|
On her splendid new album “
Version Originale”, Lisa Miller gives us a gem of a song,
“New Record”, about the thrill of getting a new record,
the joy of discovering a new voice with something to say in their
own way, a record that you just want to play over again, a record
that you just want to live with, a record that’s like a new
best friend.
Kelly Stoltz’s “Antique Glow “
is like that for me (& perhaps you). He’s my new thinking
buddy. It’s Kelley’s second album, I missed the first,
written played engineered & produced by Kelly in a bedroom with
a 4 track reel-to-reel recorder. Originally a limited edition vinyl
release, housed in painted over op shop acquired album covers that
can be seen in the CD booklet, it has that homegrown feel. He has
a warm & friendly unmiserable deep talk/sing voice, a gently
skewed world view & a rich palette of guitar keyboards &
even glockenspiel that combine into a sound that belies it’s
rudimentary roots. On the opening track he seems to be channeling
an entire orchestra, at others he sounds like he’s playing
underwater. Kelley sounds as if he ‘s got the same record
collection as you have, Beck, Velvet Underground, Pavement, Matt
Johnson, Syd Barret etc…but isn’t trying to be any of
them. It’s a very organic sounding record in spite of the
amount of multi tracking that has gone on. Kelley has put together
an understated song cycle that drifts from style to style &
track to track with a gentle ease & personality that makes him
a regular houseguest at my place & maybe yours.
You probably already know what an entertaining
exuberant hilarious & smart movie “24 hour Party people”
is. It’s made even better on double DVD with extras that include
audio commentaries from star Steve Coogan & the man he portrays,
Tony Wilson, 24 deleted scenes, interviews with people from the
era including Factory Records cover artist Peter Saville & even
an amusing video of Shaun Ryder’s “Scooter Girl’’.
Shaun’s new disc recorded in Australia & released under
the title “Amateur Night In The Big Top” has given me
lots of laughs. Even though the electro backing is pretty naff,
his deadpan delivery of some hilarious wordplay, puns & pronouncements
reminds me of the now dormant John Cooper Clarke, his fried brain
& worn out voice deliver a droll diatribe about I’m not
sure what that is entertainingly compelling.
I’ve been getting a very positive reaction
to the tracks that I’ve played from Fila Brazillia’s
new double CD B2. It’s one of those universal muzak esperanto
style of discs that you could hear in bars, cafes & apartments
anywhere in the world. But they manage to add a festive spin that
makes the 21 tracks culled from cross cultural sources sound like
a less stoned Kruder & Dorfmeister mix. It’s music that
fits wherever you want to listen to it, making the world a smaller
& warmer place.
But the most chakra opening disc that I’ve
encountered for a while is the magnificent 2CD 1DVD expanded version
of Jeff Buckley’s debut EP “Live at Sin-e”. The
picture on the cover tells the story, a small funky mismatched furniture
café with the stripling Jeff standing in one corner with
his guitar & amp wedged between a counter & a doorway. It’s
his most intimate & stripped back album that gives you an insight
into not only the music but through the relaxed stage patter, the
man. The 22 tracks include early versions of songs that would appear
on his “Grace” album but also many otherwise unavailable
songs including covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morisson, Nina
Simone, Billie Holliday, Led Zeppelin (!) & more. It’s
a revelation. I had grown tired of the almost Christ like devotion
that some of his fans imprisoned his memory in, but this record
exposes the human being that he truly was. The boy/man’s posthumous
releases have been variable in quality but this disc may be the
only record you really need by Jeff Buckley. Essential & quite
awe-inspiring.
You may have heard about “Shantaram “
& it’s author Greg Roberts, he received a bit of media
attention not so much about the book itself but the amazing life
the author has lived. In the 80s Greg ‘s world fell apart
& he became a heroin addict, to finance his habit he became
the most wanted hold up man in Australia, he was caught & sentenced
to 19 years gaol but escaped & fled the country to India which
is where Shantaram picks up the story. It’s a weighty tome,
over 1000 pages of dense text that plunges Greg & the reader
into the underbelly of India, including the black market, drug dealing,
prison, leper slums, fighting with the mujahadeen in Afghanistan
& more. It’s a fabulously exhausting read (probably 800
pages would have been a better length) & the faults in the writing
style are obvious but the tale is so compelling & intrinsically
interesting that you ignore them because you are too busy turning
the page . My holiday read. Greg will be my studio guest at 5.00
this Friday 3/10
back
to top
|
