St. Andrew's Day

Today is St. Andrew's Day, the Patron Saint of Scotland. This is not a national holiday here (it might be a different story after independence), and nowhere near as big a deal as St. Patrick's Day is (hell, I think St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by half the planet).

But, what the heck, I've survived a week back at work, it's three weeks until term finishes, and I got paid yesterday (hmm, guess what I do when it arrives - other than paying the bills, obviously).

So here's some scottish stuff for you, and just to let you know, I interviewed Malcolm Middleton today, so that will be on the blog soon.

First up, the greatest song by the greatest scottish band EVER (IMHO).

Delgados -'No Danger.' mp3

Along with getting into death metal and grime this year, I've also been discovering folk. This is a gem (yup, I do listen to some music pre-1976).

John Martyn -'Solid Air.' mp3

I love the whole early eighties aesthetic (I may have mentioned this before). This is a classic:

Fire Engines -'Candyskin.' mp3

..Mind you, the late eighties threw up some gems too...

The Shamen -'Jesus Loves Amerika.' mp3

and so did the nineties... : )

Urusei Yatsura -'Hello Tiger (Peel Session).' mp3

And I'm planning something special for December. Watch this space...

Clutching for definitions

It's odd to think I'd barely heard much John Martyn at the start of this year. Sure, I knew the name and had heard one or two tracks, but having borrowed a 'best-of' from the library (My local library has some excellent stuff that has enabled me to educate myself about all sorts of stuff I'd barely heard for about 60p, roughly $1.20 in US Dollars per CD for three weeks) I had to investigate further. I loved One World and Grace and Danger too, but of the studio albums I have heard so far, I think 1973's Solid Air is my favourite of what I have heard.

Why did I call this post clutching for definitions? Because the more I investigate John Martyn's music, the more I realise that just as 'pop' and 'indie' are ever increasingly vague, so too are folk and jazz. There are a lot of folk and jazz influences on Solid Air, and as well as Martyn's voice and guitar playing which are pretty damn gorgeous, Danny Thompson's double bass playing is stunning too. The title track was about Martyn's friend Nick Drake, who Thompson had played with, with another of 17 Seconds' favourites, Richard Thompson.

I would urge you to go and buy this album-which you can almost certainly pick up very reasonably (it can be downloaded for £5.49 from iTunes UK, for example, though I'd rather you supported your local record store).

I hope these whet your appetite:

John Martyn - 'Solid Air.' mp3

John Martyn - 'I'd Rather Be the Devil.' mp3

John Martyn -'May You Never.' mp3

Music and pain never sounded so good, so beautiful, so lovely.