offering 14 free downloads by new country music stars in honour of the Country Music Awards 2007. For each artist there is the facility to stream the song on the website before deciding if you would like to download the track. I have dutifully listened to each of them and will give you a quick low-down on my personal hits and misses.

The list of available downloads is as follows:

1. Luke Bryan - We Rode In Trucks

2. Rissi Palmer - Country Girl

3. Jack Ingram - Great Divide

4. Jennifer Hanson - 73

5. Eric Church - Sinners Like Me

6. Katie Armiger - Make Me Believe

7. Trent Willmon - There Is A God

8. Sunny Sweeney - Ten Years Past

9. Danielle Peck - Kiss You On The Mouth

10. Lady Antebellum - Love Don't Live Here

11. Ashton Shepherd - I Ain't Dead Yet

12. Laura Bryna - Make A Wish

13. David Nail - Missouri

14. Miko Marks - The Son My Daddy Never Had

My favourite of the lot were Ashton Shepherd and Miko Marks, and I also downloaded Jennifer Hanson and Rissi Palmer (although I think I might wind up finding this one a bit annoying - too 'pop').

Most of them are really pretty good, just not all to my taste (country-pop doesn't generally do a lot for me). For the record (ha!), I would say the ones to unequivocally avoid are Trent Willmon and Laura Bryna (truly dreadful...three and a half minutes of my life that I can never get back!)...not keen on David Nail either (and I spent the whole song thinking he was singing 'misery' until I checked the title!).

So I would say that there are at least a good five out of fourteen worth a download...which isn't bad for zilch!

I have neglected, thus far, to mention my ABSOLUTE favourite...but that is only because I am already a big fan, and the others were new to me. The hands down winner, in my book, is Sunny Sweeney!! This woman is fantastic! Buy her album...you won't regret it! The only reason I didn't download this one is because I already have a SIGNED album. In fact it was she who tipped me off to these free downloads...nice one Sunny, ta duck! :o)

If you like country music, some other great recent acts that are seriously worth checking out are Sam Baker, Adam Hood, Old Crow Medicine Show and blacktopGYPSY (samples of these artists' music available at lonestarmusic.com). That should keep you going for now...

Whilst we are on the subject of weird short films...

RABBIT

Truly dark, but very nicely done. The creators' website is at http://www.runwrake.com/.

For more seriously disturbing, but brilliant, animation, check out Salad Fingers.

Death by robo-penis: My thoughts on Tetsuo (1989)

Wow! This film is amazing! I have had it on dvd for a while now, and kind of knew I'd love it, but have only just got around to watching it.

Before I start, I shall say that I deliberately wrote this blog before reading anything that other people had to say, as I wanted to make up my own mind, have my own ideas, and form my own theories (this film begs consideration of its symbolism and the societal issues it seems to be focusing on). But I will be heading across to the IMDB message boards after this to have a look at other peoples' theories!

And so, to the blog proper...

"Fuck you. Don't you understand?

Your future is metal."

Shot entirely in black and white, the dark and grainy look of this film is juxtaposed with strange and jarring sounds, punctilious attention to detail (almost like a haunting, but oddly beautiful, montage of still photographs), shocking imagery and stop-motion animation. The 'look' of the whole thing brings to mind the work of artist H. R. Giger, and his explorations of the interaction between / fusion of man and machine and depictions of dark, threatening, biomechanical landscapes.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is very industrial in appearance. It can be extremely confusing and difficult to follow, but the plot, broadly, is that a character simply titled Fetishist (a metal fetishist...we see him, very early in the film – a shocking image – purposefully inserting a metal rod into his own thigh. He then notices that the wound is riddled with maggots and runs, screaming, out into the street) is hit by a car. The driver of this car winds up with a metal plate stuck in his head and is told that to remove it would kill him. Thereafter he gradually morphs into the titular Iron Man, the metal assimilating into his body, growing and using his flesh like a parasite to propagate itself. The beauty of the camera shots and the fact it is in black and white make the contrast with the lurid, turn your stomach, imagery even greater.

Anyone who has arrived here via a Google search for Ted Hughes may well be disappointed!

This film is disorientating (but definitely disturbing) and can seem desultory and fitful, but the whole thing is visually mesmerising and, using only a very small budget, very precisely brought into being (the director, Shinya Tsukamoto, is also credited for screenplay and art direction, lighting direction, editing, special effects and co-photography – as well as starring in the film as the Fetishist). There is obvious attention to detail in every shot, exciting (and exacting) camera work and editing...this is like a short film that is 67 minutes in length.

In places it looks like an expertly choreographed ballet. In other scenes it is some kind of pop music video (I'm sure Michael Jackson has taken some inspiration from this, only with a much larger budget...and I'm not even going to get into the whole 'transformation' side of the debate!) or, with help from the soundtrack created by musician Chu Ishikawa (click here to download the soundtrack...just click on the 'free' column), an industrial metal (metal...ha! How appropriate!) or dark electronica video (think Aphex Twin). It might even remind you of (and therefore may have influenced) The Terminator (admittedly, fucked-up Japanese style!), except inverted – here the metal is on the outside, the man trapped inside and engulfed.

Special effects-wise, this looks like Videodrome, or even Re-Animator or Peter Jackson's Braindead. And the gradual transformation of the Salaryman (Tomorah Taguchi) is every bit as memorable and, in my opinion, successful as the metamorphosis in An American Werewolf in London. It does not (indeed could not) rely on CGI or massive budgets, as do more recent films. The images here are urban-industrial-futuristic and the film, despite being dark in atmosphere, look and tone, is frenetic in pace. The anime influence in terms of the story and the violence is also clear to see.

Here are some of my own theories about the issues it might be addressing, the questions the film might be asking etc:

Might it be about the advance of technology, our relationship with it, and the way it is encroaching into our lives? A warning about relying on technology or letting it take over (CCTV, 1984's 'telescreens' - “Big Brother is watching you”, or perhaps even controlling you...from the inside! Not to mention more recent discourse over microchips, ID cards and general governmental surveillance)? Or could it be about the machine, or other emblems of technological advance, as status symbol and, beyond functionality, the anthropomorphism and sexualisation of the inanimate, e.g. cars and motorcycles?

It could equally be a comment on our hidden sexual desires, our id suppressed and concealed from society. Tetsuo is certainly very much about the sexual being – at times bordering on some kind of mechano-porn or cyberotica (even the relatively comedic / light relief elements of this film come in the form of a giant, spinning, motorised penis - “You want a taste of my sewage pipe?”)! Is it a nod to the fact that we never really know what is beneath the surface of the 'normal' man? We could be seeing the Salaryman's hidden core forcing itself to the surface; his darkest desires, his yearning for some sort of power and recognition. Is it, therefore, about the monster within each of us (the high-school shooter who 'flips' and those closest to him could never foresee that he was capable of such acts)?

Which leads me to thinking about the film's possible observations on society itself. Are we being lead to reflect upon the factory-line conveyor-belt of workers expected to look, dress and behave in the same way, i.e. the mechanisation of an individual in a conformist and regimented society? If so, surely it is relevant that none of the characters in this film are given names and that this all happens to a workaday, business-suited, 'average' man. Or perhaps it references the alienation people feel, our disenchanted / disengaged / desensitised / phlegmatic / anaesthetised / delete as appropriate* youth; part of a society where the constant onslaught of media imagery, video games and casual violence and sex (both on and off screen – consider the recent 'trend' for filming assaults on mobile phones) has narcotised them. Discursively, then, it could be about individuality and acknowledgment of peoples' different aspirations and expectations – for the Salaryman this is dystopia, for the Fetishist the achievement of nirvana.

As for the need to be recognised as an individual, it could even be seen as alluding to our relationship with our own bodies – we often feel as if betrayed, that we are not in control (Salaryman's transformation could even be an analogy for the ageing process, thrust upon us against our will). Is it questioning modern trends for plastic surgery and body modification (piercing, tattoos, implants, branding, scarification etc.) and asking where this will all end?

I don't know the answers to any of the above questions, but I definitely don't remember the last time a film made me think and hypothesise so much! Ultimately, we don't even know for sure whether this film is showing us dreadful nightmares or startling 'realities'.

Ok, so finally to some reasons you might not like this film: it is gruesome and shocking in parts; it is low budget and you will have seen technically better special effects (but that's so not the point); it can be confusing and disorientating; it doesn't hand you all the answers; there is barely any dialogue at all – it is mostly an abundance of raucous, angular industrial sounds and loud music; the scenes where the camera is chasing through Japan are at head-fuck speed (and totally look like they were inspiration for the Madonna video for Ray Of Light!).

It's going straight on my list of great films!

I would LOVE to hear what you think of the film, what it made you think about and, indeed, if you thought it was a complete waste-of-time-piece-of-rubbish! Does anyone know if Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is also worth seeing?

File under: Horror, sci-fi, cyber-porn!

Free Game Download - Sam And Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die!

Can you see yourself in the Oval Office? Want to control the US budget and, er, send Abraham Lincoln's credentials to a dating agency? Then this is the game for you!

On November 5th, Telltale Games announced that they were releasing Sam and Max Episode 4 for free download. Season 2 of the game is just about to be released, so this is presumably to stump up some publicity...and it's working, because it's not something I had ever heard of before (I found this courtesy of Jay Is Games).

As I have said, this game is completely free...and it kept me entertained for a good few hours...even though I am an impatient soul and sourced for myself a walkthrough (really not in the spirit of things, I know, but my attention span is short! I'm sure I missed some good bits in doing so). This game looks great; the graphics are really nice and the interaction very easy and natural (it's all just point and click, so you only even need one finger!). It is really quite clever in parts and sports a healthy dose of cynicism (N.B. At times this could offend some, and is not suitable for young children).

My favourite bits: Self-loathing Weekly magazine on sale in the shop; the suggestion of putting a parking garage in George Washington's forehead at Mount Rushmore; the US flag with one extra star stuck randomly on the top for 'West Dakota'; 'Urine Shrimp' Buy One, Get One; and...the song! I won't spoil that part...it's very Team America.

Ok, so (I think) we've established that this is worth having a shufty at, given that it is free, but there are also bad points to note.

The loading times between areas on this game can seem interminable...it can make it pretty tiresome moving between scenes to try things out. Be prepared to spend a lot of time clicking on things that don't help you progress (but which can still be quite amusing)...there's a lot of trial and error in this, unless you are a bit fat cheater like me! You will seriously need some patience and time on your hands. The little rabbit, Max, can also get somewhat annoying (I got particularly sick of him saying "Where we goin', Sam?" and that's not to mention his 'wise' cracks!).

Saying all of this, you are able to save progress at any point, so when your clicking finger gets RSI and your eyes turn square, you can leave your computer and have a bit of a break...no, really!

You can download it here (and for you other party poopers out there, here is the walkthrough that I resorted to).

So what are your favourite bits?

P.s. I have just discovered StumbleUpon!!! How did I miss this wonder before? Exactly how addictive? Why not come and befriend me at http://divinyl.stumbleupon.com/ ?