Mix #14

It's time for a new playlist.... this one has taken a while to put together so I can't remember where half the songs have come from... as usual though, I have pilfered some from the artists I work with. 

Mix #14

Some new including Value Void, Madeline Kenney, Mattiel, True Blue, Squid, Black Belt Eagle Scout, FUR, Cornelia Murr, Ohtis and Adrianne Lenker.

Some less new including serpentwithfeet, Leon Vynehall, Robyn, The Goon Sax (what an absolute tune), Low, Fatima, Sharon Van Etten, Christine and the Queens and Noname.

Some old including Sun Ra, Genesis, The Sonics, The Jellies, Donny Hathaway, The New Dawn, Charles Aznavour, T. Rex and Modern Lovers (always).

Some Domino: Tirzah, SASAMI, Julia Holter, Anna Calvi ('Swimming Pool' was in my head for most of my holiday in Puglia), Bill Ryder-Jones, Richard Dawson (his End of the Road set was incredible), Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks (seen them twice in the last month), Protomartyr and Villagers. 

I watched the Grace Jones doc (tis good) & the Barbra Streisand A Star Is Born on Netflix (also good). 

Imogen Cunnigham

I saw David Byrne in Brighton this week, the live show was incredible, rightly been lauded as the best show since Stop Making Sense. So joyful, so engaging, democratic, was like a play and a fair few Talking Heads songs were played... Bury me to 'This Must Be The Place'. 

I visited Liverpool for the first time, the Metropoloitan Cathedral is specatular, so much stained glass in a 60s dream. I also went to Cornwall again, this time for Halloween but more on that next time. Might try and get there again before the year is out. 

Mix #13

This first song by Nino Ferrer is so bloody good. I hope you all agree. 

The rest of this playlist delves into a fair bit of older stuff: Erykah Badu, The Three Degrees, Neil Young, Parliament, Blind Willie Johnson, Nick Drake, a Devo interlude, Paul McCartney , Nick Cave (his Primavera set was incredible!), Section 25 (new to me), Nu Shooz.

Plus new Haley Bonar - though she's just going by HALEY now, Young Fathers (love seeing how far these guys have come & rightly so), Oneohtrix Point Never, Junglepussy, Beach House, Mitski, Janelle Monae, Christine & The Queens, The Goon Sax, Amyl & The Sniffers, LUMP. I might have to buy the Kadhja Bonet, Kamasi Washington and Kali Uchis albums - a lot of good stuff on there! 

Mix 13

Juno Calpyso

Other highlights from Primavera last month were Thundercat, James Holden & The Animal Spirits. We visited Casa Vicens - Gaudi's first house and after visiting Barcelona 6 times previously, I finally went inside Sagrada Familia - what a wonder. 

Earlier this month I also visited Mersea Island and lunched at The Company Shed. So much food, it's BYOB (B standing for bread and wine here).

I watched my first Agnes Varda film, Cleo from 5 to 7, part of the BFI's season. Get involved

Fire will attract more attention than any other call for help - Unarticulated thoughts

Gillian Anderson quoting Margaret Atwood: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” And more recently Courtney Barnett quoting that

The Guardian Q&A: What is your biggest fear?
My answer is, to me, very obvious. 
I think about it every time I walk home alone in the dark which is several nights a week. 

From The Black List (ref 1): Of the scripts they host, 2,400 were tagged “associated with rape.” That’s about 5% of their scripts. But of those scripts, 72% were penned by men. 

The screenplay dialogue for Frozen - a film about two sisters - is 57% male. That isn't a huge difference but remember what the film is about. In a sample of 2000 scripts, 1206 films had over 60-90% male dialogue, 307 films were over 90% male (ref 2).

A conversation with friends gets onto the film 'The Gift'. A male friend thinks for Jason Bateman's character, the uncertainty as to whether his wife (played by Rebecca Hall) had been drugged and raped and that their unborn child was not his was the worst thing that could happen to you (not that Rebecca Hall's character was raped, just that the child wasn't his).

Thinking back to my teens, watching the video for 'Stacey's Mom' on TV during the day and the scene where the boy is implied to be masturbating in the toilet. Had I seen a similar scene with a girl masturbating in this normalised way? That video came out in 2003 and was viewed on normal telly, in 2015 'The Diary of a Teenage Girl' was given an 18 rating, not a 15. 

Mary Beard's manifesto 'Women & Power' explores how women have been silenced (in public at least) since Ancient Greece. 

A queer woman came up with the term INVCEL to try and help lonely people. This has now been shortened to INCEL. (ref 3)

Nothing answered here but there is a thread.

"Fire will attract more attention than any other call for help" - I saw this written down in one of Jean-Michel Basquiat's notebooks at the Barbican exhibition. 

References:
1. https://jezebel.com/heres-a-study-of-sexual-violence-in-tv-and-movies-1819622854 

2. https://pudding.cool/2017/03/film-dialogue/

3. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/76h59o

Mix #12

I've just returned from the western tip of Cornwall. We stayed in Mousehole for 3 nights before getting Great Western's Night Riviera train back to London (the cabin was very cute). We hit up St Michael's Mount, St Ives including the Tate (there was a great Virginia Woolf exhibition on) & Barbara Hepworth, the Minack Theatre (big up Rowena Cade), Cape Cornwall and Porthcurno beach (I had a brief dip). Need to explore more on the next visit but we were limited by only taking our bicycles. 

Mix #12

Anyhow, in this mix, you will find:
Modern Love because of rewatching Frances Ha.
The Psychedelic Furs because I watched Call Me By Your Name.
Talking Heads & Tom Tom Club because I finally watched Stop Making Sense (yes I know).
A fair few Drag City artists as they put a good chunk of their catalogue on Spotify for the first time.
New Jon Hopkins, Natalie Prass, Alexis Taylor, DJ Koze, Kadhja Bonet, Car Seat Headrest, Kamasi Washington, Melody's Echo Chamber, Ry Cooder and more.
A bit of John Cale after seeing him at the Barbican.
Larry Levan cause always. Likewise for The Crystals. 
Brand new things include Biig Piig, Yuno, A Beacon School, Seinabo Sey, Shannon Shaw. 
Moon Gangs sounding very 80s. 
And a bunch of older stuff from Stephen Malkmus and Alex Turner's recommendations. 
I watched the Nina Simone doc on Netflix too - other Netlflix recommendations include LA 1992, On My Block, The Magdalene Sisters, God's Own Country, Calvary, Christine and Victoria Wood As Seen On TV.

Luca Tombolini

Mix #11

Another mix so soon, why yes! I'm on smoko! (This joke will become apparent once you listen)

Mix #11

Some top tunes:

Shannon & The Clams getting the attention they deserve with their new Dan Auerbach produced record. 

After singing her last album in Welsh, Gwenno has now done an album in Cornish - check out the debut if you're unfamiliar (she used to be in The Pipettes!). 

Lawrence of Belgravia is back. Plus an oldie from him.

I might have a biased interest in any song that mentions the word 'ether' (cause it's like they're calling my name youknow), but this Alela Diane one is particularly lovely. About motherhood.

Lankum - goosebumps, take me to Ireland already. 

I didn't include Aldous Harding on a playlist last year, it took me a while to work out whether I liked her or not as there are some interesting vocals happening.

We'll miss you MES, see ya mate.

The Internet channeling Aaliyah in a way most people haven't been able to. 

New things (to me) - Peggy Gou, Amen Dunes, Berntholer (think I heard this in a film), Lucrecia Dalt (Julia Holter recommended) and Khruangbin.

Returns from Janelle Monae, Stephen Malkmus, Parquet Courts, David Byrne, Polica, Ezra Furman, Jack White. 

                        Gary Greenberg

Other enjoyments from the last month...

Lady Bird, as you might expect, is an utter joy. I can't wait to see it in the cinema and I gotta send that dollar to Greta Gerwig. When everyone was getting excited about the letter she wrote to Justin Timberlake, my takeaway from that interview, was that her crew wore nametags. A brilliant way to make a environment welcoming and unintimating plus a way to slightly reduce the power of the director. Something for Hollywood to think about. 

Derry Girls - a great new series available to watch on All4. Finally started (& finished) season 2 of Search Party as well (also on All4). 

Wild Beasts final ever show at Hammersmith Apollo. Check out their Domino Documents, Last Night All My Dreams Came True.

Rita, Sue & Bob Too at The Royal Court - after the play got cancelled, they decided to put it back on and had more talks going on so there was a Q&A afterwards with Clio Barnard (who made The Arbor about Andrea Dunbar - watch if you haven't), Adelle Stripe (wrote a book about Andrea) and the play's director Kate Wasserberg. I thought the play was brilliant, and may now seek out the film. 

On another Clio Barnard tip, her new film Dark River is as we've come to expect from her: powerful, moving and brilliant work. 

PANCAKE DAY PANCAKE DAY PANCAKE DAY

Watching 'I Know Where I'm Going' at the BFI, I'd not seen this Powell and Pressburger before - made me romanticize sleeper trains (again) and get excited for a trip to the Scottish highland islands next summer (yes 2019!).

Hookworms live at Rough Trade East, don't miss their London show in March - nearly sold out. 

Having booked tickets in 2016, I saw Hamilton last week. A brilliant idea excellently executed but took me a little while to engage with it. Perhaps like when it takes you a little to readjust to Shakespeare speak. 

Mix #10

Some new tunes for you, I probably should have got this out before 2017 ended but there we go. It's not too long

Mix #10

Some lovely new ones including Zara McFarlane, Peter Oren, Romare, Steve Lacy plus a band newly signed to Domino who I love, Sorry.

Plus the return of US Girls, Hookworms, Fleet Foxes, Tune-Yards, new Neil Young, that Perfume Genius song that has Portishead vibes - the video will take you.

We've got oldies in Neil Young (again), OutKast, Springsteen, Procol Harum, The Searchers and Q Lazzarus (which now makes me think of my work Christmas party).

Enjoy as the rain washes down your window. 

Photo - Scott Sheffield