Monthly Archives: May 2012

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Earworms – 14th May

La Oreja de Van Gogh – Mil Rosas
They could win an award for the daftest band name ever (Van Gogh’s Ear) but they have also put together some of the catchiest and well structured pop tunes of the last decade. This slow one is really just about being in love and how nice it is to get roses from your lover. I love Amaya Montero’s voice on this track. She has since left the group and it’s not the same.
Mrs Maki

Nish – Jwel
I’ve had this lovely slice of European electronica on 7 for about ten years, but it still manages to startle me every time I put it on.
Panthersan

Daylight
Here’s a track that came out at the fag-end of last summer but makes me feel as though spring has finally sprung here in the North.
Oh, and don’t let a recommendation from The Guide put you off to what is a great album.
AlBahooky

Jimmy McGriff – D.B. Blues (Part I)
Jimmy McGriff – D.B. Blues (Part II)
The standard bearer for blues-jazz on the Hammond organ in the 60′s and 70′s, McGriff takes us on a funky, 11-minute daydream through soul, jazz and blues that will transform how you think about genres and the Hammond.
Tincanman

The Rugbys – Wendenghal The Warlock
If it’s on a Shelby Singleton label, it’s always worth a look and a listen.  The Rugbys were a group out of Louisville, Kentucky who had a national hit with “You, I” in 1969 – a decent, if slightly dated garage psyche tune.  The followup was like nothing else, and actually got some airplay.  A bizarre stab at British “Dungeons & Dragons” prog rock (Sabbath, Zep, Heep) with a distinctive organ line.  If nothing else, it’s a Southern-fried Spinal Tap.
SweetHomeAlabama

Only five selections this week, because that Jimmy McGriff is a bit long.

Please send your wonderful earworms, along with their blurbs, to earworm@tincanland.com – and remember that multiple submissions are both permitted and, indeed, very welcome.  Thank you!

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New Best Coast

Here is the new single from ‘Spill favourites of 2010 (and of course ex-Pocahaunted member) Best Coast.

The whole album, ‘The Only Place’ is streaming on NPR here too.

The initial reviews look good and it definitely sounds like a step forward to me too. It takes the girl-group Cali-pop stonerisms of the first album and adds a bit more production and lyrical depth. The summer starts here!

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Riff Raff and RR.


1 Surfin’ USM Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine
2 Untitled Modest Mouse
3 U-Mass Pixies
4 Feel The Pain Dinosaur Jr.
5 This Charming Man The Smiths
6 Slow My Bloody Valentine
Continue reading →

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Result !

The results are in for last week’s “Battle of the sexes”.
Unfortunately there seems to have been some kind of error. Sakura won by 16 votes to 9 !
I’m not sure how this happened, I suspect vote rigging, possibly postal voting fraud or multiple clicking.
I am at a loss as to how people chose to vote for a charming, lovely , friendly and funny young lady over a fat, flatulent and grumpy old man !
It’s a travesty !

Thanks to all who voted anyway. I’ll leave office gracefully, like Ken and with a song….

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Zalamanda Goes For A Walk

For those of you (maybe it was only me!) who may not have noticed that Zalamanda has a blog and has been posting updates on how she has been tramping all over the place in preparation fora 20k walk on Saturday at Goodwood in Sussex.  Not only will she be getting fresh air and exercise, she will be fundraising for Parkinson’s UK.

If you wish to sponser her (no pressure, obviously!), you may donate here. It’s not too late to sign up if you want to join her. You can check it out here.

If at all possible, I’m going to go and cheer her on, and I’m definitely up for it next year.

I don’t know if she can dance, but this seemed like a good tune.  Best of luck, Zalamanda.

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The Wigan Woodstock

From the Bolton Evening News, May 8th, 1972:

THE sponsors of the Bickershaw Pop Festival were today counting the cost of the big flop. They spent thousands of pounds promoting the three-day festival which ended in the early hours of today. One of the sponsors, market trader Mr Harry ‘The Count’ Bilkus [real name Harry Cohen] commented at his home just over the road from the festival site: ‘It’s a total disaster. I have lost everything. I don’t know what to do.’ Just 40,000 fans turned up to the festival, braving ankle deep mud during rain storms – only one third of the number which organisers had hoped for. In all, it could mean a £60,000 loss.

…which is well over half a million pounds in today’s prices. Musically, however, it was anything but a flop. And a ‘bloomin’ catastrophe’ on the tower was avoided…

Click Here for more details (in an unashamed attempt to remind you of my on-going trip).

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Yum!

Quantic Soul Orchestra – Raw Ingredients
Immortal Technique – Beef & Broccolli
Gary Clail & The On-U Sound System – Beef [The Future Mix]
Dub Syndicate – Ital Breakfast
Toddla T & Mr. Versatile – Rice & Peas
DJ Food – Mr Quicke Cuts The Cheese
Buck 65 – Country Cooking
Beatfanatic – Cookin’ [Version]
DJ Yoda & Biz Markie – Breakfast Cereal

Associates – Breakfast
Cherrystones – Pressure Cooker
System Of A Down – Chop Suey!
Slab! – People Pie
Moldy Peaches – Steak For Chicken
Ivor Cutler – Bicarbonate Of Chicken

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Earworms – 7th May

Mónica Naranjo – Empiezo A Recordarte
Mónica grew up in Figueres, where she met Salvador Dalí when she was a child. Her singing style is perhaps more suited to Mexican ballads than anything from her native Catalonia and indeed she was successful there before returning to Spain. This song to a lost love, believe it or not, is one of her more restrained, less melodramatic numbers. Note perfect live, she is a wonderful performer.
Mrs. Maki

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All The Roadrunning
Seemed like an odd partnership to me, but they’ve worked together quite a bit. This is a live version of the song, which Knopfler wrote – another one about the joys and perils of the itinerant musician, and it has a nice loping swing to it. Tingle-up-the-spine time.
Treefrogdemon

Bobby Hutcherson – Goin’ Down South
A jazz tune that is so evocative of how I imagine the American South to be; with the rhythm of Joe Sample’s gospel blues piano and the ‘fatback’ drums of Mickey Roker underpinning Bobby’s vibes whilst Harold Land’s sax gives it a slow sultry feel as if you’re on a slow rolling train with the white of the clapboards blazing in the heat of the afternoon sun … or maybe an overcast south London suburban sprawl as you amble into Clapham Junction!
AlBahooky

D L Menard – The Back Door
You’ve heard of a boy named Sue. This one was Doris, which is why he went by his initials. Happy song by “the cajun Hank Williams”.
SpottedRichard

Terry Linen – Call On a Friend
A voice so gorgeous he could make me a believer in Jah.
Amylee

Emeline Michel – Bel Kongo
From her 2004 album, Rasin Kreyol (which translates as “Creole Roots”),  Emeline delivers a gem combining traditional music with Haitian and Brazilian rhythms with a wonderful marriage of voice and a perfect orchestration. Bel Kongo is ‘beautiful Congo’.
GoneForeign

Please send earworm contributions to earworm@tincanland.com.  Thank you!

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Coming Of Age In Vienna

We’ve all seen a ‘coming of age’ film or ten. Some are good (e.g. The Last Picture Show) but most are fairly dire (I’m sure you can provide your own examples). They generally involve conflict, bad behaviour and parental lack-of-understanding that leads to catharsis, epiphany and ‘learning something’ (a process rigorously satirised every week by South Park). Just like real life isn’t.

I saw an Austrian film yesterday that fits perfectly into the category but has none of the clichés: Atmen (titled Breathing for English-speaking audiences). It’s about an 18-year-old boy in a Juvenile Detention Centre who is coming up to a parole hearing. He’s withdrawn and unco-operative and seems to have little expectation of success. His Probation Officer (I’m translating to the apparent UK equivalent role) is pushing him to get a job, as that will impress the review panel, and he lands a trainee position at the Vienna City Morgue, collecting and delivering corpses.

I urge you to see it, if you can. There are no car chases or gross-out comedy scenes, obviously, but neither is it a pretentious Arthouse movie. It is one of the most humane films I have ever seen. Despite our hero’s lack of expression, we can see him start to understand life (and death) and gradually gain some insight into why he is where he is.

This is the trailer, which gives away more of the plot than it should, perhaps. Trust me: just go and see the film.*

*No, I never trust anyone that says ‘Trust me’ either….

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Tunes Of The Month – April

M.Ward, Great Lake Swimmers, Maps & Atlases, Cowboy Junkies, Black Mountain, Moonface & Sinai, Unsane, Killing Joke, Pinkunoizu, Yann Tiersen, oOoOO & Butterclock, Chromatics, New Build, Mirroring, Bersarin Quartett.

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Phat Tinny says Get Down, Get Funky this summer

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The Village Voice’s Maura Johnston is one of those non-flashy music writers who lets her opinions do her talking, so when she says one of these 7 songs is destined to be THE summer anthem of 2012, listen up.

With titles like Let’s Go, Lemme See and Best Song Everrr, you can be sure they won’t overburden the intellect. But summer songs aren’t supposed to, are they?

Shall we pick our favorite? (Write-in candidates allowed)

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‘Spill Challenge, anyone?

Tuesday night and all that…

All of us have discovered some wonderful music both here and on the mothership. This week’s challenge couldn’t be simpler, or harder:

What’s your favourite RR/’Spill discovery?

This is probably one of those where it’s best to go with the first thing that comes to mind, so here’s mine… I can’t remember the topic, but I’m pretty sure GarethI recommended it, and ToffeeBoy immediately donded it. Their recommendation was enough for me to click on the link, listen, and fall in love:

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Bye For Now ! ! ! Ja Mata Ne ! ! !

I am going home for the month of May! ! !  So I will not be around for a while.  But I will be back in summer to bother you all again  some more ! ! !

My home Island is Miyakojima which is the largest Island in the Miyako Group of Islands  which is between Taiwan and Okinawa main Island.   It is really the most beautiful place in the world.  The coral reefs are fantastic for scuba diving and beaches are offcially recognised as the best in Japan (actually I think they are best in the world).  But of course for me, my family and friends are the biggest attraction ! ! !

Of course I know you will all miss my YUI nominations so I thought I would leave you one last one before I leave ! ! !

Feel My Soul was written by YUI as a homage to her home town and the people she had to leave behind  to follow her dreams and become a singer songwriter.

These days I seem to be playing it a lot ! ! !

So …Ja Mata Ne ! ! ! 

YUI Feel My Soul