song for a corpus: the go gospel

The Go Gospel: 'Pichador' from Meat Bingo on Vimeo.

This video from my friend Matt, made for his band really made me smile. 
Good to see some band-histrionics. And red smoke.

 My, I'm proud of my friends…

song for a corpus: the darkest place i know

I've been collecting songs about light and shade for some time now.

This is one of them.
And it sits with its feet in both camps: light tone, dark title.

song for a corpus: four

 

Was given a mix recently and this, by She & Him, was one of the beauties on it.
Funny when actresses turn to music… I'm always slightly (unfairly?) suspicious, but in this case it seems to work.

Reminds me a little of this John Cale track. And perhaps this one too. Old, old favourites. The whole album - Paris 1919 - is rather special in fact. Looking at She & Him's website, Don't Look Back - their new song - has a quite a fun video too (pictured above). May have to splash out on the album.

remembering

And you wait. You wait for the one thing

that will change your life,

make it more than it is –

something wonderful, exceptional,

stones awakening, depths opening to you.

In the dusky bookstalls

old books glimmer gold and brown.

You think of lands you journeyed through,

of paintings and a dress once worn

by a woman you never found again.

And suddenly you know: that was enough.

You rise and there appears before you

in all its longings and hesitations

the shape of what you lived.

R.M. Rilke, Remembering, Book of Images

This, read whilst listening to Alexis Ffrench the other morning. 
We three make good bedfellows.

tandem

 

Beautiful opening titles but sad, sad film that makes you think about fate and all missed opportunities… and mostly how they shot this sequence so that the rain drips so... perfectly… past the camera.

Watch and enjoy the tremendous use of a technicolour palette - it serves to cheer things a little.
And of course plenty of, no, only, songs. All in French.

And the loveliest rendition of My Funny Valentine?
(Sorry, just couldn't help it today…)

More importantly than all the above though: 
The birds are singing when I wake up, and as the light fades.
The snowdrops are out.
The first daffodil head has appeared in my garden.
Spring is on its way.
Thank goodness.

song for a corpus: end

Musical fripperies for Friday…
It's becoming quite a habit.

The film was... ok. I remained entertained. But mainly because the sound was just so good. 

And the soundtrack is a real favourite right now. The only problem is that when I listen to it in my car driving, it's like I think I'm navigating space about 50 000 years from now. I go all shiney and androidy and frankly take bends quite a lot too fast… It's just not quite safe. If you're out there on the wild roads of the south west folks, watch out for Peugeot 107s with a little too much imagination, thinking they're spaceships and ignoring the fact that they only have 1 litre engines…

song for a corpus: not afraid

Essie Jain "I'm Not Afraid Of The Dark" (Wanderer Session #29) from Kevin de Wilde on Vimeo.

For the man who knew all about flowers and who saw the potential in everything that others discarded.
And to sleeping, and those who know and love it.

song for a corpus: they killed john henry

Justin Townes Earle.

As C once famously said to another young, male musician of note, with her thumbs raised skyward and her friends all hooting: Awesome.

And yup - he is Steve Earle's son.

We see him Saturday night.

song for a corpus: jay jay pistolet

Some Friday sounds…
Two songs to guide us gently by the hand into the weekend.
Genius.
Shame Jay Jay Pistolet isn't making music these days. 
(But not sure I'll miss the videos as much. So, so bad!)

song for a corpus: pour que l'amour me quitte

Life seems to be a succession of extreme highs, followed by extreme lows.This, handed round on a whole spectrum of mixes over the last couple of years, feels like it needs to come out again right now. On all sorts of levels.

song for a corpus: listen to the music

And while we're momentarily taking a heady, musical glance backward, it's always worth revisiting the Doobies and this track. Particularly as I'm pretty certain they're releasing a new album shortly. Perfect sister to Wednesday's Faces.

song for a corpus: ooh la la

For my lovelies H, C, T and all the others I spent New Year's Eve with this year, including all my talented 3rd years at UCF. This song will forever remind me of the optimism that 2011 must surely bring! To us all! It's been ages since I heard it, and couldn't even remember who it's by, but then coincidentally we heard it again on the radio whilst out on a mission to blow the cobwebs from our brains on some Cornish clifftops.

I feel a new heady mix coming on…

song for a corpus V

The Testimony of Patience Kershaw, a song about a young girl, set in the mining industries of the 19th century. Originally by Frank Higgins, but here sung by Rachel and Becky Unthank, otherwise known as The Unthanks. Another song that serves to remind me of my connection to this particular location and its rich and difficult history. A nice bit of orchestra, lyrics that catch your heart and a simple video with integrity .

song for a corpus IV

Allo Darlin and Let's Go Swimming - an apt and timely reminder at a time when I'm making tri-weekly cold-water plunges and the big question looming in my mind is how long I'll be able to keep it up if the temperature continues to plummet. (A big race at our local beach the other weekend… a good hundred people plunging in and having fun. But now it's quieter out there; icy water and winds drive the hoards away.) 

No cool video, but a great song that I copied from a friend this summer, listened to once and just rediscovered. It even sounds like they mention 'Pendennis' - but this cannot be! Think it must be 'pendanus'. Either way an excellent reminder of why I'm here, doing this and why for now, it's right.

……

Afterword: I've just returned from the beach, and the calm waters pictured above are no longer. Turbulent, bolshy waves made swimming an epic - if not rather undignified - adventure. Try getting in and out elegantly when you're being repeatedly pounded. All with a gaping audience. But my, you feel brave when no one else dares… even if you did lose your swimming hat in the process. Inspiration of a different kind. Awe, I think perhaps.

song for a corpus III

So a lot of the songs on this mix that I seem to be slowly creating have ended up being female vocalists. Both of the following are no exception - but there's the addition of some male backing too. Perhaps that goes some way to toughen things up a little… just a little. Anyway these two - as recommended by the delightful G and her boy M - are just treats. 

Listen and sigh: Don't Watch Me Dancing and Unattainable both by Little Joy. 

And Gotta Cheer Up by Cotton Jones. (Particularly like the spaces between the songs on this album - Paranoid Cocoon. We listened to it late, on vinyl, and sighed over the threads between one track and another. This is the second track on the album and the merge from the first song to this one is seamless. I love it when people think like that - and when you notice it, everything seems just as it should be for a moment. Makes you shiver.)

Er, so, 1960 anyone?

song for a corpus II

I'd forgotten all about This Mortal Coil - and particularly these two songs. I spent a lot of my teenage years listening to this and wailing over various (lost/unrequited) loves. Funny when something is so familiar from so long ago - like an old friend making contact again. And despite these teen-angst associations - those memories make me smile quite a lot now - the lyrics are beautiful.

Mr Somewhere and You and Your Sister.

song for a corpus I

Have been living very quietly the last few weeks. All the better then that the song to first dance into my ears and capture my attention is this: Deer Tick's Ashamed.

Enjoyed whilst whizzing through countryside, after something like a perfect day at Potager: good food with good friends, headstands with small people, Gary Allson's beautiful, beautiful hand-turned bowls piled high and peeked at through the window of his studio (please do take a second to go here and vote for him in The British Design Awards), Annie the orphan chicken and sea swimming in choppy waters.