It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2017

 2017 Protomartyr:

1. Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent

2. Les Amazones D'Afrique - Republique Amazone
3. The Feelies - In Between
4. Big Thief - Capacity
5. Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins
6. Oh Sees - Orc
7. Jane Weaver - Modern Kosmology
8. Kelley Stolz - Que Aura
9. Benjamin Clementine - I Tell a Fly
10. Dag - Benefits of Solitude
11. Ratboys - GN
12. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile -Lotta Sea Lice
13. Kevin Morby - City Music
14. Girl Ray - Earl Grey
15. Perfume Genius - No Shape
16. La Feline - Triomphe
17. Nadine Shah - Holiday Destination
18. James Elkington - Wintres Woma
19. Mick Head & the Red Elastic Band - Adios Senor Pussycat
20. Holiday Ghosts - Holiday Ghosts
21. Jesca Hoop - Memories Are Now
22. Peter Perrett - How The West was Won
23. H.Grimace - Self-Architect
24. Baxter Dury - Prince Of Tears
25. Wild Pink - Wild Pink
26. Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Navigator
27. Amadou & Mariam - Le Confusion
28. Novella - Change Of State
29. Tim Cohen - Luck Man
30. CTMF - Brand New Cage
31. '68 - Two Parts Viper
32. Trevor Sensor - Andy Warhol's Dream
33. Faith Healer - Try
34. Mary Epworth - Elytral
35. Grandaddy - Last Place
36. NE-HI - Offers
37. Entrance - Book Of Changes
38. Catholic Action - In Memory Of
39. This Is The Kit - Moonshine Freeze
40. Guided By Voices - How do You Spell Heaven
41. French Vanilla - French Vanilla
42. Spinning Coin - Permo
43. Ibibio Sound Machine - Uyai
44. Travis Bretzer - Bubble Gum
45. Sweet Baboo - Wild Imagination
46. Fresh & Onlys - Wolf Lie Down
47. The New Year - Snow
48. Kacy & Clayton - The Siren's Song
49. Bread & Butter - Bread & Butter
50. Karen Elson - Double Roses

There were lots of others that might have been there. Including these:

Priests, The Mountain Goats, Broken Social Scene, Waxahatchee, Beach Fossils, Bonny Doon, Sneaks, Stef Chura, Surfer Blood, Black Springs, Century Palm, DUDS, Mount Eerie, Bedouine, Ron Gallo, Sinkane, Flat Worms, Happyness, Valerie June, Zara McFarlane, Bill Baird, Chastity Belt, Wand, Rhiannon Giddens, Jay Som, Laura Marling, Tinariwen, Spoon, Rose Elinor Dougall, Moon Duo, Julien Baker.

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2016

 And now all my yesterdays. The rundowns. Starting with Bowie:

It Starts With a Birthstone - Albums of the Year 2016

 

Previous Rundowns

By no means definitive. It was just records from 2016 I like and I made the order up as I was counting down to Bowie. Plenty of good and some great stuff missing. It was a dreadful year for music deaths; a wonderful one for new music; a bewildering one for the world!

50. DIIV - Is The Is Are
49. Beth Orton - Kidsticks
48. Steve Gunn - Eyes On The Line
47. Cate Le Bon - Crab Day
46. Ulrika Spacek - The Album Paranoia
45. Holy Wave - Freaks Of Nature
44. Angel Olsen - My Woman
43. Alex Cameron - Jumping The Shark
42. Eleanor Friedberger - New View
41. Cool Ghouls - Animal Races
40. Papooz - Green Juice
39. Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve - The Soft Bounce
38. Teleman - Brilliant Sanity
37. The Coathangers - Nosebleed Weekend
36. Public Access TV - Never Enough
35. Fumaca Preta - Impuros Fanaticos
34. Lawrenca Arabia - Absolute Truth
33. De La Soul - And The Anonymous Nobody
32. Goat - Requiem
31. Exploded View - Exploded View
30. Chris Cohen - As If Apart
29. Omni - Deluxe
28. Wilco - Schmilco
27. TOY - Clear Shot
26. Allah-Las - Calico Review
25. Xenia Rubinos - Black Terry Cat
24. Nothing - Tired Of Tomorrow
23. Black Marble - It's Immaterial
22. Big Thief - Masterpiece
21. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
20. Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution
19. Kikagaku Moyo - House In The Tall Grass
18. Childish Gambino - "Awaken My Love!"
17. Eerie Wanda - Hum
16. Helado Negro - Private Energy
15. Parquet Courts - Human Performance
14. Warehouse - super low
13. Fantastic Negrito - The Last Days of Oakland
12. Agnes Obel - Citizen Of Glass
11. The Moles - Tonight's Music
10. Lambchop - FLOTUS
9. Nap Eyes - Though Rock Fish Scale
8. Sunflower Bean - Human Ceremony
7. Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
6. Kacy & Clayton - Strange Country
5. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
4. The Avalanches - Wildflower
3. Regina Spektor - Remember Us To Life
2. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

1. David Bowie - Blackstar

Song(s) of the Day # 4,262 The Mountain Goats

 

A record for Boxing Day. The Mountain Goats Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan, Life is a struggle I've realised. Within ourselves. Against ourselves. With others. Against others, We seek reconciliation, Peace. All there is is the coming day and the decisions we make. The roads we take, This is a great record to start the coming day, Time for my bath. 

Song(s) of the Day # 4,261 Fuzzy Lights

 

This will do. For Christmas Day in 2025.Fuzzy Lights psychedelic light the fires that guide us home.    

Records That Passed Me By

    1. Suede - Frankly a rather daft record

                                                         'So young. So young'

Antidepressants, the slightly depressing new Suede album. 'Come down and disintegrate with me' Do I have to Brett. That doesn't sound like you anyway. It sounds like you've been possessed by the spirit pf Gary Numan from 1979. Are Friends Electric? Let me know either way. 

In second song he's running like a ribbon. Look at him go ! Then dancing wuth the Europeans. Wanting to belong to the road and the rail and being where death had no dominion. Nurse ! Strap that man down.

This is total bollocks ! I mean Suede were always daft. Bowie wannabes that lacked the man's class and ability to produce genuine transformative art.They did some truly great stuff. A long time ago! But Brett had swallowed the thesaurus this time round and no mistake.

Brett was on antidepressants and lying awake by track five. Trying to define his 'infinite space.'. Like Kenneth Williams . Risen from the dead and having a nervous breakdiwn. Well I guess we all have to pay the bills somehow.  

Every song, but every song seems to be an attempt to rewrite She Sells Sanctuary. There was  Broken Music For Broken People lurking lower down the list. But I'd given up in despair and put on. Sons & Fascination by then .

Keep taking the pills boys. Sleeping Pills. It's unkind but perhaps you do need them. There us no excuse for this. It will do well.  

2. Pulp - Ranked 100 on my list. But felt like something they could have made in the Nineties.

Pulp are back. With More their first new album for twenty five. Following the passing of Sreve Mackey and without Russell Senior they're down to the core four ; Cocker, Banks, Doyle and Webber, I'm listening to the record as I make my way through my Friday of online lessons and it feels like a slightly odd experience.

There are some great songs which sound instantly like Pulp, an Art Pop experience that will draw the faithful sixty somethings to the enormodomes to relive all our yesterday's. The songs are alright. Good lyrics perky tunes. I'm just not convinced as to what this sound means in 2025. The world has changed. I'm just not sure that Pulp can.

Contrast points are to the marvellous Stereolab album which came out a few weeks back. Ot the Blur record of a couple of years back The Ballad Of Darren.Or The Cure.  More didn't really ring with me, it felt like a retread and I found myself getting impatient and searching for  something by Massive Attack halway through. 

I came back later in the day. It's a nuanced record, a favourite word of mine. Songs you need to get to know and live inside and allow to blossom within you. It all seems slightly familiar to me as of yet. Well crafted as it is. I'll get back to you. At the moment it's a 7.5

3, Black Country New Road - Forever Howling 

For the most point I write about things that I like on here. I try to keep on a positive road as I've heard that it should rise wuth you and I'm not particularly interested in railing against things I don't really care for. But I'm also interested in listening exrcerses. To try to understand why something that has gathered traction and gained currency does little for me. It's a confusing world. 

Black Country, New Road are a case in point. New album Forever Howling sounds to me like one of the primary school concerts I remember from back in the Seventues. Children armed wuth xylophones, triangles and kazoos howling into the hallspace for all they're worth,

It strikes me as an incredibly contrived album. A self conscious attempt to produced Outsider Music of the sort record collecters babble over . The Shaggs. Space Lady. Langley Schools Music Project. Yet self consciously odd and arty. And as such for me the centre cannot hold. You can't force this form of expression Oh well. Back to something I can get behind tomorrow, 

.

It Starts With a Birthstone 200 Albums For 2025 # 1 Lido Pimienta - La Belleza

 

It's been one hell of a year. I've never known one quite like it. I've turned 60. Made connections with old valued friends from Christmas past !. Travelled. Formed invaluable reconnections. with old friends and regrettably severed connections with others because I felt it time to do so. Worked hard. Striven to improve. Somehow I've managed to write on here every day. Though it's been difficult sometimes. The world keeps turning. Life is the great adventure.

On Christmas morning as on Christmas Eve I'm listening  to Lido Pimienta's magnificent La Belleza, my favourite album of 2025. I somehow knew it was as soon as I first heard it months back. It does everything I want great music and culture to do. It's a strident, incredibly passionate and romantic statement.. It speaks to and of the ages.

I don't speak Spanish but perhaps I need to learn. All three of It Starts With a Birthstone's Top Three albums this year have been in the Spanish tongue. They all fill me with wonder and awe. Inspiration. A Merry Christmas to you all. Wherever you are ! 

Mate of the Year - Darren Jones

 

As always. Many thanks to Starbuck Jones. The best supporter and guide a Captain ever had. Sailing on into uncharted waters on the open oceans of Blog. Much appreciated Darren. I couldn't do this without you !

Gigs of the Year # 1 Horsegirl & Nightshift at Mono in Glasgow

 

A day can be a very long time when you're travelling. Emotionally and physically. As I write I find myself in the famous and rather marvellous Astoria Hotel. A two minute stroll from Copenhagen Central Station in one of the most interesting and certainly thoughtful. cities in the world right now I'd say.. London? You must be joking mate ! Yesterday morning I woke up in a slightly corporate hotel off Sauciehall Street in Glasgow. Sunday was pretty full on and I saw a sensational gig at the end of it. So let's start there. 

Sunday I actually woke up in another hotel further down Sauciehall Street. Glasgow's a pretty incredible place, it's 'steeped' in something intanguble, a set of values and it's nice just to regain consciousness there propped on plump pillows knowing you're not obliged to work and there's a prized event at its close to look forward to. But first you might as well make the best of the hotel you find yourself in. 

So I get up yesterday, shower and shave. Go down in the lift. to the lobby. Pay at the reception desk and make my way to the dining area through a warren of darkened and confusing corridors..Dystopic labyrinth. I heap myself a plate of sausages, eggs and mushrooms, pass a table of babbling Chinese students and make my way  to an empty table in front of a large screen television. 

An orange man in a loud tie, devoid momentarily from his customary large and ridiculous baseball hat is making vacuous pronouncements upon the screen for the Industrial Military Complex which he momentarily acts as  frontman for. About the bombs that he or others have dropped on Iran. 

A country far far far away, of which he knows nothing of. .I hear the expression 'Make Iran Great Again' and am momentarily taken aback. But nothing shocks you for long these days.   Dylan's Masters of War comes to mind. I exchange words with a couple of fellow diners who are preparing to wolf down their own breakfasts in a state of numb shock. 

All of our mouths are agape which makes it easier to shovel our breakfasts into them I suspect..Horror is served up for breakfast on a regular basis these days. Whenever I make the mistake of watching the news it seems. Then I'm back to my room and I pack my bags. Go down to the lobby once more and call a taxi by pressing a button on the bar. . I'm out in the street and presently the taxi arrives to take me to another hotel further along Sauciehall near Pitt Street. Don't ask !

The chat with the taxi driver as he gets me there is worth the fare in itself. You cannot beat Glasgow people I'm deciding. They are what they are. Reality. The older I get the more I appreciate reality. After a great chat about what makes Glasgow what it is he wishes me a good day in thick but plain brogue and I'm in a corporate lobby with a smart bespectcled lady at the desk. It's all very corporate but she's clearly a human being and a nice one which is a great bonus. .I get a ticket for my luggage which I can redeem and get access to my hotel room by three. 

I'm back off out into Sauciehall and it's raining. Not men. And not Casablanca type end of the world global torrents which I've already experienced yesterday afternoon on the way to the hotel when I arrived in 'The Dear Green Place.'.  yesterday afternoon   I find myself in Watertsone's to avoid another downpour and momentarily I'm in heaven and my heart beats so that I can barely speak. 

Sauciehall Street Waterstone's is utterly fabulous. Several floors, Books, Books, books of every dimension and description and ample sofas and cafe areas. You feel like you're off for an extended tour of Mr Wonka's chocolate factory but you won't get far and might learn lots instead.

I grab Luke Haines latest extended moan about the perceived telling of what happened to Rock & Roll and who the Heroes & Villains actually are. Gene Vincent, Jim Morrison, The Fall, The Velvets and Television and aparently he never cared for Blondie much. .I suspect he might not be much of a feminist. Anywhow, reader, I bought it, and will get round to it on It Starts in due time. I bet you can't wait.

I head onwards shrugging off more rain and make my way into The Willow Tree Cafe half way down Buchanan Street. Willow Sreet Cafe has all you need. momentary shelter from the downpours whuch punctuate most days here regardless of the time of year. Attentive Glaswegian waitresses who give as good as they get. Rennie Mackintosh wherever you look. Scottish Rarebit for less than a tenner. A sieve for your China Rose Petal.

I text my Polish friend who I'm remaking a great friendship with after not seeing her for the best part of twenty years. She has been in Poland for a week with her younger daughter. It all sounded heavenly and she was in bliss. Sending photos of everybody down coal mines in fetching yellow helmets. Wining and dining in Katowice where we'd first met and attempted to drink dry on a regular basis. We're both taking things a bit more sensibly and soberly these days.

Now she's at Krakow Airport and feels like crying so she's got herself a beer. I console her with pictures of cake and advise her to plan the next holuday. We resolve to do just that and I head back to Pitt Street to get my room and freshen up. I call mum and say I won't be in touch for a week. Then I'm back into the fray. I ask directions for Argyll at reception and I'm off again. Into the late afternoon.

Argyll Street is nt the easiest destination today clearly. A JJ Abrams Samuel L. Jackson film is being shot in Glasgow this summer and many main thoroughfares are closed for filming purposes at no little expense and no little inconvenience for pedestrians and tourists. Glasgow is a street of long thoroughfares and reminds me of New York which its standing in for in this film because it's cheaper. I feel like I'm in a movie myself as I inch my way downtown. Past the taxi rank outside Glasgow King Street.This is a place that I find I fall in love with just by walking its streets. Like the best cities.

 I'm not sure I trust my Google Map skills to get me to the Mono Club in King. Fortunately I'm in Glasgow which I'm beginning to suspect may be the friendliest city on earth. I go into another Waterstone's this one not so much like Willie Wonka's Nine to Five and an assistant in cool Pinz Nez gives me detailed directions. I'm clearly in my way from misery to happiness today.

But I've got a bit of time to kill. So when I get to King Street, between Merchant City and Trongate if yu're taking notes which I imagine you are, I duck into a bar. Avant Garde. It's full of elderly well dressed Glaswegians. They're playing Gang of Four and Specials in here and the main attraction hasn't even arrived .

He soon does. An elderly fella in a dapper suit that you could cut your loaf of  bread with, should you wish. And a line of patter to match. 'My kind of town Chicago is....'   I get momentarily confused but he's damned good. A Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square. By the time he gets on to his Tom Jones and Cliff numbers the couples are bobbing and weaving on the dancefloor in front of him and a fine time is being had by one and all. 

But I'm not here for The GoodFellas Experience. I'm here to see Horsegirl. I get further directions form more cool and laidback Glaswegians and I'm at Mono, just up the rad. It's immediately the kind of venue I feel most at home in. Another spiritual home.

It's a beautifully spaced venue. Comfortable tables. A well stocked bar . A low stage placed at the front of the venue. A relaxed air . A terrace out front where the Glasgow Indie Groovers are beginning to gather .Cool looking, relaxed  people. The kind of place where people like me feel  relaxed because we're in our element and with our people. I'm immediately enchanted.

I have a look through the ineffably cool record shop at the back of the venue. Monorail Music. It was apparently set up by Stephen Pastel has row upon row of rare classics I would love to buy immediately. I don't have anything by Sebadoh or The Field Mice on vinyl. These issues probably need to be addressed. Immediately.

I resist and move back into the venue and wait for the music. I text to my Polish friend but my flesh is weakening. I'm tired. It happens at my age. It's been a long day. My legs are tired. Will I last the course of the evening. Thankfully help is at hand. The support group, an impossible assured looking group of young men and women I heard doing a soundcheck for earlier have climbed back onstage and started to play. My ears prick up. If you've been listening to this kind of music as long as I have you know what you're going to like and I know I'm going to like this. A lot. I get up and start to make my way through the crowd looking for a better vantage point.

They announce themselves as Nightshift. That figures. I've long liked Nightshift and appreciated their records on It Starts for some time. They're the kind of band that appreciates the essence of the Underground. Park their charabanc in the vacant lot between The Velvet Underground, Au Pairs, Girls at Our Best  and Young Marble Giants and would have done John Peel Sessions and sold precisely no records at all back in the day. They're playing to a set of people they've played to any number of times and will love them unconditionally every time. Not because the audience lacks discretion. But because they have it. 

They're energetic, kinetic, laugh a lot between themselves between tracks and have no fear of showing commitment to the Palestinian cause, and what I conclude is wrong with that. I thank the singer after the set for speaking out. I think it's important to speak out, She's excited when I do and keeps babbling effusively. I think she and they are great. They've been on tour with Horsegirl and clearly bonded as the best double bills do. They make this kind of lifestyle feel like a calling. I'm glad it still is for so many. It allows the rest of us to follow more conventional lives but still wiggle our toes in more bohemian ponds.Of an evening !!!

Half an hour more and we get Horsegirl. It's darkening outside but there's something ripe about the night. It belongs to lovers. This is why I still do this. The venue's sold out but sensibly it doesn't feel cramped. There's consideration from the venue in that respect. I've learned through a lifetime of experience that these are the best venues and the best nights. It speaks of values. Of a lifestyle where genuine respect for others is the common currency and people go home happy with a sense they've got their money's worth.

Horsegirl play the best set I've seen any band play for many years. They have a brittle but inspiring edge and actual swagger. The band is clearly a democratic colective but I realise tonight that if they have a lead it's probably Pemelope Lowenstein when previously I'd thought it might be Nora Cheng.. Lowenstein has cut her hair and she speaks a lot tonight and I get the sense if the group are following anyone's lead it might be hers.

Anyway Horsegirl strike me as having that cerain ineffable and difficult to quantify essence that marks the great bands out from the merely good ones. They don't hold back. They're riding their wave. Their first record was good but this is a huge march onwards from that. Ive seen a handful of bands at the time when I felt it was just the time to see them. R.E.M., The Go Betweens and The Triffids at the time of their imperial albums. Pixies and My Bloody Valentine later in the decade. There are more but I wom't bore you. 

Anyway they have an elliptical quality tonight.. .Sure they take a lead from The Raincoats and The Feelies. But if you're going to steal, steal from the best. .A few songs in a set of pretty young girls slide past me at the lip of the stage and it's a wonderful moment. Something I'll remember . It's inspiring. The true meaning of girlpower not a marketing exercise. It's been a wonderful night and I'll ride on its wave of positive energy for some time.    

It Starts With a Birthstone 200 Albums For 2025

 

                     

                    1. Lido Pimienta - La Belleza

                    

                     2Juana Molina - DOGA

                   

                    3 Rosalia -LUX.

                   4 Horsegirl - Phonetics On & On 

                   

                   5 Ethel Cain - Willloughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You - & Pervert

                  

                   6 Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures

                  7 Richard Dawson -  End of the Middle  

                 

                 8 Stereolab -  Instant Holograms on Metal Film

                 

                  9 FKA Twigs EUSEXUA 

                 

                10 Big Thief -  Double Infinity

               

                11 Baxter Dury - Albarone

               

                12 Snocaps - Snocaps

                13 Parastatic - Concrete Reborn

               14 Dean Wareham - The Price of Loving Me

               15 Slow Motion Cowboys - Wolf of St Elmo

              16 Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars

               17 Alan Sparhawk - Trampled With Turtles

              18. Fortunato Durutti Marinetti - Bittersweet Bitter

             

             19 Sharon Van Etten    & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory

               

              20  The Loft - Everything Changes - Everything Stays the same

              21 Wednesday - Bleeds

             22. Alex G - Headlights

               23 Park Jiha - All Living Things

              24 Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

              

              25 Belair Lip Bombs - Again

              26, Lavender Flu - Tracing The Sand By the People

              27. Daily Toll - A Profound Non-Event

              28 Imaginary Family - Builders, Believers 

           

            29 Japanese Breakfast  - For Melancholy Brunettes         

            30 Geese - Getting Killed

           31 Joan Shelley - Real Warmth

           32 Lorde - Man Of The Year

          33 Emma Pollock's Begging The Night To Take Hold

         34 Westmoreland -  I Got The Feeling In Bakersfield 

         35 Adrian Crowley - Measure of Time

         36 Hand Habits - Blue Reminder

         37 Blackxwash - Only Dust Remains

        38 Case Oats - Last Missouri Exit

       39 Bon Iver p

      40 OK Cool - Chit Chat

      

       41 Emma- Jean Thackray - 

      42 Index For Working Music -  Which Direction Goes The Beam

      43 Benjamin Booker - LOWER

      44 Gwenno - Utopia

     45 Golomb - The Beat Goes On

     46 Racing Mount Pleasant. - Racing Mount Pleasant

     47 US Girls -  Scratch It

    48 Sofie Birch & Antonina Nowacka - Hiraeth

   49  Sueno Purpura -Souvenir

   50 Edwyn Collins -  Every Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation

    51 Madison Cunningham - Ace

   52 Attawalpa - Experience

  53 Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak

 54 Lucy Gooch - Desert Window

 55 Hectorine - Arrow Of Love

  56 HORSEBATH - Another Farewell

57 Foot Ox - A Lighthouse With Silver Dog Eyes

 58 Natalia Lafourcade - Cancionera

   59 WITCH - SOGOLO

   60 Water From Your Eyes - It's a Beautiful Place

 61 Herbal Tea 0 Hear As The Mirror Echoes

62 Carson McHone - Pentimento

 63 Model / Actriz - Pirouette

64 Bright Eyes - Kids Table

 65 Sagittaire - Coventry Suite Pt 1 is Collision Music

 66 Caroline - Caroline 2

 67 Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Overdrive

68 Tuung - Love You All Over Again 

69 Lonnie Holley - Tonkie

70 Lone Striker - Lone Striker

 71 Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales

 72 Katsy Pline - Incandecsent Fire

73 Teethe -  The Magic of the Sale

 74 Dining Dead - Is This a House?

 75 Modern Nature - Heat Warps

 76 Half Man Half Biscuit - All Asimov And No Fresh Air

77 Laele Neale - Altogether Stranger

78 David Sylvian - Vermillion Hours

 

79 Radio Anorak - Remember

80 Guided By Voices - Universe Room

 81 The Telephone Numbers - Scarecriw 

82 People Mover - Cane Trash

83 Melin Melyn - Mill On The Hill

 84 Matt Berry - Heard Noises

 85 Peel Dream Magazine - Taurus.

 86 Sam Fender - People Watching

 87 Squid -  Cowards

88 Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Overdrive 

89 Black Lips - Season Of The Peach

 90 Destroyer - Dan's Boogie 

91 Robert Forster - Strawberries

 92 Foxwarren - 2

93 Pomes Penyeach - Pomes Penyeach

 94  Water From Your Eyes - It's a Beautiful Place

 95 Frog - 1.000 Variations on Song

 

 96 Billy Nomates - Mary & the Hyenas

97 Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul

98 Laminate - kiss unltd

 99 Shame - Cutthroat

100 Pulp - More

101 Florry - Sounds Like...

102 Bicep -  TAKKUUK

103 Bonnie Prince Billy - The Purple Bird

104 Yazz Ahmed.- Paradise in the Hold

105 Immersion - WTF

106. Editrix - Big E

107,Family Selection Box - Modern Gardening

108 Rats On Rafts - Deep Below

109 Valerie June - Owls, Omens & Oracles

110 Paco Cathcart -Down On Them

 111 Ian Hawgood - .Savage Modern Structures

112 Laufey - A Matter Of Time

113 Arny Marget - I miss You I Do

114 Brown Dog -  I Thought I Was Gonna Dance 

115 Gold Dust - In The Shade of the Living Light  

116 Great Grandpa - Patience, Moonbeam

117 Steven R. Smith - Triecade.

118 Cloakroom -  Last Leg of the Table

119 Neal Morgan - PAW

120 Bridget Hayden & The Apparations - Cold Blows The Lane

121 Denison Witmer - Anything At All.

122 Men I Trust - Equus Asinus

123 Glyders -  Maria's Hunt

124 C.Duncan - It's Only a Love Song

125 Dutch Interior

 126 The Weather Station - Humanhood 

127 Laughing Chimes - Whispers in The Speech Machine 

128. Bridget Mae Power - Songs For You

129 Tunde Adebimpe - Three Black Boltz

130 Free Range - Lost & Found

 131 The Bug Club -   Very Human Features 

132.Hotline TNT - Raspberry Moon

133, Peaceful Faces

134 Jonathan Richman - Only Frozen Sky Anyway 

135 Fruit Trees - An Opening

136 Lake Ruth - Hawking Radiation

137 Black Country, New Road -Forever Howling

138 Wet Leg - Moisturizer

 139 Andy Bell -  Pinball Wanderer. 

140 Luke Haines and Peter Buck - Going Down The River To Blow My Mind

141 Greantea Peng- TELL D'EM IT'S SUNNY

142 pencil - Bohemian Clutter

143 Salty Greyhound - Alligators 

144 Hudson Freeman - Hudson Freeman is a Folk Artist

 145 Durand Jones & The Indications - Flowers

146 Sharp Pins - Radio DDR

147 Ubiquitous Meh ! - Oddville

148 Autocamper

149 Divorce -  Drive To Goldenhammer

 150 lots of hands

151 Folk Bitch Trio - Now Would Be a Good Time

152  Reds, Pinks & Purples - The Past Is a Garden I Never Feed

 153 Matt Berninger - Get Sunk

154 Rip Van Winkle - Blasphemy

155 Wife Patrol - NOPLACE

156 Watchhouse - Rituals

157 Wishbone Zoe - Blue Distances

158 Chris Stamey - Anything Is Possible

159 Gina Birch - Trouble

160 Vinyl Williams. - Portasymphony

161 Fieldress - It's a Lot

 162 Preoccupations - Ill At Ease

163 Petite Amie - Hay Vaces

164 Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels

165 The Nightingales - The Awful Truth

166 Jimmie Kilpatrick - Jimmie

167 Domino Kirke - The Most Familiar Star

 168 There's a Tuesday - Blush

169 Jeanines

170 Avery Friedman - New Thing

  171 Biche -- B.I.C.H.E

 172 Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking

 173 Sunflower Bean - Mortal Primetime

 174 quickly. quickly -  I Heard a Noise

 175 Bedridden - Moths Strapped To Each Other's Backs

176 Frankie Cosmos - Different Talking

177 Tugboat Captain -  Dog Tale

 178 Moscow Puzzles - Vast Spaces of the Interior

179 Cumulus - We've Got It All

 180 Pigeon Pit - crazy arms

 181 Death & Vanilla - Whistle I'll Come To You,

182 Loyle Carner - Hopefully

 183 Eliza Niemi - Progress Bakery

184 Jeffrey Lewis - The Even More Free Wheelin Jeffrey Lewis

185 Dead Gowns - It's Summer

 186 Sun Kil Moon - All The Artists

  187 Fib - Heavy Lifting

 188 Lifeguard - Ripped & Torn

189 Hannah Cohen - Earthstar Mountain

 190 Beirut - A Study Of Losses

  191 The Altons - Heartache in Room 14

  192 Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto

 193 Rose City Band - Son Y Sombra

194 Caamp - Copper Changes Colour

 195 Chris Eckman - The Land We Know The Best

 196 Ball Park Music - Love Life

 197 MIEN - MIENN

 198 Nadia Reid - Enter Now Brightness

199 Gumshoes - Bugs Forever

200 Samantha Crain - Gumshoe

Gigs of the Year # 2 The Night I Shook Peter Buck's Hand.

 

I haven't been out for a while. Focusing on work, Doing My paperwork. Building up my bank account. Staying in evenings. Going to the fitness centre. Calling my mum. A holiday coming up.

I wake up early Friday morning. I have three classes. .I run my bath. Have my breakfast. Send some songs to a friend as I have done for  the last six months. This morning Ania gets Johnny Cash and nods her approval . She listens to him in bed with her cappuccino and asks me if I've seen Walk the Line. Then does her ablutions and wanders off for a walk in the forest with her daughter's attack chihuahua Charlie. She's feeling 'energetik'. Always the pedantic teacher, I correct her spelling. She doesn't seem to mind. I get lots of smiley faces. Pictures of her muscles. She likes to keep fit.  

My lessons are planned. Powerpoints sent. At half seven I go to Google Calendar and am submitted into a virtual classroom. Just D***** tiday. One of my favourite students. She's always great company. Charm and grace.Incredibly able. Very good English  A lady with teenage dughters and a plump hubby. He's a steadfast, reliable type who sometimes says hello on the video screen behind her . D*****'s clearly made a good choice  . He's the kind of person you want to marry. Someone who's there. 

She's canidid. Let's things slip about her feelings about work and life. That's what these classes are like sometimes. What'is said in virtual classrooms stays in virtual classrooms.Apart from my writing about it here. . Sorry,   D*****  She knows a bit about my life too. Hey, we try to be human in the age of AI as the androids gather in the wings.

I feed in some language. She mentions the idiom 'opening a can of worms' which her English boss said to her in a meeting and grabbed her interest. The silent bs in numb and dumb. She brings up Michael McImtyre's Silent Letter Day sketch and I say I'll put it on the to do list. These lessons go where the students want them to or at least I try foster that approach. I say let's do Mergers & Acquusitions at some point and she asks if she ca head half an hour early and we'll see each other in a few weeks. I have half an hour more to breakfast fully and  listen to music.

Next one's  ten. I'm full with toast and egg. Insurance O**** is there.M*** S**** hasn't made it for months.  O****'s boss. Though you wouldn't know it. They rib each other constantly. One supports Fortuna Dussledorf. one FC Koln. Kolm have just been promoted to the Bundesliga. Stolen Fortuna's star asset Isak Johanneson. He declared undying loyalty to them then signed for their big rivals and is kissing their badge every time he scores. Much to the fury of  M*** S****  and  O****'s  amusement.

 O**** knows my personal predicament . That I'm a Newcastle fan and have been since I was six and lived in Newcastle for twenty years.But that I'm pretty much fed up of the game and its ubiquity and general corruption, toxicity and predictability. Everything that's wrong with the world is wrong with football I've decided. I can still enjoy it. I just don't want to talk about it all the time. I can't anymore..In some ways it's lost much of its joy for me. 

This has been particularly heightened for me persomally all summer. Alexander Isak Newcastle' s star asset and magical goalscorer has decided he no longer wants to play for Newcastle and would rather play for Liverpool because they have turned his and his agents heads. Despite the fact that Isak srill has a couple of years left to run on his contract and Liverpool have shown themselves unwilling to pay his market value price instead unsettling the player and his agents and consequently the whole clubs preparation for the season. It's been a story that's progressed like a slug making its way up your garden path all morning. 

I'm not kidding myself. Newcastle are just as bad in this respect as anyone else. They're owned by the Saudi Arabian government. I care more about women's rights, gay people's rights and general human rights than twenty two people running around chasing a pig's bladder for ninety minutes. I've  come to the conclusion that fooball is essentially fixed. Why on earth would it not be. Theres' far too much money at stake to allow the likes of Brighton and Brentfird a seat at the Top Table. Newcastle will get there eventually but in the meantime Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea amd  Spurs will feast. and guard their plates hawkishly. Me I'd rather listen to music, chat to Ania and teach lovely Germans.

But today O**** knows something I don't and is eager to share it with me. Newcastle themselves are closing in on a prized assset themselves. They're just about to sign Nick Woltemate, Stuttgart's attacking midfielder for a record fee, much to the fury of Uli Hoeness the executive director and all round dodgy type who covered him for Bayern Munich and thought he had a god given right to get his own way. .  

Anyway, we bid each other farewell. O**** is a wonderful man and it doesn't feel like work teaching him even though I've managed to highlight the false friend potential trickery of occasion and opportunity and a couple of other things in our hour together. This is all much better than the relentless competition and mendacity I was embroiled in for fifteen years before I surfaced and started doing this last January to my immense relief.. 

I teach another class whuch I'll spare you the details of. Have an hour circuiting the fitness centre and I'm off into town. I only now can start to focus on the pressing immediate matter that I'm going to see Peter Buck, who's essentially as close to an actual hero as I've ever had. R.E.M. mean more than I could ever express. They were the band that I fell in love with when I was 17 when I bought Murmur and played it relentlessly until Reckoning came out, Then I played that relentlessly until Fables of the Reconstruction appeared. 

Then I went to university, my world changed. I spent two incredible terms with the three guys in my corridor bonding in the way you only bond at university. Playing R.E.M. constantly, constantly. With Rod the guy next door who was the first person I ever met who loved the band like I did.

I saw them twice over this period . With my brother and sister. The second gig at the Hammersmith Palais the most entrancing, astonishing and life changing gig I will ever witness. And I've seen a lot of incredible gigs. And now I'm striding down the slope to The Cluny in the Ouseburne Valley. It's a beautiful evening. I'm going to see Peter Buck play in a small intimate venue and I'm determined to park myself right in front of the stage all evening.

Suddenly a tall, distinguished man walks past me in the evening sunlight into the door of the Ship Inn, the old school garden pub directly opposite the Cluny. I'm momentarily transfixed. It's him . It's him. 'I didn't waste time, I just walked right up.' and said Peter I don't want to bother you. I just want to say thanks.

He says without a pause. 'Well thank you for meaning that I never had to work in McDonald's'.'I know his voice. It's deeply familiar to me' I know that slow recognisable drawl. I say. 'Well  you made sure that would never happen/'. I honestly don't want to bother him. I don't want a photo. He has a right to his space. But I rabbit a bit anyway.I can't stop myself. We talk about how this is where it started at least in the UK. Newcastle. I saw them on The Tube in 1983 when I had never heard of them  and I tell him I just had no idea what I was seeing.. That nobody ever moved like Peter Buck before or since. It's something I truly feel. I'm glad I said what I said. 

Anyway I've said what I want to say.I say have a great evening and leave him to his drink.  I've had my moment. I'm sure Peter's used that McDonald's line with a lot of people. But this time he said it to me.  He must never get left alone. I've no idea what that must be like. That level of fame. Buck is obviously not as well known as Michael Stipe but to music lovers he and the other R.E,M. guus occupy a sacred space. There's nobody like them. They're an indication that you can do something like this. Treat each other well and maintain your dignity and integrity. That's why these people and moments mean so much to me.

Anyway I'm up the hill lost in the moment. I sit down in the Tanner's Arms and text my sister who is the person in the world who knows best exactly what this will mean to me. That it's actually a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life and will bring me an incredible sense of closure. I eat some chips. Drink a pint of coke. In some ways I feel like I've already had my evening. But the gig is yet to come. 

I make my way down to the venue. Get in as soon as the doors open buy a beer and go straught to the front and grab a prize spot right on the lip of the stage. It's quite easy actually. I'm not shifting. Peter is playing twice tonight. Woth the same four musicians. As Minus Five and then as Luke Haines & Peter Buck ; Scott McCaughey, Luke Haines, Linda Pitmon and Nick Fowler..

Minus Five are on fairly promptly without standing on ceremony. McCaughey takes the lead. He and Haines, wearing a large boater perch as the front two . Buck plays bass behind them, always the total team musician, not wanting to repeat himself, his guiding role in R.E.M, steering them onwards.

Minus Five are essentially a Garage band. Buck always had a thing about this. .Hey, he worked in a record shop before R.E.M. The band played Hey Little Girl and Superman Minus Five built up a head of steam with a number of melodic but fierce numbers. They're drilled but spontaneity is prized amd allowed for. Essentially they just want to have a good time and a good time is had by all. The Modern Lovers She Cracked is played mid set. The epitome of this kind of attitudinal Rock & Roll.

It's cool. A part of me wonders as they leave the stage whether I've had my money's worth but I'm not feeling tired. I've had an hour of exercise and I'm feeling good. Anyway as they take the stage essentially for Haines turn in the spotlight I'm glad I stayed.

They play the choice cuts from their latest album Going Down To The River .... To Blow My Mind. I realise immediately that's it's alrogether a more powerful proposition than I gave it credit for in my cursory review a few weeks ago. I mist revisit and rewrite, it..It's an acid pastoral minor classic. With a lot of Mott and Glam when performed live. 

Buck at last has his rickenbacker slung round him though it doesn't sound like it tonight. I watch him almost exclusively. This might be the last time I see him though I'll make every effort for that not to be the case. He's just thrilling to watch.

He's the ultimate team guy, that's how he works and though I've seen him a few times down the years this was the closest I ever got . He's such a generous and versatile player. He watches the team he's playing with. Elevates them though he's essentially modest. He's focused on the task at hand primarily but able to enjoy the experience. Essentially you know you're watching one of the greats but a man wuth his feet sufficiently on the ground to retain his modesty and humanity.

I'm siory I haven't written much about Haines or the rest of the band but emotionally for me the evening was about seeing a true hero of mine. Your heart only truly opens on a few occasions over the course of a lifetime. If you're lucky. I saw him, shook his hand and reminded myself exactly why his body of work and approach to Rock & Roll resonates so depply within me. It was an incredible and rather beautiful evening for me. . 

Gigs of the Year # 3 The Loft - Cluny 2

 

'I know the world is wrong....I know where I belong. I keep it deep inside' The Loft This Machine Is On

 'Everybody's busy nowadays...' 

Alright that's not the Buzzcock lyric. I know. But it's a good expression for the way we live these days. Perhaps it's always been that way.. That's the way they want us. It keeps us distracted. I'm convinced.

I'm up with the larks. I'm not best served for birdwatching where I live. I'm unconvinced there's a ready supply of larks around the building where I live. I live in Central Newcastle. There's certainly a ready supply of seagulls. Swooping and shrieking outside my window most mornings. Pigeons. Urban vermin. Sometimes you'll get to witness a seagull's pecking on a pigeon's innards if you're unlucky. Don't be convinced by the veneer of civilisation. It's a war out there. Wherever you look.

Never mind. I've got a Dean Wareham album to listen to. A couple of lessons to plan. I go down and prepare the lessons I think I've got. I'm into a routine now. Friday is generally a busy day. But two have already been cancelled. On Time which means I won't get paid for either of them. Oh well. Swings and roundabouts. I'm getting increasingly phlegmatic nowadays. I have a decent supply of lessons coming in these days. I'm paying the rent.

I get my lessons planned and send them off to the students in advance. I often don't use them or at least all of them. But it keeps my bosses happy. Everybody deserves happiness. Even middle managers I'm insistent. More on that later. I listen to Dean Wareham's album That's The Price of Loving Me. It's rather lovely. Wistful. Dean's a master. 

I wish I'd seen Galaxie 500. I remember gazing at a copy of Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music. In a shop window in Turin, Christmas 1990. My heart was breaking. Any band or man that soundtracks the moments in your life when your heart is breaking deserves your eternal gratitude and attention. Dean has mine. He's just released another beautiful record. I commend it to you..

I'm ready for my half seven with a Biotech and Biomedical organisation. My branch and students are based in Dussledorf. I  listen to Kate Bush's The Dreaming while I dress and get sustenance from my pantry. Quality time with Kate. Mark E. Smith was very dismissive of her. 

Bloody Mark E. Smith a peasant from the village. I like some Fall records but the cult of reverence for the man is beyond me.How can you possibly not appreciate what Kate brought to the table. It's the culture of envy and gracelessness.  'Don't follow leaders. Watch the parking meters.' That's more to my taste.

At half seven I click on Google Calendars Teams link, wait outside the classroom for my Biotech and Biomedical class but am not admitted. There hcve been some cancellations but the class is still going to happen as far as I can make out. At quarter to eight D***** lets me in.  D*****  is something special. The existence of women like D*****  give you faith for the future of the world. 

We have 45 minutes together. I love what I'm doing now. She's inspiring.  She has to leave at half eight to go to her next meeting. I do the paperwork to give her areas of language which I hope will help . Jot it all down on a feedback document and post it. To keep her on the road to her next destination. Also to keep the middle managers happy. They'll never be completely happy I suspect. I see that I have another lesson cancelled. Too late this time. So some more Euros will get tipped into my bank account in a couple of weeks.

I consider myself early retired. I think I can do this until I need to stop working and probably beyond. Teaching motivated students doesn't feel like work. It's something I've done all my adult life and know that I'm good at. Always room for improvements mind. Anyway. The day is mine. What shall I do.

I put on Buzzcocks Singles Going Steady while I shave and pack my trusty St Michael's Carrot Bag with library books to be renewed, a towel and swimming trunks. It's a lovely sunny day in Toon. What to do. I know !!!

Anybody who knows me to any degree will know a few basic things about me. I like early R.E.M. I'm a decent teacher. And I have a certain amount of mischief about me. OK. I'm a bloody wind up merchant. I'm going into the place I used to work for fifteen years. I left my workplace a year and a month ago now. Fifteen years of heavy mental labour. .I had a very unhappy time there for the most part. It's a common story. It was a corporate hellhole with a very unenlightened approach. In most respects. Any number of people behaved terribly badly. It was the overriding culture..

A number of people have warned me to keep away from there. Wash my hands. But knowing myself better than anybody else I'm paying no heed. Every time I go in there I feel better now. I have nothing to be ashamed of. Some people who still work there should feel ashamed. I'm not a vindictive person. But it's quite good for people to be reminded sometimes. Perhaps they will learn something and behave a bit better.

So I put my coat on. My battered pork pie hat. Pack my shades. Take the brisk fifteen minute walk back to my former workplace. I see a handful of people there that I like a lot. I joke with them that this is an external inspection. Do they have their passports? This is important. I might have to come back in and close  the place down next time. . I assure them I'll let them know when the inspection is finished and I've submitted my report who it's from. We've got to have some fun. That's why we're alive.

I see one person there who I'm less fond of in the lobby. Who I came to realise was ridiculously arrogant and full of himself. Who didn't behave very well towards me for no reason except his own slightly unmerited high opinion of himself.. He doesn't meet my eye. It's what I'd expect. Like I said, it's a war out there. Seagulls know. But I'm not a seagull. I try to be nice when I can..I'm not interested in feasting on anyone's heart.

I've had my fun. I say my farewells and I'm off down Northumberland Street to the library to renew my books. I should really stop renewing these  books and actually read them. I've got nothing to do this weekend. It might actually happen today. I won't be going to the big parade for the arrival of the first domestic football  trophy to arrive in these parts for seventy years later on today. I'm very happy to be here. I love Newcastle and its people but I'm not kidding myself that I'll ever be a Geordie even though I've been made to feel .incredibly welcome here.Football has a secondary place from now on in. 

I turn into Clayton Street West a man on a mission. My mission to find some decent, cheap records in the charity shops second hand record sections . I find gold in Amnesty International. A five pound copy of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds Soundtrack from the Mid Seventies. It sends me spinning back in time to a golden memory from my youth. Reminds me of a person who's not here anymore and is missed by many. I'll write about that fully in another post here. I bag the record. Exchange some pleasantries wuth the nice gents who work there.

Memories are important and I love these portals that allow me to access moments of my life. Music can do this better than anything else I find. So I take War of the Worlds home , Put it on my player. The record spins like silk. Immaculate condition. I revel in the moment and the sound and voices. The narrative. 

The memories whuch fill my flat like the swirling ghosts at the finale of Indiana Jones. . It's important I think not to be trapped by memories but sometimes it's good to doff your cap to the past and remember those no longer with us. These people make us what we are. The dead are owed their due.

But so too are the living. I head for the Fitness Centre. The pool is busy and the jacuzzi fenced off. I have five minutes in the sauna and head for the exit after a little back and forth and banter about the state of the world with Dave and Adam at the service desk. There's never a dull moment at The Royal Station Hotel Fitness centre. It deserves a blog of its own. But It Starts is not it. At least not today. 

From there I go back and fix myself some tea. I make at least a bit of an effort today. Jacket potatoes sure but I also fry up some mushrooms and boil some chunks of sweetcorm. Fanny Craddock eat your heart out! I listen to Revolver, make a point of listening until Tomorrow Never Knows  has it's say. 

That track is less than three minutes long but is probably the greatest example of compressed expression I can think of. The meaning of within. More birds. Ctying for humanity. Cheer up Bruce! I'm ready to go. I'm off into the night. On my way to The Cluny 

I'm 'listening to the colour of my dreams'. Walking back. To the future. The Quayside feels still. Even on a Friday evening. I'm heading up the hill to the Ouseburn Hills. Up the hill and down the slope. To the doors of Cluny 2. Into the venue. Down a couple if narrow staircases and into the venue. There are like minded souls gathered inside. It's a bit too dark for me this venue. 

I chat to people about the significance of the night. The guy at the merch stand. A lovely guy in de rigeur breton striped top. I promise him I'll be back. I chat to a lovely couple about the state of the world. They live in Alnwich. He's from Chicago. they know the band from back in the day. Bobby Gillespie. Alan McGee. The birth of Creation Records. 

These were the days when The Loft were considered the band to watch. Before Jesus & Mary Chain arrived to steal their thunder and Alan's attention. Before they split up onstage at The Hammersmith Palais in a fit of fury, resentment and rage. Pete Astor the singer and Dave Morgan the drummer went off with several of their best songs to form the Weather Prophets. 

Onward to Elevation Records. Almost Prayed, their should have been hit single. Andy Strickland The Loft's firebrand guitarist and Bill Prince their bassist simmered with youthful  resentment. A week is a long time in Rock & Roll. This is now almost forty years. Time it seems has healed raw wounds of youthful rage.  

 Chris from Prancey Dog, who's put this event on is here. He like me I suspect is distracted by the thought of seeing this great 'should have been' band. They've regrouped, miraculously recorded and relased theur debut album, Forty years after the event. More stoical  about their place in the scheme of things but happy to have this second opportunity to show off theur wares. Make a statement about what a great band they were and are.

Nev Clay the Geordie Leonard Cohen wuth additional mental health concerns and admirable fury about the state of play and welfare cuts, has been drafted in at the last minute. He plays another splendid set. But he's aware that he is not the main event tonight. He's looking forward to catching The Loft as much as everyone else is. 

I breach the stairs and strike a match and watch it burn against the night in the company of Dave Morgan. Drummer of The Loft . But also of the Weather Prophets and The Rockingbirds. He rages, not so much against the dying of the light as at Pete's youthful temper, arrogance and ambitious if foolish ego.

He goes into a flight of fancy about the drugs everybody did back in the day. Cocaine. A blizzard. I tell him about when I caught The Weather Prophets at The Hammersmith Clarendon in 1987. With Pop Will Eat Itself, The Sevants, and remarkably The Happy Mondays in support. Those boys were like sniffer dogs. They hoovered up a bus oad or two of Colombian Marching Powder in their time.It has to be done. This is Rock & Roll.

But now it's time. I take my place as The Loft gather onstage by the side. Where I've got a good view of proceedings. Can take some photos on my trusty smartphone and appreciate their thing. It's the best vantage point. They play a golden set. Strickland, Astor and Prince a golden, greying frontline making guitars sound they way god intended them to sound. A brilliant, considered intensity. Morgan providing the artillery. 

If the hair is grey the guitars are golden and the lyrics thoughtful, poetic and frequesntly divine. Indie Divinity.They play a greatest should have been hits set and are incredubly drilled. Strickland genuflects and fires out glorious guitar sparks. Duels with Astor like a Home Counties Verlaine and Lloyd. 

The Television comparisons are inevitable with these boys. They play Richard Hell's Time early. An immaculate and heartfelt cover. Astor jokes that it's many people's favourite song of theirs yet they didn't actually write. it. 'The past is a tangled knot.' They're comfotable in the skins. Or as comfortable as you ever get.  

The Beatles are also there. Unmistakeable. They don't miss a beat and the crowd are in their palm. A modest gathering. Not what they deserve. But I imagine the band are happy with appreciative glow nowadays. There's full on banter. Only Prince keeps his own counsel. Bonhomie. 

We get the songs that matter. Choice cuts from the latest record. Up The Hill and Down the Slope. Why Does The Rain. Still as potent as the day it was written. Existential poetry. 'Why when the sun start to rise. Do people wake and catch the morning train?' Why indeed. Because we have to, Songs like these are written to help us. 

Thanks to The Loft. I get my t shirt and I'm iff into the night. Up another hill. To catch the late night bus. Sated.

500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's -# 300 Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

 

The Guardian- Albums of the Year 2025

 

1. Rosalia - Lux
2. CMAT - Euro Country
3. Blood Orange - Essex Money
4. Addison Rae - Addison
5. Lady Gaga - Mayhem
6. Pink Pantherss - Fancy That
7. Lily Allen - West End Girl
8. Bad Bunny - Debi Tirar Mas Fotos
9. Geese - Getting Killed
10. Billy Woods - Golliwog
11. Jade - That's Showbuz Baby
12. Jim Legaxcy - Black British Music
13. Suede - Antidepressants
14. Deftones - Private Music
15. Turnstile - Never Enough
16. Pulp - More
17. Alex G - Headlights
18. Big Thief - Double Infinity
19. Clipse - Let God Sirt Em Out
20. Aya ! - Hexed
21. John Glacier - Like A Ribbon
22. Little Simz - Lotus
23. Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying
24. Titanic - Hagen
25. Wednesday - Bleeds
26. Wolf Alice - The Clearing
27. Wet Leg - Moisturizer
28. Keiya A - Hookes Law
29. Jacob Allen - In Limerence
30. Oklou - Choke Enough
31. Horsegirl - Phonetics On And On
32. Perfume Genius - Glory
33. Amaarae - Black Star
34. Snocaps - Snocaps
35. Bon Iver - Fable, Sable
36. Anna Von Hauswolff - Iconoclasts
37. Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving
38. Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tycker - I'll Always Love You
39. Sudan Archives - The BPM
40. YHWH - Nailgun
41. Danny Brown - Stardust
42. Erika Di Casier - Lifetime
43. Jennifer Walton - Daughters
44. Sabruna Carpenter - Man's Best Fruend
45. Smerz - Big City Life
46. The Tubs - Cotton Crown
47. Clipping - Dead Channel Sky
48. Jerskin Hendrix - Once Upon a Time - In Shropshire
49. Rochelle Jordon - Through The Wall
50. Nourished By Time - The Passionate Ones 

It Starts With a Birthstone 200 Albums For 2025 # 2Juana Molina - DOGA

 

We approach December I have the year Review Issue of Uncut Magazine n front of me, Their album of the month is an Argentinian record by Juana Molina called DOGA. It is indeed 'maravilloso.' Vamos !

This is an album for which apparently Molina had accumulated over 60 hours of recorded ideas. She's pared them down to just under an hour here and the results are staggering. Fragments of sui generis studio trickery that made me think of Beck and Bjork most obviously as reference points.. Put whatever you're doing right now down and listen to this. 

Molina has a long and distinguished track record as a creative, artistic mover and shaker. She works in folktronica and ambient indie stuff if you want any number of labels that fail to do DOGA justice. This is dancing on the ceiling inspiration. Joyous. 'Es hora de mi bano.'  

Song(s) of the Day # 4,260 Johnny Nash

 

We're almost there. The Christmas of my sixtieth year on this spinning orb. And what have I learnt . This !

It Starts With a Birthstone 200 Albums For 2025 # 3 Rosalia -LUX.

 

The time has come the walrus said to talk about the new Rosalia album LUX. Several people have contacted me separately to talk about how spectacularly wonderful it is. So what can a poor boy do. 'Cept to listen to the blessed thing. 

Yes, it's pretty damned magnificent I must say. Watch its wave rise and sustain its spell.  It's bruised with all the drama, desire  and romance you could ask from music. Or indeed life. Clasp a rose between your teeth and throw your arm wide to embrace this wonderful record, 

Best Ever Albums - Albums of the Year 2025

 

1. Geese - Getting Killed
2. FKA Twigs - Eusexua
3. Bon Iver - Salbe, Sable
4. Clipse - Let God Sort Them Out
5. Pulp - More
6. Rosalia - Lux
7. Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlung
8. Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power
9. Little Simz - Lotus
10. Panda Bear - Sinister Grift
11. Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars
12. McKinley Dixon - Magic Alive
13. Lady Gaga - MayhemUnstant Hikigrams On Metal Film
14. Big Thief - Double Infinity
15. Sam Fender - People Watching
16. Wet Leg - Moisturizer
17. Wednesday - Bleeds
18. Billy Woods - Golliwog
19. Viagra Boys - Viagra Boys
20. Squid - Cowards
21. Deftones - Private Music
22. Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creature
23. Hayley Williams - Ego Death At A Bachelor Party
24. Ethel Cain - Willoughby Taylor I'll Always Love You
25. Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
26. The Last Dinner Party - Frim The Pyre
27. Perfume Genius - Glory
28. Turnstyle - Never Enough
29. Japanese Breakfast - For Melancholy Brunettes
30. Tyler The Creator - Don't Tap The Glass
31. Maruja - Pain To Power
32. Jason Isbell - Foxes In The Snow
33. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
34. Horsegirl - Phonetics On And On
35. Oklou - Choke Enough 
36. Clippimg - Dead Channel Sky
37.  Swans - Birthing
38. Bad Bunny - Dead Tirar Mas Fotos
39. CMAT - Euro-Country
40. Wolf Alice - The Clearing
41. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo 2
42. Model / Actriz - Pirouette
43. Suede - Antidepressants
44. Lorde - Virgin
45. The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow
46. Tame Impala - Deadbeat
47. Mogwai - The Bad Fire
48. Anna Von Hauswolff - Iconoclasts
49. Natalia Lafourcade-  Cancionera
50. Pink Pantheress - Fancy That

Song(s) of the Day # 4,259 Cara Lis Coverdale

 

                               Music that floats. Suspended motion. Five movements. Peace

Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,489 Supergrass - I Should Coco

 

A record that actually feels like a long, long time ago. I suppose it is almost 30 years. I Should Coco was actually something if a misnomer. Steve Spielberg apparently contacted them because he fancied making a TV series about them. Help ! The Monkees. The Jackson Five. Their commercial potential seemed incredible, Actually as it unwrapped their destiny was rather more Traffic than T. Rex. They were and remain a quite stupendous band. This feels like one of the youngest Tock & Rill recirds ever made. 

It Starts With a Birthstone 200 Albums For 2025 # 4 Horsegirl - Phonetics On & On

 

Horsegirl ! Looking through the release schedule on Friday morning to fimd something that takes my fancy. There is Phonetics On & On the second album from the young Chicago marvels. Something to fasten myself onto as I transition towards Friday's lessons. Produced by Cate Le Bon. What more could anyone want.

The record  has a big 2 on the front cover. It immediately rattles along the tracks with a jagged immediacy and carefree spark that motors us onwards from 2022's Versions of Modern Performance, They're an inspiring band and this is a joyful experience to immerse yourself in. Start to finish.

If you watch the band's recent What's In Your Bag appearance it tells you all you need to know about Horsegirl. They're great listeners. Enthusiasts and here innovators. I'll be seeing them a few months down the line in Glasgow on my way to Denmark. Excellent stuff !

Mojo Magazine - Album of the Year 2025

 

Ooh Pulp and Suede again. Is it 1995 again. I didn't care for either album very much. 

1. Pulp - More
2. Suede - Antidepressants
3. CMAT - Euro Country
4. Big Thief - Double Infinity
5. Annie & The Caldwells - Can't Lose My Soul
6. Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
7. Robert Forster - Strawberries
8. The Tubs - Cotton Crown
9. Adrian Sherwood - The Collapse of Everything
10. Wet Leg - Moisturizer
11. Paul Weller - Find El Dorado
12. Alan Sparhawk With Trampled By Turtles - Alan Sparhawk With Trampled By Turtles
13. Little Simz - Lotus
14. Richard Dawson - End of the Middle
15. Mavis Staples - Sad & Beautiful World
16. Robert Plant wuth Suzi Dian - Savin Grace
17. Jeff Tweedy - Twighlight Decade
18. Emma- Jean Thackray - Weirdo
19. Mark Pritchard -Thom Yorke - Tall Tales
20. Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak
21. Baxter Dury - Albarone 
22. Eddy Chacon - Lay Low
23. Midlake - A Bridge Too Far
24. Mogwai - The Bad Fire
25. Van Morrison - Remembering Now
26. Horsegirl - Phonetics On And On
27. David Byrne - Who is the Sjy
28. Cate Le Bon - Muchelangelo Dying
29. Jacob Alon - In Liberence
30. Saint Etienne - International
31. Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking
32. Geese - Getting Killed
33. Jacob Isbell - Foxes In The Snow
34. Bon Iver - Sabe, Sable
35. Bonnie Prince Billy -The Purple Bird
36. Emma Pollock - Begging The Night To Take Hold
37. Natural Information Siciety & Nitchin Bajas - Totality
38. Loaded Honey - Love Made Trees
39. Jonathan Richman - Only Frozen Sky Antway
40. Panda Bear- Sinister Grift
41. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
42. Steven Wilson - The Overview
43. BC Camplight - A Sober Conversation
44. SvenWynder - Daybreak
45. Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
46. Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal
47. Greentea  Peng - Tell Dem It's Sunny
48. The Lemonheads - Love Chant
49. Salif Keita - So Kono
50. Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman

500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's -# 301 Blue States - Nothing Changes Under The Sun

 

Undemanding soundtrack stuff.

.

Song(s) of the Day # 4,258 Silvana Estrada

 

Si many great Spanish records . This is the Hispanic year of voyage and discovery on It Starts With a Birthstone it seems. Here's another to add to the tottering pile of Albums you really need to listen to..

Vendran Suaves Llivias from Silvana Estrada. An immensly talented Mexican singer songwriter. Orchestral, impassioned and romantic by turns. Estrada is a Mexican singer songwriter with a dramatic past. Her closest friend was murdered, which clearly informs the record  this album, which brims with passion and brio,

Taking its title from American poet Sara Teasdale's 'Then Will Come Soft Rains this is suffused with melody and deft, captivating wit,

Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,490 Doves - Lost Souls

 

I was in Sicily when this album came out. I bought the CD and played it a lot and it spoke to me . It resonated. It talked about coming out of darkness into the light. Ir cast a ling shadow. 

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Uncut Magazine - Albums of the Year

 

Tome for the annual contdowns with Uncut Magazine which is not so dissimilar from mine in tone. 19 are somewhere on mine.

1. Pulp - More
2. Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
3. Suede - Antidepressants
4. Wednesday - Bleeds
5. Richard Dawson - End of the Middle
6. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul
7. Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak
8. Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override
9. Robert Plant with Suzi Dian - Saving Grace
10. Bon Iver - Salbe, Sable
11. Little Simz - Lotus
12. SG Goodman - Painting By the Signs
13. William Tyler - Time Infinite
14. Caroline - Caroline 2
15. Modern Nature - The Heat Warps
16. Alan Sparhawk With Trampled By Turtles - Alan Sparhawk With Trampled By Turtles
17. Big Thief - Double Infinity
18. Robert Forster - Strawberries
19. Baxter Dury - Albarone
20. Jacob Isbell - Foxes In The Snow
21. Perfume Genius - Glory
22. Tortoise - Touch
23. James Holden & Waclaw Zimpel - The Universe Will Take Care of You
24. Emma Jean Thackray - Weirdo
25. Horsegirl - Phonetics On And On
26. Chris Eckman - The Land We Knew The Best
27. Paul Weller - Finding El Dorado
28. Saint Etienne - International 
29. Geese - Getting Killed
30. Bitchin Bajas - Inland See
31. Paterson Hood - Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams
32. The Weather Station - Humanhoods
33. Dean Wareham - That's The Price Of Loving Me
34. Van Morrison - Remembering Now
35. Matt Berninger - Get Sunk
36. These New Puritans - Crooked Wing
37. Eiko Ishibashi - Antigone
38. The Delines - Mr Luck & Mrs Doom
39. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin  Robinson - - What dud The Blackbird Say To The Crow
40. The Tubs - Cotton Crown
41. Joan Shelley - Real Warmth
42. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Purple Bird
43. Margo Price - Hard Headed
44. Annie & The Caldwells-  Don't Lose My (Soul)
45. The Waterboys - Life, Death & Dennis Hopper
46. Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying
47. Edwyn Collins - Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation
48. Kassi Valazza - From Newman Street
49. Blood Orange - Essex Honey
50. Wet Leg - Mousturizer