Meanderings and musings...

So, reasons for delay in posting: holiday in Spain, wedding in Barnsley (stag do in Skegness), cricket, up and down to London... So there you go...

Go see Jelly at Shocking Blues and Mean Reds. She's a big fan of Vincent Gallo (we'll both be at the Gallo gig @ Koko on Wednesday), Cat Power and, especially, Audrey Hepburn. She publishes a fanzine of the same name which has her writing in it. Read all about her kooky goings-on in loveley Brighton. There's nothing like women...

Issue #2 has a great little article about mix-tapes. I can still remember the first one my brother, T, made for me. Dinosaur Jr, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nick Cave, Thelonious Monk, DJ Shadow, Curtis Mayfield, Gram Parsons, Robert Johnson. This tape was monumental in my learning. 'Nuff said... I think I read in the latest Wire that Thurston Moore has just released a book documenting the importance of mixtapes in the development of music in the 80s. I think Jim O'Rourke (as well as others) has added his favourite mixtape from his youth.

I got a Candi Staton compilation from T for my birthday. Whilst being reminiscent of Aretha Franklin (indeed, Staton rips off the backing girl parts of 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man' in 'Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man'), Staton's raspy yet velvety vocals reveal more pain and emotion than Franklin (not that that's a competition that sounds like it's worth winning). It reminded me of Billie Holiday as opposed to Ella Fitzgerald: both awesome but you can just get a little more out of the former, knowing the heartachingly rocky life she lived. Worth getting anyway and very cheap. I love the following line from 'Mr and Mrs Untrue', what an image:

I keep my shades on Johnny,
The hotel is kind of crowded tonight

Also bought the new Jamie Lidell album 'Multiply'. It's superb and you should reject any pre-conceived notions of a white person singing soul. Apart from being offensive and simply wrong, such critics would, I'm sure, fail to criticise a black person singing opera simply because black people have no history in that culture. He recorded it in Berlin and although one minute it can sound like the Four Tops (and I mean exactly like the Four Tops), the next minute it's as progressive as Squarepusher. Lidell has said that he didn't ever want to become part of the 'Space Race', which is a great term for those such as Aphex Twin, Autechre and the aforementioned Squarepusher who pursue the latest fucked-up sounds.

I have also been playing cricket for the work team. We play at Moseley Ashfield CC's III team pitch. It's a great ground, overlooked by the stunning Britannic Assurance appartments. Playing recently, I was fetching a ball from under a car when I heard a guy ask if I needed a hand. It was Heath Streak! He staying in one of the little maisonettes while playing for Warwickshire CC. We also played in Regent's Park recently, right by the zoo. You can see the BT Tower and just see the London Eye from the pitch. Anyway, we're doing well...

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