Log #13 - A Calexico Retrospective and a Nod to a Brilliant Music Discovery App

Tucson Roots and Americana band Calexico come out of the blue to dominate this week's listening (and a plug for the brilliant gnod music discovery website). An unplanned £1 charity shop purchase of the cover album (Garden Ruin) encouraged a retrospective taking in the celebrated Black Light, Feast of Wire, and Hot Rail albums. Garden Ruin is more mainstream than these earlier albums, sounding ...

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Log #12 - New Treasure Uncovered

Several times in my music listening life I've heard something for the first time which sounded like nothing else I had ever heard before. This happened with Can, Neil Young, David Sylvian, Stereolab, and Boards of Canada. I also remember getting a lift back from the North of England in a friend's car one evening and once again hearing something that sounded so different and original to my ears. ...

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Log #10 - A Steely Dan of Sonic Perfection

I remember reading once that the cover album this week was, in its time (1977), celebrated for it's amazing sound quality to such a degree that it became the "go-to" record hi-fi equipment shops would use for demo purposes. I wonder how many hi-fi shop staffers were actually aware of this dictum - it was probably an urban myth rarely put into practice on the high street. Aja (named after ...

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Log #9 - Giant Jelly Celt Fusion

A beautiful stained glass window design graces this week's log. It comes from Dreadzone's acclaimed second album, appropriately named Second Light. Of course my recent obsession with the Afro Celts led me to revisit this album from a band who were one of the highlights for me at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival in 2009. They have a similar afro/celtic sound, albeit a bit more upbeat ...

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Log #8 - The Afro Celt's Latest Album Rises Elegantly Above Off Stage Troubles

Must admit I'm still loving the Afro Celts representing a real renaissance for music I've had available for some years but have rarely played. If you had told me at the start that they would be my most played band eight weeks into my musical journal I would have been very surprised. The new album The Source is superb revealing several new epics not fully appreciated on first play. I've had it ...

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Log #7 - From Joy to Sadness

Lots more Afro Celt Sound System this week and a return of an old favourite remembered in the wake of Leonard Cohen's passing - John Cale, exVelvet Underground and responsible for one of the best cover versions of Cohen's Hallelujah. Was it the one used in the film Shrek? I'm not sure - the internet is divided on the subject. The cover album is from little known Japanese electronica artist Susumo ...

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Log #6 - More Than One Way to Play a Guitar

Not a classic week this week, with only one album keeping it's spot this weekend; Efterklang's Piramida. The sumptuous Efterklang have just released a new album actually (Leaves) which has been described as some sort of interactive opera which they will be performing at the Barbican, London, early next year. I've heard a couple of tracks and am wondering, although it is admirable they ...

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Log #5 - The Handsome Family - Tales of Birds and Snow

An international flavour here with Americana pioneers The Handsome Family and Euro Symphonic Pop from German/Danish band, the classy Efterklang. The African continent is represented by Baka Beyond. 1. Efterklang - Piramida, 2. The Handsome Family - Through the Trees, 3. India Arie - Song Versation, 4. Baka Beyond - Ete, 5. DJ Vadim - USSR Repertoire, 6. Jill Scott - Who is Jill Scott? A ...

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Log #4 - The Whitest Boy Alive - Odd Name / Tight Band

A couple of new entries in the magazine this week. Firstly my new Whitest Boy Alive CD arrived and it's a corker - extremely catchy pop tunes with the funkiest bass lines and the sharpest of beats. A super little band now sadly defunct after only two albums but who live on in part through The Kings of Convenience (who are apparently recording a new album). I've played this album over and over this ...

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Log #3 - Who's That Girl?

A few new entries in the box this week. First a word on a great young band I saw in Brighton last night. Sam Jordan and the Dead Buoys (nautical spelling deliberate after a clash with a US band of the same name). I told them afterwards they sounded like Bear's Den which they took as a compliment, hence the new entry in the player. Both bands specialise in beautiful sensitive acoustic ...

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Log #2 - Bob Marley Lights Up and Catches Fire

I've been playing quite alot of reggae and reggae/dub recently. This culminated in seeing the reggae covers band Easy Star All Stars a couple of weeks ago - a band that plays covers of Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Beatles and Radiohead - check out their cover of Paranoid Android for something completely different. The Trojan set contains a wealth of music I'm not familiar with like The Upsetters, ...

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Log #1 - Bret Anderson is Alive and Well (and He Knows It)

Not one for mp3s and digital downloads I've always preferred my music physical and tangible. Not only for the feel and look but also I feel the art form of an album presents a sum greater than its parts. Would we have had a "Sgt. Pepper's" or "Astral Weeks" without the concept of an album? But I can see the advantages of having an endless stream of music. Several years ago when my CD player expired ...

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