january 8th music of 2019 and 2020

This radio hour by Jimmy Martin of Baba Yaga’s Hut gave the first ‘stop everything what is this?’ musical moment of the year. It’s COCK OF THE NORTH by Smagghe & Cross. Which isn’t actually a record from 2020, but it was regardless enough to get me to briefly switch to Spotify and to start the 2020 playlist. I also added something from the Short Fictions record which I was listening to yesterday, and some older stuff that Abs and I listened to in the car on our short trip away last weekend. The playlist is a diary as much as it is ‘what’s good this year’.

Which reminds me that my 2019 playlist is now complete, I suppose. You can listen to it on Spotify here. There’s some real bangers on there, as well as some curiosities that I would’ve cadged from some weird radio or newsletter at some point, but it does conclude with TWO HALVES by Richard Dawson which I sent everyone mad on New Year’s Eve singing the chorus to on loop.

december 31st don't stop.

This year has had its challenges. And its high points.

I hope that the next is good for you. Frankly, I hope it is for me. But for us all, also.

I like this little pirate radio station of mine, broadcasting through the night from North London. (h/t Warren Ellis, of course). It is been a little highlight of the Autumn. I don’t think that I’ll be returning to Twitter on a regular basis, other than to post these links & to check the lists that I have set up in Tweetdeck that have info I can’t find elsewhere. But I’ve seen enough to know it hasn’t been smooth anywhere, really.

Don’t stop.

19th december MUSIC

A quick broadcast from out here in North London to say that there is SO MUCH good music buried in the Quietus Top 100 albums of 2019. If you like unusual sounds, you owe it to yourself to work your way through it. Here are some highlights for me so far:

THE REELING Bríghde Chaimbeul - “A native Gaelic speaker, her style is rooted in her indigenous language and culture but draws inspiration from a variety of piping traditions such as from Cape Breton, Eastern Europe and Ireland.”

ANALOG FLUIDS OF SONIC BLACK HOLES Moor Mother - “Moor Mother is the viscerally charged output of Philadelphia based interdisciplinary artist, Camae Ayewa.”

STUNNING LUXURY Snapped Ankles - “Snapped Ankles were formed in 2011 out of one of East London’s warehouse communities…they’re a bunch of artists and film geeks who are determined to cram some old-school fright into the city slickers.”

METAPROGRAMAÇÃO deafkids - “Like Motörhead on Ayahuasca.”

And, if you want to keep The Quietus alive and keep them paying people to dig out and write about such amazing things please consider donating some money to them here.

10th december trade-offs in the working routine

Usually, when I work at home, I listen to music. Something that can sit in the background, hopefully something ambient from NTS or something like that. But Wilbur prefers to be somewhere quieter, and so when the music goes on he often trots off into the next room, jumps on the bed in there and curls up for a nap.

I’ve decided, today, that it’s better to have a dog in the room with you when you’re working than it is to have music on.

10th december everybody hide

I logged in to my weather app this morning to check the temperature and find out if I was going to need a second layer for the morning run. Was surprised to see this.

It was actually pretty calm outside.