Another busy week gone with lots of usual ugliness all around. Even at this age, I have difficulties to understand how we can live and survive in such a cesspool of iniquity. Day after day we try not to sink in despair but believe me it is never an easy ride. So what do we do? We place art, we place music, our hobbies and things we like to do in the heart of our lives. After all, it is a good way to cope with the nuisances of our little worlds.
As Plato once said;
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”
Here is the list for this weekend;
Yo La Tengo - "Friday I'm In Love"
David Bowie - "Sorrow"
Carole King - "It's Too Late"
The Stone Roses - "Made of Stone"
Gloria Jones - "Tainted Love"
Hope you have a great weekend.
nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.
You will recall the great "Amoeba Music" from one of my earlier posts about the best places for vinyl shopping.
Amoeba in San Francisco
Recently I found out that, for 10 years now, they have been doing a wonderful video series called the "What's In My Bag?". The idea is to make short movies about the shopping bags of their famous patrons.
And here's how it works; a musician, actor, comedian or other celebrity comes into one of Amoeba Music's three California locations (Berkeley, San Francisco or Los Angeles) and sifts through the store's gigantic inventory of music, films, TV shows, memorabilia and, sometimes, food. Then they reveal their selections and their reasons for choosing those specific cultural artifacts.
Amoeba Music in LA
I think it is really a good and inventive show to attract the music lovers to real music shops to physically check out what's out there (maybe I am too old fashioned but no digital means can compete with the actual touch of a vinyl record...).
Amoeba in Berkeley, CA
The series date back to 2008 and started in a very casual way when Weird Al Yankovic visited the LA shop for shopping. The crew in the store asked him if he would like to share on camera what he bought in the shop. And that recording was the first episode of the long running series.
First Episode with Weird Al Yankovic
It is so fun to watch all these musicians and artists explaining their purchases, why they picked those items and what those items really mean for them.
The series also let you to discover many different artists that you wouldn't hear about so easily and in my opinion even only this could be a good reason to watch.
I did not manage to watch all the episodes obviously, but I really plan to. Of course I started with the people I was curious about, so check it out yourselves and find someone that might be of interest to you to see what they got in their shopping bags...
Here is my top 11 for the moment...Not in any particular order, just out of curiosity what's in their bag...
Gary Numan
Moby
Kamasi Washington
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Ethan Hawke
Belle and Sebastian
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Jean-Michel Jarre
Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer (yes, Amanda F. Palmer)
Johnny Marr
Myrkur
Please visit the below website to reach all the episodes of the "What's In My Bag?" series. I am sure you will enjoy all and discover many new stuff...
Hello dear readers, here I am with another weekend songs list. I hope you all enjoy welcoming spring and a little more sunshine. Bad things going on all over the world but let's try to keep our hopes up with more music.
As Chopin once said;
“Bach is an astronomer, discovering the most marvellous stars. Beethoven challenges the universe. I only try to express the soul and the heart of man.”
Please enjoy this week's list;
Portishead - "Sour Times"
Shocking Blue - "Never Marry A Railroad Man"
Mr. Fingers - "Electron"
Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 - "Chove Chuva"
Grace Jones - "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)"
Hope you have a great weekend.
nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.
Scott Walker was a name that I had discovered in the 80s when he was shifting to an avantgarde style after making pop and rock for many years.
He had started his career with the Walker Brothers (the members were neither brothers nor related to each other) in the early 60s. The band lasted till 1967 when Scott Walker decided to continue solo (they re-united for a short period in mid 70s).
The Walker Brothers
Scott Walker (born Noel Scott Enge) was originally from Ohio, USA but after gaining more commercial success in UK, he moved there became a British citizen in 1970.
When he was a teenager, his family moved to Los Angeles where he started show serious interest in jazz and European cinema.
During the early stages of The Walker Brothers, he had played the bass guitar and made the back vocals (the lead vocalist was John Maus). However the band did not get popular until Scott Walker took the lead singer position with his baritone voice.
The Walker Brothers - "Pretty Girls Everywhere"
They did many singles between 1964 and 1967 and reached the No.1 in UK charts with the below single.
The Walker Brothers - "Make It Easy On Yourself"
In 1967 he left the band and started to seek a solo adventure. He recorded 4 albums till 1969. That was also the year he started to host a show on BBC. He was at the top of his fame when he issued his fifth solo recording, Scott 4 (the fourth solo album was "Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from his TV Series"). These years also mark as the years when he was inclined to do research on classical and more contemporary music. He spent quite some time in a monastery during this period.
Here is a Jacques Brel cover from the Scott 2 album, Jackie...
Scott Walker - "Jackie"
Early 70s were the decline and drinking years for Scott Walker. He did record some albums but none of them had the charm of the previous ones.
In 1975, The Walker Brothers re-united to record three albums. None of them turned out to be commercially successful recordings. It was during that time Scott Walker started to change his direction into something new. Their last album together, "Nite Flights", recorded in 1978 is still one of my personal favorites.
The Walker Brothers - "The Electrician"
"Climate of Hunter" in 1984 was the album I had become acquainted with Scott Walker. The recording, in my opinion, was rather well and a continuation of Nite Flights however turned out to be a disaster for Virgin Records. That is probably why the company gave up the idea of making a second album with him that was going to be produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
He was silent until he recorded the album "Tilt" in 1995. That was again a beautiful work, both musically and lyrically.
In 2004 he signed a deal with 4AD records and released his first recording for the label in 2006 called "The Drift". This was probably his most experimental album so far, full of effects, a bit dark and disturbing.
Scott Walker - "Clara" from The Drift album
In 2012 came the last album of Scott Walker, the great "Bish Bosch". Here is a song from that album.
Scott Walker - "Epizootics!"
He actively continued his career making successful collaborations with Bat For Lashes, Sunn O))) and some other artists/productions.
Scott Walker, a visionary musician, will definitely be missed.
Let's wrap it up with his record label 4AD’s statement:
“From teen idol to cultural icon, Scott leaves to future generations a legacy of extraordinary music; a brilliant lyricist with a haunting singing voice, he has been one of the most revered innovators at the sharp end of creative music, whose influence on many artists has been freely acknowledged.”
Sorry for being a day late with the weekend songs post; but better late than never. I was on a business trip in Berlin during the week, such a great city especially for art and music scene. I hope to have more time to enjoy when I revisit in May for the Superbooth 2019.
As Plato said;
“I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”
Here is our list for this week;
Bror Gunnar Jansson - "Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold My Body Down)"
