Category Archives: Music

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Unkle at Royal Festival Hall

19 Friday Apr 2019

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An Unkle performance is always going to be a little unusual given James Lavelle is very eclectic crossing many genres such as the groundbreaking Psyence Fiction album.

The first half of the performance was very much DJ lead by James at a desk and decks, live drums, keyboard/guitarist and Cello. This instrumentation alone really shows the diversity of the musical styling.

No live locals, as a result, the staging certainly didn’t have a central focus, everyone was with their instruments. Even Moby who crosses genres, as a live artist is in front of the other musicians or moving around the stage when not using a singer. Like any rock concert, the performance ebbed and flowed with raising and lowering of the tempo. With the slower pieces being the more cinematic pieces like Heaven.

Unlike a conventional performance the lighting didn’t pick out any of the performers, and like a club made more use of strobing light effects, but in contrast, a lot of videos were used as well including the amazing Spike Jonze directed skateboarders for Heaven.

Part 2 …

An intermission or perhaps a very long encore? Not what you’d expect halfway through a performance of this nature. But the change gave emphasis to the use of 5 different vocalists.

This changed the dynamic but also gave the second half a bit of a stuttering feel as the different singers can on stage and left.

Added to the fact that the delivery of performances originally by the likes of Ian Brown and Richard Ashcroft had the timbre of a female voice. But things got going and then just built to a thumping finale.

Interestingly even with the use of live vocalists, they weren’t lit up.

All said and done, Unkle doesn’t perform live very often and it’s great hearing the music performed live. I would love to have caught James Lavelle working with the Orchestra as he did with the Heritage Orchestra.

More photos here.

Blue Notebooks

19 Sunday Aug 2018

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Whilst Sonos might be great for convenience, and Spotify for freedom and trying music out you still can’t beat well produced physical media (those round silver or black things) on some separates HiFi. I don’t have an extravagant setup, but what I can do with Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks Anniversary Edition makes the hairs on your arms standup.

Take On The Nature Of Daylight and the violins float over the Cellos and eventually resolve together. It sounds so elegiac and so sad it can take you to tears. Then Iconography sounds almost other worldly with a base notes so deep that you physically feel as much as hear them.

The piano of Vladimir’s Blues each note is distinct and you can hear the decay of each and every note, so very blue.

Old Song comes on incredibly cinematic, as if you are sat listening to someone in another room playing the piano with your window open. You hear ambient background of a plane flying past and a train in the distance, a wood pigeon in the garden cooing.

The Trees brings together strings and piano, a wonderfully written and performed piece as the melody seems to move between the different instruments he other parts take terms to propel the music along or provide notes emphasising the melody. As the piece progresses the momentum gains and the the dynamic range expands with greater deeper notes and the experience becomes ever more physical as an experience.

The album closes with Written In The Sky, which whilst still in a minor key, seems to evoke a small sense of hope. When it comes to an end, you sit wanting more, but routed to your seat not wanting to move away from centre of an amazing performance.

If you go to a proper separates HiFi shop, which has listening rooms to try out audio setups, I think this would apart from the musical beauty would help show you see if the kit being tried magic of the kit being tried.

Podding the Tunes

18 Wednesday Jul 2018

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I track a lot of podcasts because I find they can be a great way to catch up on news and ideas or listen to interesting discussions. This is great when travelling (if you can block out the ambient noise with some good earphones) when sitting and working isn’t so easy (standing on a commuter train for example).

My podcasts come in a couple of categories: tech-related, business / thought leadership – think Freakonomics, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, Harvard Business Review, BBC Radio 4 documentaries, and so on, and then music. The music podcasts are great fun because you can relate to what is being said in so many ways, the insight into the music you love, discovery of artists you’d not heard or considered, and a reminder of a song or album you’d not listened to for a while and get that jolt of ‘oh, yes I remember how wonderful that song is’ and you you end up roaming through (your) music from a different perspective.

I thought this would be worth sharing. Some of these are well known to any music fan, others less obvious …

  • Sound of Cinema – one of a couple of BBC programmes about music for film, this is the more ‘high brow’
  • Soundtracking with Edith Bowman – BBC Radio presenter and more, interview-based and more influenced by the film promo circuit
  • Classic Album Sundays – Primarily recordings of the introductions to Classic Album Sunday events, where an album is introduced. The ones I’ve heard are well researched and provide some interesting insights. Worth listening to then, playing the album afterwards
  • Life of a Song – A Financial Times podcast (yes FT does cover the arts). The presentation comes across as an attempt to be rather academic and high-brow (which, for me, can irritate), but the content can be pretty interesting. These are relatively short podcasts.
  • Mastertapes – An intermittent podcast, but really good. This takes the musician and really gets into the details of an album, the context in which it was recorded, as a conversation. ~You could think of this as Radio version of the Classic Albums programmes.
  • Radio 4 on Music – A grouping for documentaries that Radio 4 makes available. As a result, the subject matter can be very diverse. But as you would expect from the BBC, production quality is very high and typically well researched.
  • Sound Opinions – A couple of well known music journals chat about news of the day, maybe recent releases and then a segment of the show focusing on a theme, such as the top 50 albums of the year.
  • Deezer Trailblazers – Interview with people who have had a strong influence on the dance music scene, from the founder of Mute, Daniel Miller, to Gary Numan.  If you know about the artist already, you’re not going to get nuggets of gold in terms of new insights, but the love of music and references to songs will get you spinning off into your collection at interesting tangents. The podcasts made available so far, I think, were first recorded about 2 years ago.
  • Cover Stories – this podcast is relatively short and kind of takes its idea from a 7″ single (remember the vinyl 45?). Two halves: a chat about a song and its various cover versions. There is a cleverness in the simplicity of this podcast as this feels like you’re sat hanging out with friends chatting about a song.
  • Twenty Thousand Hertz – Not so much music in the conventional sense,  more about sound. The two parts of the THX Deep Note is fascinating (yes, film again, but it is an iconic sound)

In addition to these, some artists, such as Counting Crows, have their own podcasts. Perhaps another story for another day.

Passion of Music

27 Wednesday Dec 2017

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We dream of a collection like this

With Christmas we get some time off with the family and slowdown abit. Even indulge in things less technical. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on the subject of music. I’ve been meaning to share the following TEDx presentation. I wish I could say that it reflects my personal manifesto…

Sadly very few people manage to devote the time and make and adequate living to keep a family to pursue this level of commitment. But we can wish, and take the suggestion to exploiting the ‘diggers’ recommendations. Want to know more, checkout ….

Music on the move

15 Friday Jan 2016

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It has been a while since I have written about music or gadgets, so I thought I would hit both in one go.   So I have a trusty 64GB iPod classic for a fair few years, and loved it, the ability to take a sensible chunk of my music with me – what’s not to like? Although of recent, I’ve not used it as much as the iPod does feel somewhat bulky, I don’t have a handy charger these days as my other devices are all using lightning or micro USB connectors.

So time for an update. Should I go forward with just my iPhone which tends to get changed regularly and pay a hefty premium for a decent chunk of storage every time we upgrade (currently £80 extra to go from 16 to 64GB)? We’d be down to 1 device, but will the battery on the phone have enough juice to cover both the calls I make as well as play music when I’m commuting on the train? Then there is the problem of  iTunes. I love that I can load my iPod without iTunes, but as I have never found an alternate app for loading music.  What is wrong with iTunes – well you try getting it to handle the MP3s from my massive CD collection. Perhaps I should consider an iPod Touch which costs less than 1/2 the price for extra storage and benefit from separating the battery charge question, although I don’t escape iTunes.

Well, I think I have found a good alternate solution, with a cool gadget called a Leef iAccess – it takes a micro SD card and plugs into the Lightning socket. When combined with the leef app, can play music or videos etc straight from the device. So we get one device to carry – my phone; music capacity isn’t a challenge with 64GB storage costing very little in micro SD card terms, and if that isn’t enough then just swap cards. No premium on phone upgrades, no iTunes to load the micro SD card with music. As to the question of power consumption, I think the Leef consumes a bit more power than using phone storage. But can probably be overcome with a power pack case that provides pass through on the Lightening connector – although I’ve yet to prove this.  The iAccess is shaped to support the idea, as it doesn’t to hug the phone’s casing shape wise – so cases aren’t an issue (unlike some of the camera gadgets).

I should warn there is one little trip up to be aware of.  Once the SD card has been accessed by the phone it changes the exFAT some how – presumably so that once it has indexed you music it can create a file and can detect if things change.  As a result when you plug back into your PC, you can’t just drag files back across.  But if you let Windows fix the file system first, then everything is sorted and adding more to the storage is no different to another SD storage.

Faithless live

22 Sunday Nov 2015

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 Faithless performed at Alexandria Palace last night in support of their new remix compilation album.  


When they performed the big hits the place was pulsing, but in the chilled numbers the audience seemed to lose attention – shame really as it took the edge off a good performance.

  
More photos available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mp3monster/sets/72157660900174080

Tori Amos – Unrepentant Geraldines

27 Tuesday May 2014

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So, after twenty years, Tori Amos has, in many respects, come full circle, returning to the musical style of Little Earthquakes with her latest album, Unrepentant Geraldines. It isn’t a complete return, as in life, a forty-something can, at best, mimic themselves as a twenty-something. After twenty years, you’re going to be a bit more worldly-wise or world-weary. Parenthood changes your perspective in a manner that can’t be undone.

So, does this relate to Unrepentant Geraldines? Well, it reflects the piano lead style of Little Earthquakes with subtle other instrumentation to help and texture. But the similarities end there (although on initial listens, it is those likenesses that really hit). The point I was making really applies to the lyrical differences. The very direct, perhaps even brutal lyrics of Me And A Gun:

These things go through you head
When there’s a man on your back
And you’re pushed flat on your stomach

or Silent All These Years

So you found a girl
Who thinks really deep thougts
What’s so amazing about really deep thoughts
Boy you best pray that I bleed real soon

They are more subtle in delivery and less direct as they are wrapped in the storytelling of Tori’s characters—perhaps a reflection of confidence and a matured skill as a songwriter, not to mention possibly a more nuanced worldview.

So, after some adventures into more classical arrangements (Gold Dust), we have an album with an end result that is musically brilliant and will be much loved by Tori’s original fan base. The lyrics will undoubtedly reaffirm her relationship with those fans as well. It is a recommended album.

 

 

Spotting an audiophile with 1 question

26 Wednesday Feb 2014

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I recently changed my car, and in the process of sorting all the various things out (removing CDs etc from my previous car) lead me to a thinking about a question I have seen often mentioned in music blogs, biographies and other books.  That simple question ‘When you get a new bit of audio kit, do you have a specific album that’s at be played first?’  That audio kit could be simply a car stereo or iPod through to some audiophile exotica (go look at marvels such as http://www.michell-engineering.co.uk/turntables/gyrodec/ or http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Speakers/Home_Audio/Nautilus/Overview.html and these are still relatively tame).

By know you’re either reading this going – what planet are you on, or mug you can’t tell the difference between £100 and £1000 piece of stereo, or perhaps a knowing response of  yes it’s xyz album.  If you’re response is the later, then you’re probably at least a self confessed audiophile.  So, you have the question, and I’m sure if you ask it unless you’re a known audiophile basher (middle response above) you’ll probably get the appropriate response every time.

The fascinating thing is that the album concerned doesn’t necessarily reflect a persons’ taste; it might even be a recording that particularly exercises a HiFi in a manner that shows off its strengths or reveal audio weaknesses (every audiophile will have a few albums they like to use to test a bit of kit with) but most likely something like the first album played on the first bit of proper HiFi.  So for me, it is a rather uncool Mike Oldfield QEII.  It was one of the first CDs I purchased and played on my 1st vaguely ok HiFi.  I still love the album for the swooping guitar work, diverse musical styling. But I’d not suggest it is reflective of my musical taste which which is very wide, but with a strong deference to Alt Rock/Americana these days.

Before I risk getting flamed out by audiophiles about associating CD with quality – yes I do have vinyl and a well respected turntable.  For those at the other end, I’m not audiophile zealot – I do have an iPod  (a 80GB classic as it happens which is perpetually full) & the name MP3Monster is not without reason.  Right playback for the right conditions  – MP3 on the move, CD for day to day and those rare quiet moments just occasionally the vinyl gets out. But always music.

Ed Harcourt – Time Of Dust

09 Thursday Jan 2014

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So we’re not even 2 weeks into 2014 and its time to get excited about a new album release. Ed’s latest is more of a mini album available now as a download and physical media at the end of month.

Unlike the more acoustic work of late, this release takes the piano lead performance to but leverages rich orchestral and synth layers giving a more of widescreen drama.

The widescreen drama coupled with some really amazing lyrics from the horrors of war (Parliament of Rooks) “we were only doing what the captain said, we all went down with the ship” to the safest of love songs “love is like a minor key, a jaded weeping willow tree, it hooks its claws until blood is drawn“.

Finally a bonus of Kathryn Williams on backing vocals you really can’t go wrong with your £3.49 on iTunes or £8 on Amazon for the CD and immediate auto rip download.

Ed, we want more….. Play it again Sam

Ed’s site – http://edharcourt.com/

Vinyl Junkies – Adventures In Record Collecting A Review

09 Thursday Jan 2014

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So I’ve been luxuriating in reading some books more for the pleasure of it (rather than technical stuff to help authors or the day job).  This book is about, record collectors, the act of record collecting and the general love for music both mainstream, obscure and just down right freaky. For the music fan this is Mills & Boon reading.  For those related or taken on the challenge of a partner who is a record collector an insight into the mind of your loved one.

The books tries to explain the passion of collecting from many different perspectives, through the eyes of collectors (some famous – like Peter Buck (of REM fame), Robert Crumb (cartoonist) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), others not so famous but equally obsessed. From a psychologist point of view – clinical (relationship to low sertraline) to psychotherapy.  As a result we get discussions about the sensuality of vinyl and wonderful quotes like “CDs are like sex with a condom”.

We explore the kinds of collecting that go on – from types of records – old pre-war 78s, 1st issues of records, special prints like shaped coloured vinyl, those quickly taken out of circulation through to records that just seem to be rare and then the plain odd like albums commissioned by Listerine (the mouthwash) advocating the product’s wonders to people thinking they’re going to make it big putting out just tuneless oddities, to the child like contributions like Sammy Squirrel Teaches the Multiplication Tables (Which apparently has a publisher’s address on the cover of The Metaphysical Motivational institute, Drawer 400, Ruidoso, NM) and psychotic wonders such  as “Sit on My Face, Stevie Nicks” by the Rotters and Naughty Rock ‘n’ Roll by the P-Verts or maybe various artists on the Sugar Tits Label.

As the book progresses we get a chance to be taken on an exploration of the validity of the portrayal of collector/obsessive music fan portrayed in Nick Hornby’s book High Fidelity by the character Rob Gordon (portrayed by John Cusack in Stephen Frears‘ cinematic adaptation);  music collectors are geeky single men that can’t sustain a relationship etc.

The book is however 10 years old – and sadly doesn’t reflect how the rise in Mp3s has impacted.  As everything get ripped and becomes for ever available (legally or illegally) on the web, what is happening to the passion of the hunt for the mysterious, weird and rare?  Who knows, but its fun hearing the stories.

Vinyl Junkies