Lily dancing to Boards of Canada
Had a nice teatime chill with Lily and Elsie last night whilst Katie went out tot he gym for the first time since Elsie was born… including some freeform art dance by Lily, totally unprompted, to my favourite album of all time. (more…)
Remix of ‘Glitterati’ by Merchandise
Bolton friends and wonderful pop band Merchandise have just ‘released’ my remix of their track ‘Glitterati’ on their website.
The remix was an interesting experiment in cutting things back to the core; the original vocals by Brad Wood are used from the track but nothing else and I decided an orchestral arrangement would go well with the reflective mood of the track. The idea behind this was also inspired by Cinerama’s ‘Airborne’ which featured David Gedge’s vocals directly on top of Cello and not much else. It’s something about the subtle but definitely northern dialect that lends itself to this and something that Brad shares with Gedge.
Listen (for a limited time only!) to my remix on Merchandise’s website here: Glitterati (Minnellium Mix). The remix will also go out on CD as a B Side to a single in the new year.
In praise of the rockafeller skank.
This doesn’t come easy. I’m not a mainstream person. Well, I am, really – that’s what all this is about, but I don’t occupy the middle ground that easily still. I’m 38 and it’s getting so much easier. My love of the Carpenters and Doris Day will be confessed openly soon (and if you think I’m joking, Stop, wait a minute Mr Postman and Move Over Darling).
I was sorting out the overcrowded and badly tagged iPod this evening for the first time … ever. The pleasure that a clean brak has given me is possibly a bit anal but I’m happy to admit that a tidy home is a happy home.
One thing that’s never been on there is FGat Boy Slim’s “You’ve Come a Long Way Baby” album from 1998. I never got round to burning it as Katie and I (and th near neighbours of our house in Gloucester Road, Cheltenham) had played it seemingly to death in 1998.
However, a bit of an audio audit has rekindled the flame that played it to death in the first place. Despite being a mainstream radio staple, The Rockafeller Skank is just a plain old killer and summarises the era. Chapeau, Quentin.
Tune of the spring: ‘Sometimes’ by Merchandise
Every once in a while I get to hear a tune and it grows – I guess we all do really – and so often for me these seem to be in spring and early summer for some reason. Last year, ‘Mathematics’ from Cherry Ghost hit the spot for Dave’s catchy number one.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been helping Brad from Cityscape Records put a couple of websites together, and one of their bands – Merchandise – put out their first ‘big’ single launch on Monday – and in the last few weeks, I’ve heard the single – ‘Sometimes’ – so many times but it’s one of those dreamy summer Zeitgeist moments that hits the spot for me every time at the moment. It’s uplifting, it’s twee, it’s melancholy, it’s simple, but above all, it’s just catchy and after two listens it’s inside your head for good. Great tune.
Great catchy tune – download it on the Cityscape Records website or watch the video below…
Oh, and please visit Merchandise’s lovely website.
Podcast: My Name Isn’t…
A few weeks now since I uploaded any tunes and even longer since I made any. Enjoy this bit of fun from the Minnellium audio vaults – a mash up of Eminem and the Black Crowes’ version of ‘Hard to Handle’. They go handsomely together, eh? Watch out for those lyrics, if you’re swearword-averse.
My Name Is