intoxicated man

It's hero time. The ugly fella with the cigarette above is Serge Gainsbourg in his younger 'chanson' years (like you didn't already know). For me he was a real artist in every sense of the word. He lived his life at 100 mph and covered more musical genres than I'd like to mention. He was also a painter, photographer etc. etc. and didn't even have any musical success until he was well into his thirties. He also once told Whitney Houston that he'd like to f**k her live on French TV. What a gent!

The song, intoxicated man, which I have put up for you to listen to is a good example of Gainsbourg's lyrical English/French mixing. He looks for rhymes and patterns in the words and brings them together as if they were always meant to be joined. Think of him next time you get drunk and see spiders in lapels of your tuxedo!

Enjoy as always ...

serge gainsbourg - intoxicated man

Je bois
À trop forte dose
Je vois
Des éléphants roses
Des araignées sur le plastron
D’ mon smoking
Des chauves-souris au plafond
Du living-room

Eh toi
Dis-moi quelque chose
Tu es là
Comme un marbre rose
Aussi glacée que le plastron
D’ mon smoking
Aussi pâle que le plafond
Du living-room

L’amour
Ne m’ dit plus grand-chose
Toujours
Ces araignées sur le plastron
D’ mon smoking
Ces chauves-souris au plafond
Du living-room

Eh toi
Dis-moi quelque chose
Tu es là
Comme un marbre rose
Aussi glacé que le plastron
D’ mon smoking
Aussi pâle que le plafond
Du living-room

you make me feel like a catherine wheel

Here is another mainstay of my MP3 player. Salad were one of those 1990s bands who had a few hits and then drifted off, never to be seen again. I saw them live a few times and always enjoyed their gigs, but their recorded output was sometimes a bit variable .. which is why they probably dispanded.

Quite a few of their best tracks were B-sides or album tracks (Julius, Insomnia, A Size more Woman Than Her etc.) and these are the ones that drift around on my player, making my ears happy when I hear them. The track you can preview below, Julius, is one of the B-sides of their biggest hit (as far as I know), Drink the Elixir, and is beautiful simplicity incarnate with the brilliant lyric ... 'you make me feel like a catherine wheel' ... enjoy!

salad - julius

The lead singer of Salad, Marijne Van Der Vlugt, has a new band, Cowboy Racer who are worth checking out.

what I really want to know is

What do you think of being just like you?

dirty laundry in public

I was digging through some old cds at home yesterday evening when I found a whole disc of demos transferred from my 4 track tape recorder. Amongst them was the original demo of i know that i would from way back in the last century.

i know that i would (original demo)

What can I say. I can't tell how shameful it actually is.

Listen and let me know!

For those of you who haven't heard the proper version here it is:

i know that i would

... in some ways I really hope nobody is listening!

amber suite again

Here is another track from Elizabeth and Tom's band amber suite (That's Tom looking like himself in the picture). It is a real vintage track from the archives on my PC. I get the feeling you will get lots of these vintage tracks if you keep on coming back!

amber suite - I don't know

You have to love the understated guitar and vocal interaction in this track. Currently amber suite don't have any gigs planned (mostly due to moving house, searching for a new drummer etc. etc.) but I'm sure they will be playing in London over the next few months .. I will keep you posted!

cow

Today I thought I'd show you that although I'm serious about music not all the music I like is that serious. I have on occasion been known to slip into the dark area known as 'library music'. It usually ends in disaster because, as I'm sure we all know, those tunes are usually fillers not killers. However, there is always the chance that you will turn up a gem.

This never fails to put a smile on my face and will be on my MP3 player until the day I die! You can find more music from Dan Teper on his website.

Dan Teper - cow

what will love do?

I got a beautiful random clash on my MP3 player this morning ....

this

joy division - love will tear us apart (bbc session)

followed by

flea and jimmy scott - love will keep us together

... but then I suppose it had to happen sometime?

If you haven't listen to the flea and jimmy scott track I can highly recommend it. It is very simply played whilst still being as funky as a skunk that has just discovered punk. The album it comes from can be bought here and has the strangest P.J.Harvey track you're ever ever likely to find.

When the others turn you off, who will be turning you on?

photographic treats

At work I share an office with Neil and Sarah. Neil has a photo blog called pic-a-day and tries to add a new picture every day. He has a great selection already up with lots of nice pictures of London, Windsor (seen in the picture above) and Royal Holloway (where we work). So if you would like to find some nice images to accompany your music I'd suggest checking it out!

it's over

Two posts in a day? I must have lots to say.

The other day I wrote about my friends Tom and Elizabeth who play bass and drums in my band and have their own group, amber suite. Well, one of their other sideline projects is called domestiK, and it's basically a dark Austrian electronica retake on some of their songs .. all done with lovely analogue synths - you know, the ones that you have to actually plug together yourself. I haven't got a link to the Austrian fella who is doing the work for them but if I get one I will put it up here.

You won't have heard this anywhere else so I'd really like to know what you think ... as would Tom and Elizabeth! You are only one click away from making a comment!

domestiK - it's over

... and if you want more original music scroll down and listen to

being just like you

dykes on bikes

Time for a big step to the side. Since I got my MP3 player about a year ago I've been filling it with little gems to make my walk to work faster. One of them I found on an album called 'Jazz 80' that I got with an inherited record collection. The track, dykes on bikes, had found it's way there from the 1979 NYJO album 'Mary Rose'.

Just look at the bunch of misfits in the picture. I used to be just like them .. in fact I still am just like them ... and proud of the fact. Don't get fooled into thinking that NYJO produce this level of funkiness on all occasions though. I've made the mistake of spending a whole pound on a more recent NYJO album at Ben's records and really not getting the same bite as dykes on bikes.

You can visit the NYJOs current incarnation here (they are playing in Skegness tomorrow ...), but in the meantime do get stuck into the joy of this 1979 madness...

dykes on bikes

being just like you

The 'joy of all joys' that is another finished track is now posted up on my bands website and is linked below for your listening pleasure. I'm really happy with this one simply because it really grooves and should, with luck and a following wind, get you dancing in your chair.

being just like you

The picture above, just in case you were wondering, is our guitarist Chris in a moment of riff ecstasy during one of our rather more outlandish recording sessions. Rock On. Rocks Off.

can you dance to 7/4?

Finding the calexico stuff on the city slang website inevitably led me to explore what else I might be able to download. After ploughing through some of the sameoldsameold I found this song by broken social scene

shoreline

... and it's played in 7/4. For the non musicians amoungst you that simply means it sounds interesting and is really hard to dance to! (Unless you are stupid dancer like me who does a little leap on the one.) There is something a little bit 'Arcade Fire' about them .. so that can't be bad can it?

Looking at their website it looks like they will be over here at the start of February ... so there is a potential gig to go to. Loverly.

americana via france

OK. After talking about Gram Parsons yesterday you are going to think that today's post makes me some kind of americana maniac. Just to assure you I'm not. I just happen to be listening to quite a bit of this type of stuff at the moment and .... what am I doing justifying myself anyway?

The two miserable looking chaps in the photo above are John Convertino (drums,vibes etc.) and Joey Burns (vocals,guitars etc.) of the outstanding Calexico. I was introduced to their music by my girlfriend a few years ago and we've been to see them live several times since. The thing I really like about them is the interaction between Burns and Convertino. They have been playing together for years, in and out of other musical projects such as Giant Sand and The Friends of Dean Martinez, and have clearly developed a lovely unspoken rapport. Luckily for you and I they have put a few MP3s on their record company website including a truely bizarre French version of 'the ballad of cable hogue' from their 'Hot Rail' album, which helps to prove that songs never translate well!

Sunken Waltz
Ballad of Cable Hogue (version francaise)
Minas de Cobre (acoustic version)
Stray

According to their website they will have a new album out later this year - which I'm personally really looking forward to.

hot burrito #1

There are some powerful songs in the world, like hot burrito #1, by Gram Parsons / The Flying Burrito Brothers. The thing is I don't think I've ever heard a version which 100% does the song justice. There have obviously been lots of country versions which are of sub-quality to the original .. and the version by by Belly which is available on their best of ... which is great, and probably my favourite ....

This is another one of those situations where I realise that the original is the best isn't it?

Then I stop moaning and get on with making some new music of my own.

As yet I haven't had any comments on my 'currently unnamed' band's finished song

i know that i would

so if you've got a minute or three ....

plea from a cat named virtue

The internet is a fantastic thing. I'm more and more convinced of this every day. I just keep finding things that make me happy. Quite a while ago I found this track by The Weakerthans who I'm sure must be very popular somewhere ... but I'm very ignorant and I'd never heard of them.

You just don't get lyrics like this every day. Enjoy.

plea from a cat named virtue

amber suite

Elizabeth and Tom play drums and bass in my band, but also have another band where Elizabeth sings and writes the songs. Here they are absolutely giving it everything they have. If you want to hear what sort of song makes them look like that when they sing then you better listen to this:

Amber Suite - Not Very Much

and then check out their website here:

www.ambersuite.co.uk

I know that I would

I've been in a band for quite some time now and we've been recording an album for quite a while too. At long last we have reached the mixing so I thought I'd start my MP3 blog with one of our own tracks.

You can download and enjoy it here

I know that I would

At the moment we are between band names so if you have any suggestions based on what you hear perhaps you could let me know.

I'll be back very soon with some more.