Selection Box Show 249: Kris mass time

Nothing says Folk more than a set of welding goggles

Last Wednesday was a good evening for Kris Drever.  At virtually the same moment he was stood on stage, towering over his Lau bandmates Martin Green and Aidan O’Rourke as they picked up the Radio 2 Folk Award for Band of the Year, he was also treated to an even more thrilling achievement in that his solo recording of Harvest Gypsies, from the album Blackwater, was the opening track to Selection Box.  I dare say that life will never quite be so exciting for him again.

I did suffix the track by saying that it was one of my favourite records of the last five years, then suggested that it may well be older than that. In doing so I have made myself right and wrong simultaneously as it is in fact an astonishing 7 years since said offering was released.  No matter, though, because I’ll just readjust my hypothetical lists and declare that it is one of the best records of the last seven years.

Because it is.

 

 

Selection Box Show 249 (Listen Again here)

Transmitted 30/1/2013

1. Kris Drever – Harvest Gypsies
from: Blackwater

2. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
from: Pale Green Ghosts

3. Unknown artist – Oun Rognea Dul Chung Knong
from: Aquarium Drunkard Presents Dengue Fever (various artists)

4. Besnard Lakes – People Of The Sticks
from: Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO

5. Julia Holter – Boy In The Moon
from: Ekstatis

6. Wave Machines – I Hold Loneliness
from: Pollen

7. Freddy Slack & His Orchestra – Mr Freddie’s Boogie
from: Bands That Can Boogie Woogie (various artists)

8. Pulp – After You
from: single release

9. Mary Love – Baby I’ll Come
from: Soul ‘n’ Moody, Black & Bluesy (various artists)

10. Beryl Bryden’s Backroom Skiffle – Rock Me
from: Heroes of Skiffle (various artists)

11. Rachael Zeffira – Here On In
from: The Deserters

12. Nick Cave – Jubilee Street
from: Push The Sky Away

 

Patrick Thornton presents Selection Box every Wednesday at 9pm.

Brief Candles – tunes less than 2 minutes long

I have a fascination with tunes that clock in at under 2 minutes, but I don’t necessarily mean music that is ludicrously abrupt.  I am particularly interested in expeditious tunes that have run their course and whose natural conclusion occurs before 2 minutes have been amassed.  Basically, this is music that shines brightly, but briefly.  Hence Brief Candles, a title suggested by Tilt Araiza.  Such short tunes are not particularly rare, although they are not as abundant as they were in the 1950s and 1960s.  I just find it really interesting that pop music can be so concise.  2 minutes is not really all that much time at all.

Since the start of 2013 I have endeavoured to include one Brief Candle in every show (Eclectic Mainline, 8pm on a Wednesday here on BCB).  Sometimes this tune will be chosen by me, and sometimes it will be one nominated by you the listener, or you the reader.   If you want to suggest a tune, pop a comment on this blog, or Tweet me at @albfreeman using the hashtag #briefcandles.

2013 seemed like a good time to start this Brief Candles feature, because Patrick Thornton, whose Selection Box show has now moved to a Wednesday at 9pm, straight after me, has a slot in his show called Thanking Your Kind Indulgence, in which he plays a tune over 7 minutes in length.

I will add each of the Brief Candles that make it into my show to the list below as and when they are aired. All tunes have been chosen by yours truly unless otherwise stated.

1. The La’s – ‘Feelin” (LP – The La’s / Go! Discs)

2. They Might Be Giants – ‘Spine’ (LP – The Spine / Cooking Vinyl) (nominated by Tilt Araiza)

3. The Beach Boys – ‘This Whole World’ (LP – Sunflower / Capitol)

http://youtu.be/1xz5QDsYSto

4. PJ Harvey – ‘The Sky Lit Up’ (LP – Is This Desire? / Island)

5. Half Man Half Biscuit – ‘Irk The Purists’ (LP - Trouble Over Bridgewater / Probe Plus)

6. Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Sweet Sweet’ (LP - Siamese Dream / Virgin) (nominated by David Craig)

7. Wire – ‘Outdoor Miner’ (LP – Chairs Missing) (this week’s Brief Candle, nominated by Tilt Araiza)

8. Duane Eddy – ‘Some Kinda Earthquake’ (2xCD – Rockin’ Guitar Man 1955-1960) (Smith & Co) (nominated by Phil Cope)

Nick Drake – ‘Harvest Breed’ (LP – Pink Moon) (Island) (nominated by David Craig)

 

Old and new

Some of the most promising bands of 2013 stood alongside punk and post-punk classics in the latest episode of Bradford Beat.

Hotly tipped among the current crop of new names are Swim Deep and Teleman. Also on this week’s playlist were The Ruts, Spizzenergi and The Adverts – full tracklisting was:

Latch Bermany – I See Through You
Swim Deep – The Sea
Chutzpah – Feel
The Adverts – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
The Ruts – Love In Vain
Spizzenergi – Where’s Captain Kirk?
The Selecter – On My Radio
I Am Kloot- These Days Are Mine
Sentimentalists – Poppa’s Stoned On Chemicals Again
Tim Burgess – The Doors of Then
Lidwine – Duet For Ghosts
Thao and The Get Down Stay Down – Holly Roller
Teleman – Cristina
Figurehead – Comfortable Prison

You can listen again by clicking here

Eclectic Mainline 30th January 2013

There were new releases in this week’s show from the likes of Faulty DL:

….Atoms For Peace:

….and Kwes:

If you wish to listen back to the whole show, be my guest. This is what was played:

Atoms For Peace – “Judge Jury & Executioner” (single) (XL)
Dinosaur Jr. – “Don’t Pretent You Didn’t Know” (single and LP – “I Bet On Sky”) (Play It Again Sam)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Baby” (single) (4AD)
Fela Kuti – “Everything Scatter” (2CD – “The Best Of The Black President 2”) (Knitting Factory)
PJ Harvey – “The Sky Lit Up” (LP – “Is This Desire?”) (Island) (this week’s Brief Candle)
Kwes – “Rollerblades” (single) (Warp)
Julia Kent – “Ebb” (LP – “Character”) (Leaf)
Faulty DL – “She Sleeps (feat. Ed McFarlane)” (single and LP – “Hardcourage”) (Ninja Tune)
Marika Hackman – “Cannibal” (single and LP – “That Iron Taste”) (Dirty Hit)
Foxygen – “Oh No 2” (LP – “We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic”) (Jagjaguwar)
Cat Power – “Manhattan (ft. Angel Haze) Ryan Hemsworth Remix” (single) (Matador)
Ghost Time – “Another” (LP – “Ghost Time”) (Hinterzimmer)

A Moulettes Special on Going North from Nashville, Monday 28th Jan, 10-11pm!

John goes ‘ solo’ for tonight’s in depth listen to the music of one of GNfN’s favourite bands of the past year. Featuring interview exerpts from band members & lots of lovely Moulettes music. One not to miss if you’re a fan - or a great opportunity to find out more about this up & coming band!

All tracks by Moulettes unless stated

  • Country joy*
  • Recipe for alchemy
  • Sing unto me*
  • Sing unto me (Wax 22 remix)
  • Bloodshed in the woodshed
  • Going a gathering
  • Uca’s dance*
  • Wilderness
  • What a way to spend a day
  • Sam Cooke – you send me
  • Liz Green – Bad medicine
  • Songbird*

From the album ‘Moulettes’, except * from the EP ‘The Bear’s Revenge’

Eclectic Mainline 23rd January 2013

The new album by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba is possibly my favourite album of 2013 so far.  You should give it your attention.

It is also worth giving some attention to Pinact, who are making a good noise right now too:

If you wish to listen to the show at your leisure, you will find it on today’s page of the BCB Listen Again service. This is what I played:

Io Echo – “Ministry Of Love” (single)
Ergo Phizmiz – “Lafcadio” (LP – “Eleven Songs”) (Care In The Community)
Bo Ningen – “Nichijyou ft. Jehnny Beth” (single)
The Creole Choir Of Cuba – “Fey Oh Di Nou” (LP – “Santiman”) (Real World)
On and On – “The Hunter” (single)
Gilded – “Tyne” (LP – “Terrane”) (Hidden Shoal)
Fimber Bravo – “The Way We Live Today ft. Alexis Taylor” (single) (Moshi Moshi)
Roots Manuva – “Party Time ft. Kope” (“Banana Skank EP”) (Big Dad
The Beach Boys – “This Whole World”
Pinact – “Into The One” (single) (Fat Cat)
Steve Mason – “Fight Them Back” (LP – “Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time”) (Double Six)
Serafina Steer – “The Removal Man” (LP – “The Moths Are Real”) (Moshi Moshi)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba – “Segu Jajiri” (LP – “Jama ko”) (Out Here)
Gallops – “Jeff Leopard (Cast Of Cheers remix)” (single)

Punk bonanza

We’re planning a celebration of all things punk on Bradford Beat.

It’s all to mark the fact that several lesser known bands of that era are playing in West Yorkshire in the near future – so you can to hear from the likes of The Ruts, Spizzenergi and TV Smith plus more besides.

In the meantime, you can listen again to last week’s show by clicking here – the full tracklisting was:

Chutzpah – Eyes
Animal Collective – Applesauce
Sentimentalists – Poppa’s Stoned On Chemicals Again
Two Door Cinema Club – Sun
Post War Glamour Girls – Tremor
The 1975 – Sex
Spin Doctors – Two Princes
Figurehead – Comfortable Prison
Everything Everything – Cough Cough
Latch Bermany – Jagged Jigsaw Puzzle
Art Brut – Alcoholics Unanimous
Wind Up Birds – The Mild Awards

And don’t forget to listen to Pete Chapman’s Punk Show!

Selection Box Show 248: Landmarks & Engels

I think we can safely assume that time travel is impossible (which is a shame, because I’ve already written this entire thing once and then accidentally irretrievably deleted it [although admittedly this would be footling use of such a powerful tool – shall I stop the Holocaust? No, I’ll undelete the BCB piece I wrote and lost which was largely about myself. Still Marty McFly didn’t do much more than make his family rich and everyone seems to love him]) so I think I can be forgiven for failing to play David Bowie on last week’s show. As I have previously explained, the cunning fox sent his new single Where Are We Now? out into the World just a few hours after I had recorded my show. Still, it provided a perfect opener for this week’s Selection Box. What is more remiss of me is the fact that the 70th birthday of arguably the greatest ever pop singer, Noel Scott Engel aka Scott Walker (anyone now yelling “Frank Sinatra!” at their computer can go and shove it up their badger. I’ve never understood the fuss over Ol’ Short Arse and never will), passed me by on the very day my first show in the new timeslot was broadcast.

Whilst I would always maintain that some of the greatest vocalists of all time are people who cannot actually sing (Mark E. Smith being a primary and quite astonishingly brilliant atonal example) when hearing Walker open his trap and, indeed, his throat I feel the pressing need to point people at the speakers and say, THAT is how you sing. I can’t imagine anything I’d like to see less than a guest appearance from Scott Walker on The X Factor, but if such a thing took place at least the result might be that the long queue of neat-haircutted chicken-in-a-basket warblers might just nudge each other and say, “Come on, we may as well go home.”

Not that such a thing is likely, of course, because these days Walker’s output couldn’t be further removed from the conveyor belt claptrap offered by ITV’s flagship God-it-goes-on-forever entertainment piece. Indeed is hard to think of another successful artist who has moved as far leftfield as Scott Walker. I cannot help but applaud any bloody-minded artist who is determined to challenge their own boundaries, experiment with new sounds and seek to explore untrodden avenues, and to hell with shifting units and keeping the bank balance high enough to afford another swimming pool in the back of a stretch Hummer. However, that’s not to say this necessarily results in a more rewarding output because, as much as I love music that takes you somewhere you’ve never been before, I must confess that some of Scott Walker’s more experimental material leaves me rather cold – indeed parts of his 2006 album The Drift were frankly unlistenable. When his new album Bish Bosch was released last month I was, therefore, left with a ummm ahh hesitation as to whether I actually wanted to hear it, let alone buy it. However, I have decided that hard-earned brass must be shelled out as the wares from the album I have heard thus far have been really rather splendid.

This includes the extraordinary Epizootics – which featured in this week’s Selection Box as our long track for the Thanking Your Kind Indulgence section of the show – a 10-minute brooding stew of tribal drums, a malevolent squealing three-note trumpet motif and Walker’s haunting vocal with the added bonus of hearing our hero intoning that we should “take that accidentally in the bollocks for a start.” What’s not to like, frankly?

A belated happy birthday to you, Noel.

Here be the tracklisting, by jingo:

Selection Box Show 248 (Listen Again here)

Transmitted 16/01/2013

1. David Bowie – Where Are We Now?
from: The Next Day

2. Berna Dean – I Walk In My Sleep
from: Theme Time Radio With Your Host Bob Dylan Volume 1 (various artists)

3. Harry Mudie – Heavy Duty Dub
from: Ghostcapital III (various artists)

4. Tadao Sawai – Futatso No Hensokyoku Sakura Sakura
from: Sanka Tadao Sawai Plays Tadao Sawai

5. Clinic – See Saw
from: Free Reign

6. Joe Williams’ Washboard Blues Singers – Baby Please Don’t Go
from: Western Swing Roots 3: Jug / Washboard Bands (various artists)

7. Scott Walker – Epizootics
from: Bish Bosch

8. Scott Walker – Plastic Palace People
from: Scott 2

9. Jessica Pratt – Night Faces
from: Jessica Pratt

10. Pulsallama – The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body
from: The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body 7″ single

11. T.P. Valentine – Love Trap
from: The Northern Soul Story 3: Blackpool Mecca (various artists)

Patrick Thornton presents Selection Box every Wednesday at 9pm.

Eclectic Mainline 16th January 2013

I played a few things tonight that I hadn’t had chance to listen to before the show.  One was this by Kangding Ray:

Also in tonight’s show was the new single by Doldrums:

And the new Foxygen single:

If you wish to listen to the show at your leisure, you will find it on today’s page of the BCB Listen Again service.  This is what I played:

Lord Huron – “The Man Who Lives Forever” (LP – “Lonesome Dreams”) (Play It Again Sam)
Former Utopia – “Schism” (“Colapsar E.P.”) (Damnably)
Darkstar – “Amplified Ease” (single) (Warp)
Dutch Uncles – “Flexxin” (single) (Memphis Industries)
Kanding Ray – “North” (12″ – “The Pentaki Slopes”) (Raster Noton)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Jubilee Street” (LP – “Push The Sky Away”) (Nick Cave Ltd)
Gallops – “Jeff Leopard” (single)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba – “Djadje” (LP – “Jama ko”) (Out Here)
They Might Be Giants – “Spine”
Seasfire – “Falling” (single) (Too Pure Singles Club)
Serafina Steer – “Island Odessey” (single and LP – “The Moths Are Real”) (Moshi Moshi)
Mr Vast – “In Terms Of Ease And Speed” (“LP – “Grievous Bodily Charm”) (Spezialmaterial)
Doldrums – “Anomaly” (single)
Harper Simon – “Bonnie Brae” (single) (Play It Again Sam)
Foxygen – “San Fransisco” (single) (Jagjaguwar)

The Mirrored Hammer Istanbul Special Pt.1

Tonight’s episode of The Mirrored Hammer (9pm – 10pm on BCB 106.6FM) is an ‘Istanbul Special’ audio diary resulting from the first week of Andy’s residency at PiST/// Research and Production Residency: PIRPIR through Gasworks (London).

Contains snippets of conversations with PiST///, the Istanbul Biennial press launch, street musicians and city sounds, a Fluxus music event, and gigs by Mombu, Monduel, Ah! Kosmos and more.

If you wish to hear the last episode you can do so here: