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It’s a Dog’s Life

Right. Lake Tahoe, one of the key songs on Kate Bush’s recent 50 Words for Snow album. Starts as a ghost story, warning people not to swim in the lake but only to look; they might see a woman in Victorian clothes, who clearly drowned when she was out looking for her dog Snowflake. Then we switch to the point of view of the dog, who’s old now and can’t move very well, but dreams of running along beaches and through fields and woods looking for her, and then dreams that he comes home and she’s waiting for him with a bone and a biscuit and lots of love.

This story has been bothering me to a ridiculous degree. Initially it seemed terribly sad; she’s dead, and the dog was left alone, missing her. Then I thought, yes, but what’s the alternative? She died searching for her pet, and actually Snowflake wasn’t that bothered and just got on with his life? That would be really sad. But then it occurred to me what an anthropocentric attitude that was: I would prefer that the dog lived out his life in sadness, rather than finding a new life with a new family that might love him just as much, just so that the death of an imaginary person wouldn’t be too pointless?

I don’t think Kate Bush hates dogs, but I suspect she may love them only insofar as they are sufficiently loyal and human-dependent. Of course, my view may be affected by the fact that I live with four cats who love me insofar as I am sufficiently loyal and cat-dependent, and produce ample supplies of chicken on demand.

It also occurs to me that it may all be a metaphor – for ‘dog’ read ‘husband’ – but that’s for another day.

Apropos of absolutely nothing. A happy play list. All flamenco (or almost) and all songs that are happy, upbeat and just fun. Enjoy. You might even try having a dance. Mrs Maki says it isn’t that hard!

Portlandia

I know I’m a little behind with this, but I am rather enjoying Portlandia at the moment. Carrie Brownstein is a genius! As well as making my #3 album of last year (Wild Flag), she also found time to write and star in this.

Can you indulge me, Spillers, by taking a detour from our very satisfying literary wanderings in iPod land for a moment?

The anniversary of the day the music died was earlier in the month (3rd February), but as Fuel noted on RR today, the music Buddy Holly made had a timeless quality. It would be interesting to  imagine where Buddy Holly’s musical interests might have developed, had he lived, and possibly to speculate whether he would have continued to make music, to produce it,  or whether he would have retired and opened a barbeque and beer joint.

What would he have on his iPod?

Your thoughts?

(PS This is especially for you TFD to cheer you up while you have your rotten cold)

I know it is interesting Mr P - But what does it mean ? ? ?

He Says:

Yes, it’s Hawaii time ! As you may have gathered I am a bit of a fan, having , in the mid 90s, spent more than is entirely sensible or sane on several trips to these lovely tropical islands. Today, children, we are going to concentrate on the music of this blessed ( and cursed a bit too) land. My thesis is that Hawaiians have played a bigger role in the development of our music than most people realise. Several elements that we regard as traditional American things acutally developed way out in the Pacific in the days when Hawaii was still an ( sort of ) independent state. Not least guitar based music, slide guitar, “Slack key” tuning and, by extension, electric guitars ( the first electrics were slide guitars).

So onwards we go , plunging forth like an experienced surfer into the (musical) waves ( doest that work as a metaphor ? I’m not sure it does…)

She Says:

I really do not know very much about Hawaiian Music but I had a lot of fun discovering things I wanted to share with everyone.  The variety of things going on in Hawaii was really surprising, and it I think the mix of US and Pacific and Asian influences with traditional influences also make this a very interesting place to visit on our travels.  It is going be a lot of fun ! ! ! Continue Reading »

Clockwork punks? A “street level Joy Division” ? The Oi! Banshees? A band that tried to stretch the boundaries a bit, the Violators emerged from the Clockwork Orange dystopia of …err… Chapel En Le Frith. Some, such as Garry Bushell, were predicting big things for them, which never happened. They came and went leaving a tiny handful of records, leaving you to wonder what they would have done if they’d got as far as doing an album back in 1982.They were possibly also the only punk band of the time to take their name from an article in The Guardian (“Urban Violations” being the headline)

Continue Reading »

We all love music – that is why we spend so much time on The Spill and RR, but sometimes it can really make you want to scream ! ! !

I want to find out what really makes you scream.  The J-Pop Idol group C-ute are maybe for me the most annoying group ever, on so many different levels but part of it is because their tracks are so catchy that however much I try once I hear one on the radio, then the stupid thing is stuck in my head all day.

This Happened to me today and made me think of this challenge. Continue Reading »

Earworms – 20th February

T-Bone Burnett – Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend (Monroe cover)
They say those who can’t, teach – which in music translates to those who can’t, produce. Not so the ubiquitous T-Bone Burnett, who has shone as a producer, writer and player. Perhaps this unlikely cover will show the scope of his creativity.
Tincanman

Everly Brothers – Baby What You Want Me To Do
Looking back (a long, long way) I’ve realised that, coming from a music-indifferent family as I did, this must have been the introduction of my junior self to the blues. It’s a Jimmy Reed song and it featured on the Everlys’ 1961 album A Date With The Everly Brothers. Bit different from the rest of the album, though.
Treefrogdemon

The Cardigans – Iron Man
Swedish knitwear tackles Ted Hughes via Ozzy Osborne. It seems that the twee popsters had a penchant for Black Sabbath; on their first album they turned Sabbath Bloody Sabbath into a sugary confection. Here, they do a much better job, with just the right amount of chilled vocoderiness.
Zalamanda

Dizzee Rascal – That’s Not My Name
The original by the Ting Tings was given an almost feminist aggressive slant in the way it was performed. Dizzee, known for his own somewhat ”in your face” presentation, gives this track a more lighthearted (and ‘Laddish’) slant, as well as making a point about the use of the ‘N’ word. It was recorded in 2008 as part of the Radio 1 ‘Live Lounge’ sessions.
Bluepeter

Franky Perez & Los Guardianes Del Bosque – Times They Are A’Changin’ (Espanol)
I first heard this in an episode of “Sons Of Anarchy” (my current fave TV show). I know nothing about Frankie Perez or Los Guardianes Del Bosque, except that they throw a whole new light on “Times They Are A Changing” by singing it in Spanish. Lovely.
RockingMitch

Garcia & Grisman – So What
Even jazz haters know this Miles tune. After a 20-year gap, Garcia and Grisman started playing together again in 1990 and, as you can hear, they really enjoyed each other’s musical company. It may be noodling, but it’s damn fine noodling.
Chris.

As ever, please send your lovely tunes and write-ups to earworm@tincanland.com.  Thank you!


1 Sleeping In The Postal Service
2 Don’t Leave Me Dying The Manhattan Love Suicides
3 I Spent The Night In The Wax Museum Peter Stampfel & Jeffrey Lewis
4 The Drinks We Drank Last Night Azure Ray
5 When I Grow Up Fever Ray
6 Parents Livingroom Shout Out Louds
7 Digital Love Daft Punk
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Pac Man section -
(avoid if you didn’t grow up munching pills in darkened rooms getting disorientated by repetitive bleeping music)


1 Last Night At The Jetty Panda Bear
2 Last Night (Afrojack Remix) Ian Carey
3 Up All Night (SBTRKT Remix) Alex Clare
4 What’s That Track? Valentine & Carter
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1 Nights Become Days Frank Turner
2 Midnight Blues (Album Version) Liz Green
3 Scrolling In Mind Images Of The Past Day Before Falling Asleep Aesthesys
4 (Oh What A) Night Before Christmas* Aidan John Moffat
* the latest (or earliest) inclusion of a Christmas song known to the ‘spill – but it’s genius – and so on topic – I had to include it.

bonus track for Fuel – and one I’ve been searching my mind for:


1 Panic In Room 109 The Jazz Butcher
2 It’s Getting Light Outside Clearlake

Way back in the 80s when I was a mere teenager just beginning to investigate The Clash’s back catalogue I remember seeing the name English Dogs painted on the back of a punk leather jacket and thinking it was the ideal name for a punk band. I didn’t get to hear them for around ten years (no youtube in those days) – could the music live up to the name? When I finally got to hear it, it turned out that their debut release the Mad Punx And English Dogs 12” was overall probably the best punk EP of the 80s(my opinion of course but I don’t think I’m alone). Even if they’ve never matched it in their confusing, tangled on-off history, this release got them their place in punk history.

Continue Reading »

Dory Previn 1925-2012

Just wanted to make sure people knew…

Guardian obituary

Nocturnes

Dub Syndicate – What Happened?
Electrafixion – Who’s Been Sleeping In My Head?
Butthole Surfers – Who Was In My Room Last Night? [Trent Reznor RMX]
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Thirsty Dog
Offspring – The Worst Hangover Ever
Serious Drinking – Hangover
Mekons – Amnesia

Clock DVA – 4 Hours
Nina Nastasia & Jim White – Late Night
Tindersticks – Raindrops [Live '03]
Malcolm Middleton & Alan Bisset – The Rebel On His Own Tonight
Low – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Mountain Goats – Your Belgian Things
Barzin – The Dream Song

So we're late . . . . . you got a problem with that?

It is all my fault.  The last few days I have been really disorganised and totally stressed out and unfocused and I have not prepare the post in time.

I think we will publish the Hawaii post at the weekend. Continue Reading »

Image

Dedicated to Bish & the Insomniacs, Wyngate & the New Parents and anyone else whose eyes are beginning to hurt through lack of sleep (mine’s down to child with lergy, 4 nights and counting) – the most mellow, soothing piece of music you can think of…NOW!

Please!

Back To No Future

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was planning to do a series of posts trawling through some of the lesser known punk bands from the dim and distant past, ie the early 80s. At least one person thought that sounded like a good idea, so I can now announce that the start of the series is imminent!

Continue Reading »

beauty and the yeast


1 Love Is A Dirty Word Jason Collett
2 “Would You …?” Touch & Go
3 Gettin’ Dirty BMX Bandits
4 I Wonder If You’re Drunk Enough To Sleep With Me Tonight Ballboy
5 Oh Men! Aidan Moffat & The Best-Ofs
6 Twist Goldfrapp

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1 Mating Dance Lazarus and the Plane Crash
2 Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On Leonard Cohen
3 Underwear The Magnetic Fields
4 You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk Pet Shop Boys
5 Diplomat Pony Club
6 Hard On Withered Hand
7 No Children The Mountain Goats

Valantine’s Massacre

House Of Love – I Don’t Know Why I Love You
F.S.K. – My Funny Valentine
Attila The Stockbroker – Valentine’s Day
Slits – Love And Romance
Mekons – Where Were You
Magazine – Cut-Out Shapes
Dub Syndicate – No Bed Of Roses
Wolfgang Press – Mother Valentine

Monochrome Set – Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
Mountain Goats – Love Love Love
Shriekback – Hand On My Heart
ACR – The Big E
Calvin Party – Words Of A Great Man
Hunters & Collectors – Throw Your Arms Around Me
Tindersticks – I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
Broken Family Band – Seven Sisters

Earworms – 13th February

The Mekons – Heart of Stone
In which the one-time punks tackle an early ‘Stones single. Low romance quotient, but chillingly effective, with female vocals to twist things about a bit.
Zalamanda

Agnes Obel – (I Keep a) Close Watch (John Cale cover)
It befuddles me why the usually adventurous John Cale performed (I Keep A) Close Watch like an Elton John ballad. Nothing wrong with Elton, but his ballads are all kind of the same. Now this, with the interplay of the Danish Obel’s piano and breathy voice fully realizes the majesty of what is, at heart, a beautiful composition.
tincanman

Nelly Furtado – My Love Grows Deeper
From the Whoa Nelly! Album. Nice little song with some unexpected influences from a pop diva, which as we know, is not the sum of our Nelly’s musical vocal talents.
SpottedRichard

Roddy Frame – Reason For Living
One I turn to when I need reminding that things aren’t always so bad… I just find this euphoric – and love that it’s actually sung in a register I can (just about) holler along with!
bishbosh

Julieta Venegas – Eres Para Mí
Singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas brings long drawn out Mexican phrasing and vowel sounds to more modern genres with remarkable success. Her lyrics mix poetic imagery with a hint of mischievousness – here she tells us “The wind has told me – you’re the one for me.”
Mrs Maki

Linda Lyndell -What A Man
Salt-N-Pepa sampled this & polished it into an irresistible hit in the 90s. When it was first released  in 1968, Linda Lydell received so many death threats from the KKK that she soon retired from the scene.  Damn shame, ’cause she really could growl (maybe that’s what scared those crackers). 
Fintan

If you have a suitably earwormy song you’d like to share, please send it, with a few lines describing it, to earworm@tincanland.com. The earworm guru likes a full inbox…

Hi Everyone ! ! !

We asked you to vote in our poll to decide where we went next in our little tour of Asian music.

The Result of our poll was Hawaii ! ! ! !

We will make a post and try and post it on Wednesday as usual.

This will be our last post in the He Said –  She Said series for a little while as we have some comitments coming soon which we need to prioritize, but we hope to be back with some more posts soon.

New Magnetic Fields!

Ooh, all my faves are popping back up this week! How much fun is this?! I can’t think of a more entertaining way to spend two minutes and 10 seconds…

Now with added (slightly saucy) video! Aw, doesn’t Stephin make a lovely lady?

Since this is a Thursday instead of the usual Tuesday, and inspired by Nilpie‘s embracement of Dr Seuss on RR, we turn for inspiration to a line from a children’s rhyme….

Thursday’s child has far to go

What was the first(ish) song to come to mind?

Saw this on twitter and thought it needed passing on to our guitarist Spillers. @WillKimbrough is quite a player and is sharing his knowledge with a Lick of the Day video series. (He’s on tour in the UK until Feb 16)

Are you really sure about our new image Mr P ? ? ?

She says:

Okinawa is a sub-tropical paradise with beautiful beaches, mountains and rainforests, wonderful weather and cheerful and generous people and a long and fascinating history.  But it is also the poorest prefecture in Japan and nearly 20% of the land is occupied by US military.  Many young people have to leave the islands for education or to develop their career.  These conflicting influences somehow all come together in our music, but more than anything the spirit of fun seems always to win in the end ! ! !  I think you will see this in the tracks we have chosen to share.

He says:

Up till a couple of years ago all I knew about Okinawa was where it is ( roughly) and the terrible battles in WWII. Then my daughter volunteered for us to host a Japanese student from the school which is associated with hers. The children come over every year and stay for a few days with local families ( they have to win a English language competition) . The girl who came to stay with us was a total delight and all of the children ( apart from one rather “gothy” girl) seemed to have the “spirit of fun” that Sakura refers to. Maybe it’s the weather, I’ve seen a similar joie de vivre in Hawaiian kids, maybe it’s just the way they are raised but I have to say that so far 100% of the Okinawans I have known have been absolutely lovely. The music’s not bad either.

Continue Reading »

Pat Orchard

Heads up for the next in the occasional series of interviews that me and my pal Sean are somehow allowed to present on London’s Art Radio, Resonance 104.4fm  The show  is  Johny (Band of) Brown and Inga (Holy Joy) Tillere’s regular Friday night slot,  ’Mining for Gold’;  Our shtick is, think of our favourite musicians, invite them along and get to spend a few hours up close and personal, late on a Friday night, with the added bonus of being able to share some live playing, choice back catalogue and incisive  questioning with you all, out there in ‘Radio Land’, or in  .  .  .   ‘Internet Land’   .  .  .    if you live outside the M25.

This week we’re amazed to have been able to tempt the extraordinary guitarist and songwriter Pat Orchard back to the Great Wen; Pat’s personally-penned-mini-bio below might make you think he’d had enough of the place, but reading between the lines, the move allowed new music to emerge and having listened to the demos and recordings that have trickled out  from deepest Devon, it’s clear these songs are ready for the wider world.

“Newborn. Africa. Child. Rebelled.
Exmouth. School. Fool. Expelled.
College. Knowledge. Work. Degree.
London. Eighties. Thatcher. Greed.
Homeless. Drifter. Dole. Broke.
Guitar. Busker. Dreamer. Hope.
Support. Headline. MTV.
Touted. Guest list. VIP.
No Deal – Big Deal. Life’s a Song.
My Voice. My Choice. Moving On.
Goodbye Smoke. Westward Bound.
Devon. Heaven. Ancient Ground.
Builder. Home. Catherine. Wife.
Fern. Dylan. Father. Life”

Here’s Pat at Glastonbury last year, a number of the the new songs are based on his experience of childhood in Africa: pretty sure we’ll hear an updated version of ‘The Singing Grass’  on Friday.

Continue Reading »

Charles Dickens’ iPod

Today, just in case you’re somehow unaware of it, is Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. So following on from Jane Austen’s iPod, what would Mr Dickens be listening to?

Here’s one to get us started:

Older Posts »

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