Log #202 - Lakes, Caves, and Rock, from Van Occupanther and Orpheus

 Midlake - The Trials Of Van OccupantherMidlake - The Courage Of OthersNucleus - Elastic RockKruder and Dorfmeister - Sessions CD1Nick Cave - The Lyre of OrpheusUlrich Schnauss - GoodbyeGoodbye was Ulrich Schnauss's third album released in 2007 to acclaim from NME who described the album as unleashing......great crashing waves of Cocteau Twins guitars, Slowdive atmospherics ...

Read More

Log #201 - Turn Back The Music

Starting off my next century with a right pot pourri of sounds here. We have watery ambience class from Loscil. Sea Island was the first album of his I heard. It hooked me to a greater extent than a lot of the other ambient albums I've been listening to over the last 20 weeks or so. Loscil - Sea IslandUlrich Schnauss - A Long Way To FallThe Decemberists - PicaresqueNick ...

Read More

Log #200 - Keep On Trekking For The People

It took 200 blog posts to reach REM. I think they were the sort of band that suffered a bit from over familiarity, like U2 or Coldplay. They were also, allegedly, quite middle of the road and mainstream, certainly in their mid to latter period. I don't know much about them to be fair but know they hit the mainstream big around the time of this album (their 8th released in 1992), and the predecessor ...

Read More

Log #174 - Uncovering A Psych-Folk Classic

Johnny Flynn A Larum Trees On The Shore Harmonia Tracks And Traces The Comet Is Coming Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery  Nick Cave Skeleton Tree Nick Cave Ghosteen I've enjoyed all these albums this week. Johnny Flynn's debut A Larum is brilliant - great songs delivered with a great voice. What differentiates this from the middle of the ...

Read More

Log #173 - Fireflies By Night - Rush With Nick Cave

It's not hard to remember why Rush were so exciting to a teenage boy - the music is so fast and tight, it's heavy yet progressive, with grand concepts, titles like By-Tor And The Snow Dog *, fabulous album covers, and a lead singer with the ultimate scream of the day. It was the thinking man's (or boy's) heavy metal. Fly By Night was the band's second album, and the first with the late ...

Read More

Nick Cave Goes All Reflective

For their 10th album – and follow-up to the cheery Murder Ballads – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds explored more redemptive qualities. Originally released in 1997, gone were the menacing, troubled tunes of yore; instead, here was a selection of graceful, minimal, melancholic numbers that saw Cave reflect on spirituality, loves past and present, and almost atoning for past indiscretions. These are ...

Read More

Log #65 - Richard Hawley's Dark and Brooding Masterpiece

One of the joys of writing this blog are the unexpected rediscoveries of artists in my collection. Playing his classic Coles Corner album a month ago led me to expand my Richard Hawley catalogue with two more purchases both featured at the top of my 6 cd changer this week.  ~ 1. Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge 2. Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter 3. Tim Buckley ...

Read More

Log #64 - A Brave and Exciting Departure

Regular fans of Richard Hawley, the easy listening crooner, should be wary of his Standing at the Sky's Edge album. However I expect this album of heavy psychedelic trippy rock (don't you just love that cover?) will have won Hawley many new fans and the less sensitive of his existing fans would have nevertheless grown appreciative of this temporary transformation, it being underpinned fundamentally ...

Read More

Log #63 - Happy, Sad, Silly

Two brand new 6cd blog virgins this week with new entries from Gong and Tim Buckley. We've doubled down on Nick Cave, Beck's consistent showing continues, and there's a welcome return for probably the greatest live band on Earth! ~ 1. Beck - Guero 2. The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers 3. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad 4. Gong - The Best Of 5. Nick Cave - The Lyre of Orpheus 6. Nick Cave ...

Read More

Log #62 - Two Very Different Crooners

First up this week we have Sheffield crooner Richard Hawley. Hawley was a member of 90s Britpop band The Long Pigs who I know absolutely nothing about. I think his greater claim to pre-solo fame may have been his subsequent stint in Pulp. For both bands he was on guitar duties. I wonder if his lovely baritone voice lay undiscovered until he branched out as a solo artist in 2001 with debut Late ...

Read More