For me, and without in any way wishing to sidestep these narrative cornerstones, the charm of Jolly Lad (and for all the heavy stuff, it is a book filled with charm and that particular South Lancs/Scouse whimsy) is in its telling. It’s tricksy.
Todd Tobias – Tristes Tropiques
Tobias’s LP is a magnificent follow up to his Impossible Cities 1 & 2, somehow going much further than those to records, and having more of a spacey, Eno-esque feel to it.
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One More Grain – Grain Fever
Such is the record’s jigginess, I feel the need to oil the wheels, to cross the Rubicon and start ordering you to spend your Ambitious Working People’s Allowance on this…
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Flies on You – etcetera
An army of lost souls to rival Aragorn’s Wight Army in Lord of the Rings; bands whose members still flit through the sodden crevices and dingy folds of the Pennines.
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F.F.S. – Melkweg, Amsterdam 2/7/15
Paul comes out to bash some drums out the front, they all play keys during one passage, and Ron Mael indulges in some Basil Fawlty dancing. It’s brilliant.
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Niek Hilkmann – Knak
But for such an approachable, affable chap, Hilkmann’s music is a mystery wrapped up in an enigma wrapped up in a Hema gift-wrap.
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No Future Kids, The Homesick, SUB071, 13/6/15
Afterwards we danced to the Human League and talked about the pizza Yuko Yuko ate in Inverness. This is the stuff of dreams, of legend.
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Pile, Life Savings, Lost Bear, SUB071, 31/5/15
This was the stuff; hobo rock set on a tripwire. A truly great gig and one of those gigs where listening in was the order of the day.
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De Nacht van Kunst en Wetenschap Groningen 6/6/15
Watching someone pour his heart and soul out over a Thomas Dinger/Sons & Fascination backdrop does need a bit of darkness and mystery.
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British Sea Power – The Decline of British Sea Power Reissue
Decline feels like a huge work of progress (and insight into a zeitgeist) that is now stranded.
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