Nine Feet Underground

Gotta start somewhere, though clearly not with arithmetic, and the start is my top 10 songs of 2019. There's a Spotify playlist imaginatively titled 'Top 10 Songs of 2019' which currently stands at 25 songs, but I've hardly started, so ya know, like all good things, it's gonna grow...oh, and just so as y'know, they're in no particular order, no need to take offence Ed and I really do like your haircut, Julie! Frankly, I can't be arsed to make an equivalent YouTube playlist (the tools! the tools!) but will splatter, smatter and repeatedly batter this post with YT songs from the list, as the urge takes me. The further I delve into 2019, the more songs I find, so I guess I should probably take the advice of the Skints... After the "crowbar-ing" of that song into this thread, I should be a little bit more careful with the next one, or I'll end up Enough of this tomfoolery, heading off in another direction, here's ...

Or is it?  Le SuperHomard's 'Meadow Lane Park' could make the top 10, and from it here's the title track... [Le SuperHomard are one of several musically interesting French bands and artists - others include Aquaserge (no new album in 2019?), La Souterraine (too many albums in 2019!!!), Laure Briard and Halo Maud, to mention but a few.]

Another album that won't make my top 10 - 'Free' by Iggy Pop. Not a bad album, probably better than we have any right to expect, and certainly way better than it could have been. Iggy says he's been re-invigorated by his sideline as a BBC Radio 6 Music DJ, specifically by the new bands he's heard and played. It shows. Good on him and, let's face it, it's great that he's still alive after the life he's lived. I'm not sure anyone would have predicted he'd have outlived his friend/mentor/producer, David Bowie. Life, eh? Twists and turns no one can predict. I've chosen 'Loves Missing' from the album - it can speak for itself.

I still haven't finished listening to all the albums that are candidates for my "Best Albums of 2019" review, though I do already know what will be the best re-issue of 2019, that is, unless I decide to make box sets a category of their own. In the meantime, here's a track from an album from 2019 that won't make the top 10:  from Jenny Hval's 'The Practice of Love', here is the hauntingly beautiful, 'High Alice' - shame the rest of the album isn't as good. (I should add it's not a bad album, just that, with the exception of maybe one other track, it doesn't quite work, much as I enjoyed it)

" A sort of release "

" Into the night we all come back to "

" Even if it's only  To light up your life for a little while "

" I feel that lasting moments are coming far and few between "

" How will all this affect me "

" Beautiful people are queuing to drown "

" Burning in the corner is the only one who dreams he had you with him "

" You'll be doing alright with your Christmas of white "

" Rational and poetical, summing up contradictions "

" And in the twisting of two straight lines  Not much changes" This album, 'Yawn', and its piano and voice child, 'Yawny Yawn', have been the backdrop for much of this year and this song is one I've often returned to.

"Man, I think I'm going mad again..."

"I long for you..."

"...what you see is what you get, eh..."

Some of my favourite things in December are the best of the year lists in the music magazines (and also best books of the year, but that's for another blog), mainly to discover things I may have missed -  those hidden gems that passed you by first time around. Thus far, I've seen best of lists from Rough Trade, Uncut, Louder Than War, Shindig!, Mojo, Prog and Record Collector with The Guardian, Wire, NME and maybe a few others still to come. Much as I love these lists they do challenge me - despite all the albums I have  already heard this year - there's always a shed load of albums I must listen to or dip in to, otherwise how will Santa know what to bring me on Christmas Day? Many of these lists have particular bias in line with the magazine's focus or editorial policy: Louder Than War - white women/men with guitars/indie; Prog - pretty self-explanatory; Wire - leftfield/outer limits/anything goes; Shindig! - sounds like '60s or '70s music; and Mojo - ma...

Last time I saw Genesis - at Knebworth in 1978 - Steve Hackett had already left the band and they'd just released the aptly titled, 'And Then There Were Three'.  Looking back at the albums Genesis released after Steve Hackett left  - and I include 'And Then There Were Three' in that number - it's clear that, whatever the song credits may suggest, he had a big influence on the sound and songwriting and his departure coincided with the end of my interest in their albums.  I'd go further and say, lyrically at least, losing Peter Gabriel also negatively affected the songwriting, though that's one for another day... From Hillage to Hackett in twenty-four hours - and, a fter the magnificence of Gong and Steve Hillage's performance in Aylesbury the previous night, this was going to have to be good, though several sources had suggested we'd not be disappointed. Friends met, drinks in hand, we took to our seats in the circle, front row ...

Steve Hillage live twice in the same year?  You spoil me... ...not only that, but  a chance to see Gong live playing their own new songs as well as playing as Steve Hillage's band is an opportunity not to be missed... ...and so it was, on a cold and wet Friday evening in November, I began the 35 mile drive North to Aylesbury in the rush hour. After a meal with a good friend it was off to the Waterside Theatre, a venue I'd never visited before, to the gig hosted/promoted by the legendary Friars Aylesbury music club. Seated at the back row in the circle provided a perfect view of the stage: question is would the sound be any good? Bang on 7:30pm Gong took to the stage, fronted by Kavus Torabi, and from the off any doubts about the acoustics were dispelled - the sound was clear and sharp. Kavus even remarked on how impressed they were with the acoustics when they set up and rehearsed earlier that day. Kavus made it clear this wasn't going to be a Gong nos...

Gnod playing in Reading?  At South Street Arts Centre! I cannot miss this... A cold Thursday night beckons, get there early, get some drinks in and see the support, Typical Hunks, a local band.   Checked them out on Bandcamp, sound OK - always good to hear new bands. Yep, nicely set up for the evening. Typical Hunks took to the stage - a two-piece, guitar, bass and a drum machine - let's hear it for the trusty drum machine, a revival, perhaps? Didn't warm to them at first, but as the drum machine cranked up, more rhythmic numbers were played. Bass lines and drum patterns snaking around each other, sprinkled atop with angular, spiky guitar lines and equally spiky vocals.  The magic formula slowly emerged. Thirty minutes or so later, they were spent, done. Would I seek them out? Maybe - if they were on the bill, I'd watch them. Figure there was a kernel of something in their tunes that could become something interesting... Grab another drink ahead of Gno...

Some days I can't be doing with all this fussy melody and harmony shit. Let's face it, it's overrated. Some days my brain just needs sounds that battle with the noise within.  Trying to change what can't be changed. Trying to find warmth where there is none. Trying to not be one, amongst many, always ending up one. Sea of feedback, ocean of noise, fog of reverb, swallow me up, make me none amongst the infinite. Les Rallizes Dénudés, take it away...

Acid Mothers Temple have been on my 'must see' list for some time, but for one reason or another I've missed out on tour after tour, so the chance to see them in Oxford was something I couldn't miss. My son and I arrived early for the gig in time to grab some excellent Turkish food and drinks before heading a few doors down to The Bullingdon.  Who should we see hanging around outside, waiting to get access to the inexplicably locked dressing room, only  AMT in civvies, and I couldn't resist taking a shot of them, though I did stop short of getting a selfie! Organised/promoted by Divine Schism, the gig was originally to be hosted at The Jericho Tavern, but for some reason at the last minute it was moved a few miles down the road to The Bullingdon on the Cowley Road.  The downside of the move was that the curfew in East Oxford was 10, rather than 11 in Jericho, and with a bill including two local bands, it meant sets were to be kept tight and equipment ch...

After June's relative gig madness, the months of July and August were gig-free, partly due to my European travels, so it was good to be back at South Street Arts Centre in the last days of September. Better still it was to see the man behind of one of my top 5 album's of 2018, Bill Ryder-Jones. Support act was Lucy Gaffney, ably assisted by her brother, Thom, on guitar and occasional backing vocals. As far as I can tell Lucy has no material released under her own name (she and her brother have recorded together under the band name MMODE) though during the set she mentioned she was working on an EP with James Skelly of The Coral. (Note: The image above is not mine and comes from Lucy's FB page) It was a good set and a great warm-up for Bill: there were songs that struck a chord and Lucy's voice has a strength and depth that brought life to the songs. It will be interesting to see what the recorded songs are like and whether she records with a band or jus...

Empty Sometimes I just feel like my insides have been ripped out. There is a fucking great big gaping hole at the centre of me. There is a bottomless ache, but none of my vital organs are gone. My heart, my lungs, my stomach, all that machinery that turns food into energy, into every fucking day of being alive, that’s still there. Endlessly, ceaselessly allowing another day to dawn. And another. And another. And another. On and on and on. Never stopping. Never filling the void.