Amy Winehouse – Tears dry on their own
I was a bit stunned by the news of her death yesterday. There is something numbing about someone so talented and so young dying.
This tune really reminds me of a happy year I spent in Berkeley, CA. It has a sound that is a throw back to some of the great soul music of Stax, Altlantic and Motown. I don’t know if I could pay a song a bigger compliment.
/RjK
Jay-Z – Dead Presidents II
The National – Fake Empire
What I like about this song is the vocal. There is something very compelling about it. Maybe it is the singer’s slightly gruff tone. It is another good wet weather song, one I listened to tonight while hunkering under my umbrella.
You’re half awake in a fake empire…
Swiftumz – It’s Beautiful
This is short but kind of cool and hypnotic. It has a trippy, dreamlike charm that I have found irresistible for the past few days.
It was another day of torrential, almost biblical rain today in London. This is a very sootheing song and that isn’t the worst kind of song to listen to on such a day.
Kings of convenience are from Norway. Scandanavia really seems to punch above it’s weight musically. Certainly in music that speaks to me anyway.
This track is taken from the wonderfully titled Riot on an empty street, which also features a couple of collaborations with Canadian artist Leslie Feist of Broken Social Scene fame.
/RjK
Prefab Sprout – Cars and girls
This is classic 80’s and one that I have wanted to post for a while. It is a bit cheesy but I find it irresistible. Hiding beneath that cheesy, breezy chorus are actually some very clever lyrics.
Some things hurt more, much more than cars and girls…
Joni Mitchell – The last time I saw Richard
There is something relentlessly gray about London in the rain.
This is taken from Blue, an album that I found to be captivating the first time I heard it and is typical of the album – full of clever and poignant lyrics delivered with a startling purity. It is a tale of heartbreak and love lost. Seldom have I heard those raw emotions captured in such a real and vivid way.
The Contours – Just a little misunderstanding
Was out on the tiles last night painting the town red with my brother. I woke up this morning feeling surprisingly fresh and with this stuck in my head. It’s a classic soul stomper and it’s been too long since I posted one of those.
Mr Fingers – Can you feel it?
I listened to an interview with DJ Frankie Knuckles recently. He talked about the origins of House music in Chicago in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Apparently the genre was named for the Warehouse club that he was DJing in at the time. Quite a claim to fame!
This is one of the early house tunes that came out of Chicago during this period. I think it’s great. The sample, which appears to be some kind of corrupted version of Martin Luther King, gives the song an imploring urgency that I think is great. I can barely imagine the sheer volume of shapes that must have been thrown to this song over the years.
You may be black, you may be white, you may be Jew or Gentile. It don’t make a difference in OUR house…
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Ffunny Frends
Short post today – it’s been a long week. Interesting band name. I know little about them other than this guardian article. New Zealand by way of Portland apparently.
Anyway, I like this laid back number and have been listening to a lot of it this week.