Sounds Around

homme pour homme

2009-10-24T13:57:00.004-04:00

June et Jim who i wrote about last year where recently on TV5 in France taking part in an Acoustic Talent show. Of the 300 contestants they are now one of the 5 finalists. You can vote for them here on the TV5 website. You have until the 30th, so brush up on your Français and give them your vote!

The Sound of Swayze

2009-10-08T21:34:00.004-04:00

1991

No it's not Vinyl but it's a special occasion so there are rules to be broken. Its hard to keep track of music releases, especially soundtracks, and when they are for movies from 17 odd years ago, what do you do ?
So i was very excited to see the full score for Point Break was recently released - if only in a limited number of 2000. Its a beautiful soundtrack, soaring waves of early 90's electronica mixed with epic orchestral sound, and its of course now all the more poignant and beautiful by the sad untimely passing of Patrick Swayze.

Isham says in the liner notes that he made sure that the music supported Bodhi's philosophy of life. Can one live effectively totally 'on the edge' or how does one be responsible to the dynamics of life, but still have certain levels of freedom of choice?
For me this is Swayze's greatest performance and rightly or wrongly I'll always associate him with the role. I was at a party in Santa Monica a few years back and there he was with his acre's of hair, with the ocean in the background i almost expected to see Roach and Nathanial not far behind. I couldn't bring myself to say hello, i was after all in the presence of the Bodhisattva, a Bodhisattva in a leather bolero jacket.

"Little hand says it’s time to rock and roll!"

worlds in worlds

2009-04-21T08:49:00.007-04:00

aztec camera's only rough trade release from 1982.

quadraphonic

2008-10-23T10:51:00.005-04:00

sounds of the 70's

Back when i was a kid the word quadrophonic was the ultimate in cool, to have four speakers in your bedroom meant you knew your stuff. my friend spenser set it up only for his dad to bring him back down to earth with just how wrong it was unless you had the correct set up. I wont go into what that is but you can read all about it here on the forgotten sound of 70's
So this week i picked up these very cool micropod speakers from the conran store The speakers may make their way to the kitchen which is what they where intended for, but for now its the 70's and im quadraphonic! sorry brian i know its wrong...

100108

2008-10-02T10:37:00.011-04:00

percussive sound of the volcano

Back to joe's pub last night to see carmen consoli. We decided to get tickets for both sets at 7:30 and then another at 9, and I'm glad we did as our seats for the 1st set where pretty bad, and saw most of the show through the back of a large head. As you can see from these pictures we had much better seats for the 2nd set!

I was a little apprehensive about seeing her without a band as acoustic sets can be rather dull, but she was electrifying! If you can be electrifying with an acoustic guitar? "Acoustifying" how she produces such energy - both vocal and physical, is amazing! Her second set was even more powerful than the first, and she did it all in 3" heels to. She played a couple of Sicilian songs that i had not heard before, one of them Cu ti lu dissi , was again "acoustifying!" i would have cried for sure if i hadnt had so much champagne...

Here she is playing maria cantena ( mary in chains ) at the delacorte theatre in central park last september, and here playing contessa miseria at the laguardia performing arts center in queens in march of this year.

I dont have any carmen vinyl - cd's are hard enough to find, so here's a nice poster from the show back in march, and you can watch and listen a lot more on this great site carmenconsoli
grazie!

jarre

2008-09-28T16:38:00.006-04:00

Picking up where we left off on eighties electronica, i'm very proud of my collection of jean michele jarre records and thats not something i ever thought id say. even if you dont like his music, you can appreciate the recordings as they are simply immense ! Again these came from "second hand rose" and they helped me pick out the best recordings, comparing imports over US printings, how cool is that? merci.

2007

2008-09-25T20:37:00.005-04:00

june et jim

keeping with live music, back in november of last year i was in paris and saw a poster for this band. I didn't think much of it other than i liked the name and thought they looked cool, also wondered how jim pronounced his name, ie was it like the book and film "in the english way?" later that week i went to a birthday party at "au chat noir " in belleville and they where playing downstairs. I didnt get to see them play as i had to leave but i did go and say hello and picked up a couple of their demo cd's, i think they where a little surprised in me buying something i havent heard ( if only they had read my blog ) and hoped that i liked them - which i do very much, and have been checking out their page often, and am as i write hoping they can send me their new ep's !
You can check them out here to have a look and listen

92008

2008-09-23T10:57:00.008-04:00

only the strong surive
saturday night C and I went to see James at the stone pony, I've been waiting many years to go to see a band at this very famous venue, and James didn't disappoint - i cant remember the last time i was this squashed at a show. They played a great 2 hour set spanning their back catalogue and the new album.

this is the best i can do in regards to a photo, i really need to start bringing a camera.

For those not familiar with the New Jersey landscape, the Stone Pony is on the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park made famous by many things including this iconic album cover art by bruce springsteen.

Here's an older version of the the greetings postcard - i wonder if the boss thought about using this one ? probably not, looks more like something credence would do.

91908

2008-09-20T08:30:00.008-04:00

oh my darling
Last night C and I went to see Basia Bulat at the Highline Ballroom, this is about the 5th time i think we've seen her in the past year and hopefully i"ll get to see her again soon as i could listen to her every night. She also played some new songs which was very cool.

as far as i know her debut album is not on vinyl but i did pick up this single a while back.

Dark and moody photo...I was sitting at stage left, level with the stage so the sound was odd in that i didnt really hear the amps just the band which i have to say was very cool. As a wannabe drummer i got to watch and listen to bobby bulat's every beat.

She wears her fringe like roger mcguinn
An extra treat last night as she played you "ain't going nowhere" Whoo-ee! Ride me high Tomorrow's the day My bride's gonna come Oh, oh, are we gonna fly Down in the easy chair!
Basia is another musician who's music could save the world!

२००७(१९८१)

2008-09-18T09:11:00.004-04:00

musique originale du vie
I've been buying soundtracks as long as i've been buying records, and watching films. Just after C got me my new turntable for my birthday last year i was bargain box hunting at other music and picked up this beauty. I had not seen the film since my days of hanging out at the scala in kings cross london, but as a self confessed francophile i figured i couldnt go wrong. And i didn't - a great mix of eighties electronica, the beautiful
la wally aria "ebben", and all wrapped up in the amazing score by Vladimir Cosma. As fate would have it just the following week The Film Forum screened a new print. The movie has aged very well, and ever since i have been trying to find one of those cool blue wave lamps that Gorodish has in his appartment...

This album is now up there with my all time favorites, and i play it almost every week !

0911

2008-09-14T10:44:00.005-04:00

jihaddyhaddy
on thursday C and i went to see babe the blue ox with our very good friends mike and anna. Id never heard of this band before, but they where excellent live. I dont really think of myself a political person, its all rather laughable in my opinion and is full of self interest and ego. That said I do consider myself politically aware, and on this day of all infamous days i couldn't help think that if more people listened to bands like babe we would live in a happier healthier world. I found myself thinking of the 70's band showaddywaddy
and how i miss listening to them - they to could save the world. I thought of creating a band called jihaddyhaddy - our mission... well i think you can figure the rest out for yourselves.

friends forever

more music to save the world. This is E=MC2 by giorgio
I picked this up at second hand rose - the best record store in the world, here in NY. How I got to thinking about the father of disco himself is lost to me at the moment.
The music, the cover art, everything, could save the world !

082908

2008-09-07T23:38:00.006-04:00

Searching for the now
Last week I went to see The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the glasslands gallery in williamsburg. I didnt know that much about them other than the 7" single Bryan had also given me for my birthday which is on very nice grey vinyl and number 4 in searcing for the now series.

It was a very interesting evening, starting with us going to the wrong venue around the corner which then turned out ok as it gave us something to do in between bands, alternating between the 2 venues. I rely on Bryan to keep me up to date with the cool kids, and is the latest, spenser,frank... in a long line of friends that have been nice enough to share new music with me, and thats new as in i haven't heard.
I was so tired by the time "the pains" came on - around 1am i think, that i cant remember if i liked them or not. I do remember i liked that band before them - my teenage stride
I wish i could remember the name of the other venue and the headlining act as they where mental and we lasted about a minute. I do love seeing live bands though.

2008

2008-09-07T23:03:00.009-04:00

Vetiver
I held out on buying myself a birthday vinyl gift in the hope that someone else would, and i was lucky enough that my good friend Bryan delivered the goods with "thing of the past" by Vetiver, the only problem is that i already had it. Its an excellent album and my first Vetiver purchase. It caught my eye with its great cover art and gatefold sleeve, i've been buying records and cd's just for the cover art for years now, and sometimes it works out and sometimes not, but i find thats all part of the fun.

goldensound

2008-08-08T07:54:00.004-04:00

I was hoping to post every week but it seems to be much harder than i imagined, makes me respect those all the more, that post so well and so often. Was inspired by my friend Caesar this week and the amount of hits he gets on his very cool blog road to 2010 world cup final
Here are some ceramic feet that completely changed my listening pleasure

I'll be writing more on that subject soon!

1968-2008

2008-07-29T12:00:00.004-04:00

Would you have liked a present to?

starting the day with "happy birthday" by Altered Images from 1981. A very happy song, it always puts a smile on my face, and reminds me of watching top of the pops !
C is getting me drum lessons, which is quite exciting i have to say, i also got an early morning call from France and happy birthday sang to me by my dear friend Anne and her 2 children, this was followed by a birthday blog greeting from K and P my dear friends back in London who inspired my blog. I really cant ask for more than that, tonight is dinner at Bar 6 my favorite NY place with hopefully more friends.
I continued the morning with
head over heels by tears for fears, 20 years to late by edwyn collins, since yesterday by strawberry switchblade, magic moments by perry como, dub be good to me by beats international, independent woman by destiny's child, and then rounded it off with different corner by george michael, stray by aztec camera, this is the day by the the and lastly somebody to love by queen !
Happy Birthday to me and anyone else who shares this day.

1972

2008-07-27T22:56:00.004-04:00

Clouds in my coffee
Back to the vinyl and back to my beginings. I'm guessing it's around 1972, and I'm asking my dad to get me Carley Simon's "Clouds in ya' coffee", thats what i called it anyway, the rest of the world would know it as "You're so Vain". My dad at the time was doing shop window dressing and picked me up a copy of the single from a record store he happened to be dressing in my home town. I also remember some large posters of silver lions to, but i cant remember what they where for. As for the album No Secrets - I cant remember where or when i got it. But its excellent either way. Back to that record store, I remember my brother and I sitting outside in my dads vauxhall viva while he was inside and reving the engine so it wouldn't stall. Did you know Mick Jagger does the back up vocals on the "your so vain" ?

2008

2008-07-27T22:21:00.003-04:00

Herb
Less than 2 days away from my birthday I find myself thinking of all the bands i have seen live and wondering which ones are gone from memory, never to return. I'll do my best to think of them all over the life span of this blog, but then i like the idea of one or two becoming lost treasures in my mind...
I saw the legend that is Herb Alpert in may and the very cool sondre lerche in june ( a present for C's birthday ) - both at Joe's pub. last week it was the victor lewis quintet at the
village vanguard.
Coming up over the next few months I shall be spending time with Basia Bulat, James ( at the stone pony ) and Hot Chip. I think you should to !

2008

2008-07-27T21:22:00.005-04:00

Carmen

i returned from holiday this week to see that the excellant Carmen Consoli is back in new york and at my favourite place to see live music joe's pub. I took this picture in 2006 when C and I first saw her. She's even more amazing live than she is on record. In Italy she sells out arenas, so to sit at her feet in a small club is quite the treat.
It was always a dream of mine to be able to go to shows and then walk home, and after years of living in suburbs and taking trains and then cities and maybe a tube or subway ride away, i now can. its the small things after all. If you around october 1st i suggest you come along for one of her two performances. The set is titled “Anello Mancante” (Missing Ring).

1978

2008-07-09T20:35:00.005-04:00

blondie
back to the begining, while the diddymen may have been one of my oldest record memories, the first record i bought was "sunday girl" by Blondie back in 1978. It cost me 99p at WH Smiths on watford high street, and i used a gift voucher that i had gotten for christmas to get it. Debbie Harry was my first big musical love, and i spent a lot of time wishing i had her lips and cheek bones - just like all 10 year old boys! I got to meet her 20 years later at a screening at the loews village 7 in new york for a movie she was in, well when i say meet her i mean we shared the same lobby as i was too nervous to say hello. " Dont make friends with the rockstars" as Lester Bangs would go on to say in the movie Almost Famous. The same Lester Bangs that was into the whole " Blondie is a group " thing, back in the 70's

2007

2008-07-09T19:45:00.004-04:00

st. vincent
now for something a little more recent - you may know annie clark from the polyphonic spree or with sufjan stevens. She now performs under the moniker St. Vincent, her debut album is "marry me" and was released last year. I picked the record up recently at one of my favorite record shopping haunts, the Virgin Megastore. Not quite the independent record shop experience but they have a nice selection of new vinyl.
She plays a free concert at castle clinton tomorrow so hopefully i'll get a ticket.

marmaliser

2008-07-09T11:21:00.008-04:00

Approaching my 40th birthday I decided to share my life with you all through music and through vinyl, plus the odd compact disc, mix tape, 8 track and or anything that comes to mind that may just tickle ya fancy ! Now it may have all started with ken dodd and the diddymen from 1969 ?