"Summertime" by Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Share a song that captures the moment when seasons change. - Summertime by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald Summertime and the living is easy, Catfish are jumping , That old cotton is high, Your Daddy's rich and your Mama's good looking, Hush pretty baby, don't you cry View Lou Plummer's Crucial Tracks profile
Thanks so much to Darran McCrann for the interview! Some months ago I discovered a couple of songs on Soundcloud. There was no band name, but the credits of the two songwriters, McCrann and Firmager. I found they had been based in Ireland and Australia. Lots of things weren’t clear. But the songs were good. I wanted to know more. Not too long ago Darran got in touch and was kind enough to answer all of my questions with detail. I’m very happy to have learned a bit about their story. Check…
This is simply amazing. Very strong Pink Floyd vibes for me. I feel like Zimmer has stepped out of the shadow of John Williams and may now be the premiere movie soundtrack guy. There are some parts that feel like something Williams would do and then there are other parts that feel like it stepped out of Year Zero / Ghosts era Nine Inch Nails. Just brilliant, also kudos to whomever put it all together for Youtube. This ones a playlist keeper.
Hey people! Today I’d like to share with you a song which is six years old, but I’ve only discovered it recently. More precisely, the original by Cezinando is six years old and Randi Oline’s cover is three years old, but both are similarly new to me. I’m honestly not sure which one of these I like more; they’re both so different from each other and both are really good, so I just thought I’m going to feature both. Cezinando has actually been featured on my blog some years ago, with the amazing…
The barbershop that I usually go to employs two barbers: one who plays oldies, and the other who plays no music when the one who plays oldies isn’t around. Today, both barbers were present, and there was a customer in each chair, so I took a seat and waited. It took a few moments before I noticed that no music was playing, which is unusual when both barbers are on duty. Each barber spoke to his respective customer until there was no speaking at all, and then all I heard was the two industrious…
The Harry Partch Ensemble, via Wikipedia, under a CC 0 License. Listening to Harry Partch is like going on a surreal archaeological dig through history. Only this is history reinterpreted by someone who has been taking shrooms for two decades. Yet, with the emergence of microtonality in the music of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Angine de Poitrine his works are more relevant today than ever. Harry Who? Harry Partch was born on June 24th, 1901 to Virgil Franklin Partch, and his wife…
Lou Reed: “Coney Island Baby” - St. Mark’s Church, New York City, January 1, 1976It’s been far too long — almost two months! — since we took a trip into the Louniverse. And anyway, we’ve somehow yet to really celebrate the 50th anniversary of Coney Island Baby, Lou Reed’s semi-mellow late 1975 masterpiece. But then again, I’ll celebrate this LP any day of the week; sometimes, it’s my favorite Lou solo album. I’m having a very vague memory of my infamous brother buying it on an early 1990s…
Brighton-via-New-Jersey artist Lonnie Gunn has announced her debut EP, 2013 horsemeat scandal, out independently August 6th, led by new single “Babytooth”. Co-written with Oscar Lang, the track pushes further into pop-rock than her earlier work, with vocal turns and glitch textures that recall Mitski and Caroline Polachek. Gunn says it’s about becoming so dependent on someone’s approval that you shrink around them, losing your own shape entirely. The title comes from her childhood toy, a…
Unmasking the UnnamedIf you’ve spent any time in the retro scene, you know the drill. You’re browsing through old demos or cracktros, and a killer tune starts playing - the kind that stays stuck in your head for days. But there's always that nagging question: Who actually composed this?Historically, these tracks rarely had credits, and in many cases, they never will. As the scene grows and more people try to catalog this digital history, identifying these “anonymous” gems has become a massive…
Black-and-white group posing with a Tamla-Motown UK Tour banner listing The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Martha and the Vandellas.
The Temples of Offal/Return of the AncientsOut 10th June on ATMF (originally released in 1991) One often forgets that – along with the likes of Massacre and Napalm Death- Absu were another Trigger’s broom band. (That’s bands whose latest incarnation features none of their original members for any none UK readers). But with this latest issue of Absu’s first era we are presented with a stark reminder of how quickly many bands were dropping death metal in favour of a new direction around 1991-92,…
Listening to AA Williams and feeling blown away. Gothic dark rock music. A slick and polished wall of bassy distorted guitars, solid drums, and plaintive piano leaving room for Williams' vocals that sit in that Tori Amos space. At times sweeping and epic, others painfully introspective — sometimes both in the same song. Try "Wolves" for a taste of what I mean. Kiki Rockwell's "Faery Queen" (can't fault that old-timey spelling) is genuinely unsettling. The sequel to Faery King from "Eldest…
Xiu Xiu - Eraserhead Xiu Xiu This is a log of my experience of listening to Xiu Xiu's new album, Eraserhead Xiu Xiu, for the first time, song by song in chronological order as they're played from the album. Viento Scrapy plastic/metallic objects, compressed sound, dragged over a surface near a mic. Distorted. Train whistle. Drone-like harmonies. Minor-key synths. Horns in the distance? Sounds like compressed air is blown through a hose. Bass. Bass. Controlled sounds. Back to calm. The scrapy…
https://www.creativepastures.com/paintings Derek Robertson was born in St Andrews, Scotland in 1967 https://www.creativepastures.com/migrations Some pleasing and interesting images.
Another week has passed and the metal has arrived right on time. Hails! Haserot - death - USACranial Osteotomy - death - RussiaLithopaedia - death - USARotten - death - FranceGrim Legion - death - USANeurologic Pathology - death - UkraineFinal Resting Place - death - USASanguinary Verdict - death - USA/ColombiaDysgnostic - tech death - DenmarkEnfrenzied - tech death - USAApogean - tech death - CanadaArise from Worms - tech death - Canada/USASigyn - melodeath - FinlandVolubillis - melodeath/prog…
Although ECM celebrated its monumental 50th anniversary not too long ago, there was a flurry of activity surrounding its 40th as well, including Anniversary Waltz, a promotional sampler where jazz, folk memory, chamber poise, and improvisational risk come together in characteristic fashion. The compilation’s title tune comes from the John Abercrombie Quartet’s Wait Till You See Her (ECM 2102), which also happened to mark bassist Thomas Morgan’s debut for the label. Violinist Mark Feldman brings…
Magical musical musings care of the marvellous John Matthews. Following his passing in 2021, a continuous stream of music, spanning new studio albums to expansive box sets, has been issued under the legendary dub producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry‘s name. Largely though these have emerged as weak, superficial collaborations cloaked as profitable cash cows which seem designed solely to taint his enduring legacy. However, hopes for one final masterpiece from the dub pioneer were recently realised with…
PHEW! WHAT A SCORCHER! Screenshot As the front page of British tabloids used to put it. Quote of the Day ”When people are least sure, they are often most dogmatic.” John Kenneth Galbraith Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Cavatina (from The Deer Hunter) Link Long Read of the Day We’re using the wrong pronouns for AI Interesting essay by Matt Ridley Most people who talk about artificial intelligence reach, sooner or later, for the singular. There is the AI, the machine, the mind we…
Bonnie Tyler, 1951–2026.The song Total Eclipse of the Heart has enriched my life in so many ways.the original song videodiagrammatic syntax of the lyricsthe Lego videotwo alternative total eclipses: the Marsh family with Totally fixed where we are, contrasted with Total Eclispe of the SpirkDr Who crossoversthe literal video: Random use of candlesthen going meta: Dr Who literal crossover (watch the literal video first, or you'll miss most of it!)even its use in debugging our internetRespect for…
What the fuck even is "Magical Insurance Bureaucrats" anyway? Compilation of a bunch of the art - this is my "tone piece" for the project more or less For a while now, I've been working on this thing called The Ongoing Adventures of Magical Insurance Bureaucrats in a World Recovering from a Failed Alien Invasion (a mouthful, but at least I'm true to myself) and when people ask me what it is, I don't really have a good answer. Wait what do you mean by that lmao This whole thing started as a…
By The Neck (single release) The cover artwork for 'By The Neck', as drawn by Aubrey Crowe My band Waxlimbs released our latest single By The Neck on June 28th, and now is probably a good time to write about it while it's fresh. We started working on By The Neck in April of 2024, at Will's tiny basement studio. We had been talking about a change in direction for a while, and ended up with something promising within an hour or so of laying down ideas. We started with guitar feedback and droning…
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. Lisa Owens’s novel Natural Disaster shares an compelling 24-hour glimpse of modern motherhood both profound and brilliantly comic. Booklist wrote of the book: “The pressures placed on the…
How Was Your Life? Memotone 2023 - Impatience By far my favorite project from memotone. “How Was Your Life?” presents a gentle haze for the listener to recline against. acoustic and electronic sounds are masterfully interwoven and the pace feels relaxed throughout despite occasional bursts of energy. The whole pieces builds to some beautiful jazzy crescendos like on the second half of “Open World” that feel like finding an oasis in the desert. “Carved by the Moon” stands out as a very…
Hey people! Today, I thought I’d like to share with you one of my favourite songs by Susanne Sundfør. I’ve been aware of Susanne Sundfør’s existence for quite a few years, I think ever since 2017-2018 when I first got a bit deeper into Norwegian music, but it took a few more years until I dived deeper into her discography beyond just being familiar with her most popular songs. I totally fell into it and it was an unforgettable experience. In fact I wrote about it on this blog when featuring her…
Lee Garnett : his only surviving pictureLee Garnett was a 1950s rockabilly singer who burned bright and fast, only to vanish into obscurity before the decade was out. Born in 1935 in a small Texas town, Jimmy grew up on a diet of Hank Williams, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and the raw energy of southern juke joints. He taught himself guitar on a beat-up acoustic his father left behind and started playing at local dances while still in high school. By 19, he had formed a three-piece band called The…
New Jazz Jungle: Remembering Pat Thomas 1997 - Newjazz.com Every now and then I hear a genre fusion that seems so obvious i feel like i expect to see a whole community of artists exploring. Pat Thomas strikes one of those with New Jazz Jungle, an energizing psychedelic combination of the highly rhythmic and flexible breakbeat chops of jungle with atonal and atemporal free improvisation. Rarely until the jungle-pop revival that we’ve been seeing recently have I heard much breakbeat alongside…
Strange Logic Cryptwarbler 2025 - independent noise artists often have affinity for the long-form. Frequently releases will be single live sessions or improvisations either presented as a whole or cut up and arranged into disparate pieces. Strange Logic stands as one of my favorite examples of a noisey experimental electronic release where most of the tracks are under ten minutes, and they all occupy varying soundscapes. Cryptwarbler’s unique circuit-bent Casio rig allows for rich timbres that…
Leonard Cohen - Kalvøyafestivalen, Bærum, Norway, June 30, 1985Nothing says summer like Leonard Cohen serenading a field full of Norwegians back in June of 1985. Right?? This very charming half-hour performance is well-worth a watch — is it the middle of the afternoon or the middle of the night? Who knows, but the sun is shining brightly as Lenny and his band shine even brighter, playing such faves as “Memories,” “The Story of Isaac” and “I Tried To Leave You.” You know, the songs of the…
You open the door and in come the bluebottles, wasps and gnats. Today though, despite the heat, I am totally focused on playing bass.In my head, the songs have had basslines playing alongside them for days, if not weeks. It's just that they didn't seem quite ready.I've just recorded bass on to a song, and suddenly the whole project seems grown-up. What I played was really simple, but sound is so complicated. In an instant, the resonance of the backing vocals came to the forefront, sounding…
The June 2026 music round-up comes to you fashionably late because I've been too busy Anthroconning. New Music Immediate ImpressionsA fair bit of new music this month! Death Cab for Cutie - I Built You a Tower The 2nd indie rock divorce epic of 2026 (after the latest American Football album). Doing my Death Cab discog review-through last year really reinvigorated my love for the band and I've been greatly enjoying this new album. While generally speaking this is perhaps what you'd expect from…
