Autumn’s on the way. That means that I’m going to start posting on Sonic Breakfast with gay abandon.
My goodness fuck. What a summer it has been. At some point I’ll link into all of the festivals I’ve reviewed on eFestivals to prove that I’ve not been slacking even though persistent perusers of SB might think otherwise.
Favourite festivals this year weren’t about the music per se. Port Eliot... Go to this should it happen next year.. Stunning.. Festival No. 6.. In the same ball park (and I still need to finish my review).
Regardless, I do love the lovely music scene at home in Leicester… And my Mercury review for Sweet Billy Pilgrim says loads in a few words about why this transition from Summer to Autumn is broadly welcomed in this part of LE3. Photo’s courtesy of Phil Bull.
T’is the season to be gig going and what better way to kick that off than with this fine band of thrash-pastellers.
I really should stop taking these long breaks from blogging. I start to build up a bit of an audience and then, out of the blue, I post nothing for months. Such is the fickle, transient nature of this world that people will soon lose their Sonic Breakfast habit.
I’ve been busy you know. I threw myself into a relationship that ultimately didn’t work out. I’ve been to festivals. I’ve fulfilled a bucket list wish and been to a Eurovision. I’ve been writing some gig reviews for the Leicester Mercury.
In lazy list fashion, here are some links which’ll give insight to my last couple of months…
My Sonic Breakfast mailbox now stands at 808 unread mails. 808 feels like a good number at which I begin this cycle of regular blog writing once again. I’ve got lots of music to recommend. I hope you’re still with me on this adventure.
Dayflowers – Especially in moist shady places, they spread easily by cuttings and seed and by rooting of their prostrate stems. As the common name implies, the flowers fade quickly.
I’ve mentioned before on Sonic Breakfast how much I enjoy spending weekend time immersing myself in the Fresh On The Net listening post. 25 or so songs selected each week which the listener (you or I) can then shortlist into five picks.
To my shame, that was when dayflower first registered on my radar. It was my first time introducing FOTN to Amber and we both agreed that there was something hauntingly simple, excessively charming and utterly complex about their track, Sweetheart. I really should have clocked them before that. The singers voice did sound incredibly familiar!
It was a surprise to receive a Facebook message later that day from Dave Dhonau, a member of dayflower. I had no idea that this charming eccentric fizzball, a man with whom it’s always a pleasure to have a pint with, such is his conversational vibrancy, was a key part of dayflower. I had no idea that this was a band from my home city of Leicester. I had no idea that I’d been rating misfits (and I’m using that term positively) from the local scene earlier that day.
In so many ways though, dayflower have already transcended anything ‘local’. They might be based in this fine, moist shady place but already their focus on gigs spans beyond the city walls. Take the recent video that’s been produced for their song, Genie. It’s a charming short film made by Gwendolyn Rooker, a friend of Dave Dhonau’s from Philadephia. It’s perfect viewing for a track that glistens.
Dave says about Gwen, ” she is truly multi talented. A brilliantly creative soul. actress. Performance. artist. Clown. Puppet maker. Musician.” He adds, “I’m glad to say she has been my friend ever since we watched ‘Withnail & I’ on a rooftop in New York in 1998. Although she has the voice of a woman one could imagine thrashing David Byrne on the pool table in CBGB’s or battle rapping Patti Smith over the last chocolate chip cookie in 1978. A surprising and sweet and curious wonderful human.”
The flowers on this particular dayflower are showing no signs of fading fast.
Festival season is starting in earnest with The Great Escape down in Brighton from this Thursday. To say that I’m a little bit excited is a mild understatement. I’ve never been before but with so much new, live music to discover in a town that I don’t know that well… I’ll be that kid in a sweet shop again.
In truth, I’ve already sucked my first and second festival gobstopper of the year. Perhaps the Rock and Blues festival at Butlins Skegness in January doesn’t properly count but the wonderfully compact Handmade festival in Leicester was a fine way to spend much of the May bank holiday weekend. My eFestivals review has now been posted here.
I really should be voraciously poring over the schedules for The Great Escape. I sense that my plans should be meticulous if I want to see the custard cream of what’s on offer.. But instead, contrary to the end, I’ve been diverted by the latest video from Brian Lopez. To the best of my knowledge, Brian is not playing at The Great Escape. Indeed, he’s probably still at home over in the USA, packing his suitcase before heading across to Europe in a couple of days. He reaches England in June when he tours with Howe Gelb and Giant Sand. Those could be cool shows.
The video to Modern Man, a fine shimmer of a track taken from Brian’s Static Noise album, is something of a juxtaposition. A floral shirt frenzy, the suggestion is that the three characters within are far from the modern men being sung about by Brian. And when the might of the Samurai sword is released, I think we might all be aspiring elsewhere. The photography enthralls though and the scenery stuns. It’s a fine watch and a fab tune.
This isn’t the first video from Static Noise that has captured my attention either. A couple of months ago, I was going to write about the track, Crossfire Cries. It’s a tune that’ll get into your head. The accompanying video will appeal to those of us who still play with Lego when we’re supposed to be working.
It all brings me back to the video for Brian’s song ‘Persephone’. If you watch one video today, then watch this. A charming animation, it surely won’t fail to pluck at your heartstrings. I guess we all have secrets that we’ll take to our graves.
Mostly, I’d suggest that these three very different videos work because of the quality of the songs. Perfectly showcasing the talents of Brian Lopez, I’m off to listen to the complete album. And then, I’ll pack my suitcase for Brighton.
A friend of mine, Ellen, sent me a Facebook link for a band I’d never heard of. Ellen likes elaborate folk and clever classical stuff but we’ve been friends for long enough that I trust her taste when she’s sharing.
The track she shared was for a band called Peaness. I can’t decide whether that is the most terrible name for a band or the most brilliant. But, it simply doesn’t matter when the music is as good as this. Yes, I’m a sucker for the slightly punky indie tweenage pop of ‘Fortune Favours The Bold’. I’ve listened to it on Soundcloud about a dozen times this evening. And I’ll probably do the same again tomorrow.
At its heart, this is a song about doing things differently and getting away from it all. It’s about enjoying your own company, choosing to take your own path and kicking back against routine. It might be about escaping from a limiting relationship or it might be about no longer wanting to confine yourself to your bedroom when there’s a whole world out there waiting to be explored.
Whatever, it’s hard not to feel invigorated as you let the perky Peaness harmonies in. It’s uplifting, motivating and guaranteed to raise a smile. This three piece from Chester have set the bar high with their first ever release and I can’t wait to see what they might do next.
“I taught Jess music when she was at school, they’ll be up for any coverage you might be able to give”, Ellen mentioned. Surely, it won’t be long before Peaness are picked up by bloggers and others across the world? For now, Ms Woodrow can congratulate herself on such fine teaching and talent spotting.
Wish you were here. We’re having a wonderful time in the sunshine and the free bar is playing havoc with my sobriety. You’d love the views from the chalet – perhaps one day we’ll get to walk along the beach together. I’ll call you when I get home. I hope the job continues to go well. It must be quite a commute from your tree-lined avenue to that built-up tower block but I’m sure you’re coping. You always did cope. I’m glad we’re speaking again.
Pete.
X
There’s something incredibly glamorous and yet distinctly distant about the ‘Suburban girl’ video, recently released by Postcards From Jeff. Directed by Brighton-based film-maker, Steve Glashier, you get a real sense here that you’re digging into the dreams of the characters within. The story being told is by no means linear – and to try to fully grasp what’s going on will do your head in. But, that’s not to say it’s not worth the effort.
“It’s about the projection of fantasy; getting lost in the worlds of people we watch on the silver screen, obsession, glamour, and desire,” reveals Postcards From Jeff alter ego Joss Worthington. “It references being mesmerised by someone and the ideas you project onto them.”
And if this Yorkshire based producer and multi-instrumentalist is saying that it must be true.
Listen to the tune without the video and your imagination might still run riot. By all accounts, Modern Language, the album from which this track has been lifted is a bit of a tragic-romantic feast. I can’t wait to hear it.
Pete and Joanne have previously communicated by letter on Sonic Breakfast. I’m sure you’ll be as encouraged as me to see in the postcard above that Pete’s persistence is perhaps paying.
One of the many things often thrown at Eurovision by detractors is that the voting is a ridiculous con. Why should they spend hours investing in something when their country is ‘never going to win’? I’ve got little sympathy for such arguments and would politely suggest that such criticism is missing the point.
We all know that countries affiliated to the former Soviet Union vote en-bloc. We all know that there’s often a Scandinavian love-in. We all know that the best song rarely wins. I fail to see how any of this is a problem when you’ve got hours of fun leading up to the vote.
What bothers me more about Eurovision is when Countries enter songs with a message. The message is often a simple one such as ‘war is bad and peace is good’ or ‘I used to be really ugly but now I realise that beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ or ‘don’t shag sheep’. There’s quite a few of these songs entered this year. And a large proportion in this final ten.
THE NETHERLANDS Trijntje Oosterhuis – Walk Along
Trijntje does her best impression of a Geordie in the chorus of this. ‘Why-ay why-ay why-ay’, she sings. A bit like passing a road traffic accident.
NORWAY Mørland – A Monster Like Me
Morland is pure evil. Aside from sounding a little bit like Chris Martin at the start, we’re treated to the best opening couplet of this Eurovision, “Honey, I’m telling the truth. I did something terrible in my early youth”. I don’t think we ever find out the secrets behind this terror but I think it might refer to some stolen pick n’ mix from Woolworths. You monster Morland.
POLAND Monika Kuszynska – In The Name Of Love
After last years milk-churning, butter-squelching erotic selection from Poland, they revert back to a more normal choice with Monika. There’s not much to say about it. It’s dull and bland.
PORTUGAL Leonor Andrade – Há Um Mar Que Nos Separa
Marks for not singing in English but that’s as far as my praise goes. I could listen to this non-stop for hours and still not be able to tell you anything about it. I’d rather not listen to it non-stop for hours though.
ROMANIA Voltaj – De La Capat
Goodness, we’re really scraping the barrel in this last ten tunes. Blander than Poland and Portugal combined. Oh hang on – it’s a dual language effort. Half way through, Voltaj starts to sing in English. ‘You’ll be the reason to start all over again”, he sings. Tell you what, please don’t!
SERBIA Bojana Stamenov – Beauty Never Lies
I think this is one about how beauty is all about what’s on the inside of a person and that it’s very shallow to judge a book by its cover. I doubt that Bojana will be appearing on the front cover of ‘hello’ anytime soon. The tune is a grower.
RUSSIA Polina Gagarina – A Million Voices
Russia go all Disney and tell us that they believe in the dream of peace. It’s despatched in a decidedly passive-aggressive manner and is thus a bit threatening. I’m sure that Polina is a very nice person but this says nothing to me.
SWEDEN Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes
I quite like the opening verse to this. It’s vaguely country-ish and has a synthesized slide guitar sound . But then, it goes all dancey like that chap Avicii. Mans struggles to pronounce his ‘H’s’ – it sounds like ‘we are the ear holes of our time’ – perhaps we are?
SLOVENIA Maraaya – Here For You
Maraaya has a nice soul-ish twang to her voice. And there’s a couple of fiddle-breaks within. It’s all a bit frantic but i’m flattered to know that Maraaya is here for me. It’ll help me to sleep without nightmares. Perhaps.
SAN MARINO Anita Simoncini & Michele Perniola – Chain Of Lights
‘If we all light a candle, we’ll illuminate the night”, sing Anita and Michele. And somehow, by doing this we’re going to create world peace. Nice sentiment I suppose. Shit song though. Seriously, this is not a song to listen to if you have an ounce of cynicism in your body. Seeing as I’m cynically-obese, we were never going to get on. Will probably be loved by all of those who purchased a copy of ‘Candle In The Wind’ when Diana died.
And, with that, our time is up. There are a lot of good songs in this years Eurovision but, arguably, no great songs. The quirky edges seem to have been sanded down and now we’ve got an overdose of bland. It’s all perfectly professional and will, no doubt, be a great show to watch. But, somewhere the spark is missing.
Regardless, I’m going to be dancing like a loon and waving my flag for the UK when in Vienna’s state arena. Today’s video choice comes courtesy of the monster from Norway and the angels from San Marino (I love the credits at the end of the video which last half as long as the song & appear to list all of the residents of San Marino – a treat there).
Last year, I was in Barcelona for the Sonar music festival. It’s a very trendy exhibition of the very best in electronic dance music and, as such, possibly the last place you’d expect to enter into a conversation about the Eurovision Song Contest.
But that’s not accounting for Rian. Perhaps it was the abundance of daytime Estrella or simply the euphoria of dancing to FM Belfast in the sunshine but, as I talked to this cheeky effervescent Irishman, we discovered a mutual love of all things Eurovision. He had it all planned out. In May, he was definitely going to be heading to Vienna to experience the Eurovision first hand for the first time.
This was something that had always been on my bucket list and so, there in the Catalan sunshine, we shook on a plan; Vienna, we’re coming to get you in May. Since May, Rian has also enrolled Liam and Cathy onto the trip. Johnny Logan is apparently busy elsewhere.
It’s appropriate that the opening song for day three of my pithy Eurovision reviews is the Irish entry. If the UK don’t win I feel duty bound, by association, to throw some weight behind this tune.
IRELAND Molly Sterling – Playing With Numbers
Unfortunately, this doesn’t feel like a Eurovision Classic but rather like a painting by numbers effort. Here’s a number for Molly to play with; Nil points.
ISRAEL Nadav Guedj – Golden Boy
This is so bad it’s great. Nadav begins by coming across as a needy sort by moaning to his Mum that somebody has broken his heart again. But, then he gets all Europop arrogant on us (‘I’m a golden boy, come here to enjoy’). There’s reference to Tel Aviv and spectacular key changes. Pure tosh.
ICELAND María Olafs – Unbroken
‘One step at a time’, sings Maria. Maybe she needs to invest in a pair of shoes with more grip. I really don’t like this but I have a sneaky feeling it’s the sort of tune that will capture Eurovision hearts and minds.
ITALY Il Volo – Grande Amore
These guys are quite well known aren’t they? But then, so was Engelbert Humperdinck. It’s exactly what you’d expect. Light operatics and dramatics, I expect they’ll wear dress suits and women will throw underwear at them. Does Grande Amore translate as massive cock?
LITHUANIA Monika Linkyte & Vaidas Baumila – This Time
An upbeat number that seems to have a bit of everything. Banjo, handclaps and a couple ‘feeling love, round and round and round and round’. I am giddy with excitement. I’m going for a lie-down.
LATVIA Aminata – Love Injected
So this is where La Roux has disappeared too. Sadly, nothing like last year’s Latvian Eurovision entry. It’s got a bit of a dubstep in the middle and is actually ok. I wonder if love is the only drug that Aminata has injected.
MOLDOVA Eduard Romanyuta – I Want Your Love
‘Hey girl, remind me why we’re not together? We’ve got a magnetic connection.’ Sings Eduard in the opening line of this upbeat piece of electronic dance. You can’t help thinking that with a bit of psychotherapy, he’ll discover the answer to this question.
MONTENEGRO Knez – Adio
It takes so long for Knez to start singing in this that I wonder if he’s cut his losses and headed back to Montenegro to let this simply be an instrumental. But, all is well in the world and it soon builds into theatrical crescendo. A song all about saying goodbye to his pet goat (apparently).
F.Y.R. MACEDONIA Daniel Kajmakoski – Autumn Leaves
Daniel tells us that ‘my heart is beating like a million drums and he’s falling like the Autumn leaves’. Now, I’m no medical expert but when he confesses that he’s also ‘trying to find a way to breathe’ I suggest he’d best get to a hospital pronto. The Eurovision is no place for a man with a heart condition. Too much excitement. Clearly.
MALTA Amber – Warrior
For many reasons, I want to like this song from Malta. It’s a feisty effort from Amber. You certainly get a sense that she’s more of a warrior than the wet lettuce leaf ‘worrier’ from Georgia who has also entered a song with this title. But then Amber ruins it all by saying that she’s a ‘conker’. Why would anybody say that? Malta have teased us again.
And, with that, another ten songs have been previewed. There seems to be less quirky excitement this year and more songs that have been written by committee. I’ve got to choose golden boy, Nadav from Israel in my video features else he’d moan to his Mum; torn on another to choose but when in doubt go for the car crash that is Moldova..
You know what? I think Eurovision was better when countries sang in their own language. We might not have had a clue what was being sung about but you could let your imagination run wild.
“Perhaps this one is about time being like thunder”, said no one ever. “Perhaps this one is about the sexual fetishes of a gentleman who ordinarily has an unhealthy obsession with model railways,” we all imagined . Didn’t we? Have I over-shared again? Oh bollocks.
Better get on with my review of songs 11 to 20 in this years Viennese whirl.
GERMANY Ann Sophie – Black Smoke
Another break up song. Ann Sophie sounds a little bit like a Paloma Faith tribute act. One of the better German entries of recent years but still a pretty uncomfortable listen if I’m honest.
DENMARK Anti Social Media – The Way You Are
In summary, Summery pop from Denmark, this could be a song rejected by One Direction. My guess is that it’s very popular on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Anti Social Media – pah, pandering to the lowest common denominator more like.
ESTONIA Elina Born & Stig Rästa – Goodbye To Yesterday
My favourite so far. Remember a Britpop band called Rialto? This should have been recorded by them. A moody 60’s influenced mod-soul classic. Last year, I fell in love with Estonia’s neighbours, Latvia and supported their folky cake baking all the way to semi final failure. Let’s hope Elina and Stig fare better.
SPAIN Edurne – Amanecer
First in a language that’s not English (of sorts). I like Spain and want to like this. I’m afraid It’s nothing more than an annoying wail though. This might mean Edurne stands a chance of victory.
FINLAND Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät – Aina Mun Pitää
A true oddity here. It’s only one and a half minutes long for starters. It’s punky and harks back to the noise made by previous Finnish winner, Lorde. It seems devoid of chorus and verse but might just do well. This isn’t simply a song contest any more after all. Some would debate that it ever was.
FRANCE Lisa Angell – N’oubliez Pas
Songs not in English are like buses. You wait ages for one to arrive and then…. Instantly forgettable French ballad from this cherub. Don’t understand a word of it.
UNITED KINGDOM Electro Velvet – Still In Love With You
When it was announced that the United Kingdom was being represented by this dose of electro-swing, the world of social media went crazy. How could we debase the contest with such nonsense? Personally (and I realise this is a controversial opinion), I think this entry is our best since Scooch were flying the flag. Hopefully, this’ll do better than that unmitigated crash landing.
GEORGIA Nina Sublatti – Warrior
There are two songs with the title ‘Warrior’ in this years competition. Unfortunately for Nina, she struggles to pronounce the word. Instead, she’s more of a ‘worrier’ in this tune. I can understand why she’s worried having now had the misfortune to listen to this soft rock twice.
GREECE Maria-Elena Kyriakou – One Last Breath
It’s another song that wants to be a James Bond theme tune. Maria-Elena would appear to be a fantasist. I can think of better things to be doing if you genuinely do have ‘one last breath’ than warbling a la Mariah. File under Greek Austerity.
HUNGARY Boggie – Wars For Nothing
If this had been sung in Hungarian, I could have amused myself by imagining that Boggie was singing about making love with a man who groomed donkeys by day and cooked kebabs by night. But, it’s sung in English (just) and I sense it’s an earnest consideration about the pointlessness of war. Twelve points guaranteed from Russia then.
And, with that we’re half way there. I’m going to break with tradition and feature two and a half videos today.. My favourites so far Estonia, the odd submission from Finland and, being patridiotic for a moment, the wafflingly brilliant entry from the UK.
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