22 Apr 2020
Greetings reader, I trust this blog posting finds you well. I am currently 5 weeks, 9 Zoom quizzes, 4 bottles of wine and 3 toad in the holes into my isolation. I find music & film are a big factor in me keeping my sanity otherwise I’d be sitting each night after a days work just staring at the walls. Three more songs this week for you to get your metaphoric teeth into.
First this week and a new single from an old favourite of mine. Damon Gough aka Badly Drawn Boy has returned with a new single and new sound, away from the flowing acoustic he has become best loved for. His first album ‘Hour Of The Bewilderbeast’ in 2000 was a wonderful introduction to the innocence of his lyrics and the simplistic nature of his music. Whilst people will argue it’s not the most exciting music in the world the album clicked with me, with personal highlights from the album being ‘Once Around The Block’ and ‘Another Pearl’. Following the soundtrack album to the film About A Boy in 2002, later that year the album ‘Have You Fed The Fish’ was released and is a firm favourite of mine. Tracks ‘All Possibilities’ and ‘You Were Right’ charted well and are strong tracks in support of other brilliant compositions ‘Born Again’ and ‘What Is It Now?’. Follow up albums have reverted more towards the style of the debut album with fewer of the songs grabbing me the same way. That said, Gough is never afraid to show off a full range of obscure instruments in his music with albums ‘One Plus One Is One’ and ‘Is There Nothing We Can Do?’ containing Gough on clavinets, melotrons and a Wurlitzer Fun-Maker. This new single is his first output for nearly 8 years and listening to the intro you’d never guess it was him. We’ll see in what musical direction the forthcoming album takes us.
Badly Drawn Boy - Banana Skin Shoes - https://youtu.be/9DoVsGK87NM
Second this week and a song I’ve played over and over far too much this last week! The track is called ‘Daddy’s Car’ and is a collaboration between ambient music pioneer & all round musical God Brian Eno and founding member of Underworld Karl Hyde. Eno has collaborated with dozens of artists in the past, U2, Coldplay, Bowie to name drop a few and Eno had worked previously with Hyde as featured artist on an Underworld track ‘Beebop Hurry’. The track I’m sharing is taken from their debut album together, the 2014 release ‘Someday World’ and features, amongst others, guest musicians Will Champion from Coldplay and saxophonist Andy Mackay from Roxy Music. The album sits firmly within the electronic music genre as you would expect but this is one of those albums in my opinion where the average tracks outweigh the good. Another strong track from the album is ‘Who Rings The Bell’ and is only one of the few tracks where Hyde sounds like he wants to be on the album. Tracks ‘The Satellites’ and ‘Strip It Down’ whilst enjoyable musically give Hyde no room for manoeuvre and the involvement of vocals slightly ruins them. When it works, it works very well and in ‘Daddy’s Car’ they have a track which mixes strong vocals and a catchy synth loop which I cannot get out my head! Their second album ‘High Life’ was released only 2 months after the first and is an experimental art rock album with leftover ideas from the first album. Oddly, whilst experimental, the fewer vocals from Hyde allow this album to be musically stronger than ‘Someday World’. Hope you enjoy the track Daddy’s Car as much as I have.
Eno + Hyde - Daddy’s Car - https://youtu.be/rDAuBFLkqpQ
Third and final song this week comes courtesy of Worcester based indie band Peace. I must admit to never hearing of the band before a song of theirs made its way onto my weekly Spotify ‘you should hear this’ type playlist we get every Monday and I thought it special enough to share. Formed in 2009 they received positive feedback from their 2012 debut EP, which is where the track I’m sharing is taken from. This EP lead NME to compare the band and their music to that of contemporaries The Maccabees and Foals although doubt was cast following the release of their debut album ‘In Love’ in 2013 as some reviewers questioned whether the band had developed from the initial hype. Two of the tracks from their EP made it onto the debut album, for me the strongest songs were left behind! I have listened to the first album and consider it to be my favourite of the three. It's a heavier indie sound which I enjoy more and from opening track ‘Higher Than The Sun’ to Maccabees sounding final track ‘Bloodshake’ it is a good debut album and one which is worthy of the positive reviews it garnered. The second album released in 2015 ‘Happy People’ and their latest album, the 2018 ‘Kindness Is The New Rock And Roll’ are good to listen to and have within each of them songs with catchy hooks and clever songwriting but the debut album is still the strongest for me. Combined with their early EP you have to ask the question whether reviews that the group wouldn’t live up to their hype were on the money. Regardless, enjoy this track from their EP, a 10 minute psychedelic journey for you to enjoy!
Peace - 1998 (Delicious) - https://youtu.be/kiGJ8XatRks
Posting done for this week, please stay safe out there in the big bad world. I can heartily recommend getting as much music as you can into your life, whether it be some new sounds to immerse yourself in or some old classics you love hearing again and again I’m finding music as a vital ally in fighting boredom!
