Season 468 - Hi, You Don't Know Me Yet But...

So in 2013, I was (briefly) a bachelor living up the road from the best venue in town, the Wedgewood Rooms. Tiny, dingy, sticky floor, black paint everywhere sort of place that always makes for the best gigs. One night I went to see The Joy Formidable (who really I should have attempted this week at some point) and I met a guy there who really I ought to have swapped numbers with. He suggested that I come down and see Kodaline a couple weeks later, so I thought why not.

Turns out Kodaline were a soft-rock ballady Keane-lite and not really my cup of tea at the time, although their performance was pretty good. And I learnt of the wondrous invention that is the e-bow that night.

But the bigger takeaway was the support act. Out comes a guy and a girl dressed like an Amish couple, out from LA to support an Irish band on their first tour in a tiny Portsmouth venue, the girl is all spaced out and pretentious, the guy wielding a strat and a magnificent beard, and they play half an hour of some of the coolest synth-pop I've heard in my life. They've had a few EPs and an album or two since then and they seem to have got more arty and less Amish from following them on Facebook, but there's one or two songs I absolutely love on that record they released that year.

Here's one of them, and a handy excuse to try the Korg MIDI I bought the other week.

 
SOTU 468- "She Don't Squash Bugs" - Dirk Hamilton (1976) In '76 I was a DJ on the campus radio station at Sam Houston State and noticed a newly issued album with a cover depicting an interesting looking guy dressed like a sailor and standing behind an old door next to a dog. It was titled "You Can Sing On The Left Or Bark On The Right." I gave it a listen and absolutely loved it. The songs were humorous, vibrant and uplifting. A stand out to me was this one, which (apologies) Dirk's version is much more up tempo. Dirk has recorded 20 albums and is still active (as much as musicians can be these days). Check him out!
 
A relative unknown? I live in a Euro-bubble, so I wouldn't know. This is the first song my kids wanted me to hear when I arrived in Switzerland in 2013. There is a link in the description for an animated video for the song that is super cute!

 
Hi again, here is an original in response to Jim’s prompt. Jim, I unashamedly stole your line, ‘toiling in obscurity’. Thanks for that.

Bolt From The Blue, Liz Brinker, 2021
 
I love a lot of different music.
But there's not much I love more than Thin White Rope.
I can understand why some people wouldn't like them. Sprawling, burnt out guitar driven desert rock isn't for everybody, I guess. And Guy Kyser's deranged, over dramatic style of singing can be a bit much for some tastes.
But I love them.
Give the albums 'Moonhead' or 'In The Spanish Cave' a listen or, if you're really in the mood for apocalyptic feedback drenched madness, the single Ants Are Cavemen (which features on my t-shirt).
Whichever, listen through the biggest speakers you can find and turn it up as loud as your neighbours can stand.

 
here is another great song i found back when i was doing fan vids. i hadn't heard of christopher anton before i happened on this over on youtube, i was originally listening to "i feel you" by schiller and this one came up as a recommended vid - sometimes youtube does get it right! i used the christopher anton and the schiller songs for vids, but after a while the vids got blocked because of copyright on the tv clips - oh, the pain you go through when you nick songs and clips and call it a hobby!

"feel me" by christopher anton, uke and synth cover by me and del

 
This is my third and last for the week, and it's a song by English singer-songwriter Will Varley, about, more or less, the entire history of humanity.



I first heard about him a few years ago when he was interviewed on the radio during a tour that he did entirely on foot, walking about 500 miles with his guitar on his back. I decided based on that, that I was clearly going to like him.

It's on an 8-string baritone, which is my new Favourite Thing Ever, with some help from a tenor ukulele. I also added a keyboard, for which I inexplicably chose an accordion sound.
 
Have you heard of Beat Happening?

If you paid attention to the Pacific northwest music scene in the 80s or 90s, probably. Otherwise, probably not. Either way, Beat Happening sure made some great music <3

 
Thanks for a great theme, Jim, and the happiest of birthdays. The theme gave me a chance to do a new number by a terrific musician, Rob Fetters.

Rob has been a professional and recording musician for decades. I first discovered him about 5 years back when I got his record Saint Aint and found it to be the best power pop album I had heard in years. I have come to be a big fan of him.

Rob has been doing weekly webcasts (most weeks) during the whole pandemic, and they are just great! Frankly, they are the best webcasts I have seen. Rob takes the songs he has recorded and either takes out some of the backing tracks to play live or re-records the backing tracks. You can hear them at Rob Fetters Music on the YouTube. They are also free, although donations encouraged.

With that intro, here is the lead song on his latest album. A great anthem for the troubled times we live in.

 
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Hello again, Jim! I googled "forgotten songwriters" and came up with Paddy Casey, a singer/songwriter from Dublin. It seems rather unfair to call him "forgotten", as he is still going strong. Anyway, I had never heard of him before and the only performance I could find of this song was his own version. The lyrics are quite life-affirming, which seemed to make it a good choice for current times and, since I am heavily into drones at the moment, I added a couple to lift the song further (possibly?) Anyway ...

 
this, another original song for the season


Jim, please remove this from the playlist.
the audio and mix were horrible, not sure what i was thinking.

i recorded a new version today (that i won't delete) + which i think is infinitely better.
please use that one. (it's a little further down the thread here: post #60.) i'm sorry for the hassles mate.
 
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Man, I gotta follow a Jon Duncan original? Tough. A year ago this week, we were jamming on Bernie Island!

FAIR WARNING: Not safe for work language and alcohol in this video. It's another one from The Bastard Fairies...

 
Happy Birthday Jim! A lot of what I listen to is deeply obscure and unknown to the general public--for example, most times that I've mentioned either Porcupine Tree or Steven Wilson to my friends/family/anyone, really, I've been met with a blank stare or some version of "that can't really be the name of a band, can it? So here's my obscurity (by someone I have many albums by).
 
Bob Snider is a Toronto musician. The first time I saw Bob he was busking on the streets of Toronto's Kensington Market. We later hired him to play at our folk club and at Cobourg's Waterfront Festival. I was given the job of picking Bob up at the Cobourg train station, but I got busy doing some other chore and looked at my watch and realised that I was supposed to pick him up in 3 minutes and my car was at the other end of the festival. By the time I picked Bob up, I was 10 or 15 minutes late and I apologised profusely. Bob said, "No problem.. .This is a cool train station."
A few years later Al Kirby and I recorded one of his songs and used it as the title of our CD.

Bob Snider 2.jpg Bob Snider

Sittin' In The Kitchen K&Y.jpg

I decided to go down to the kitchen to record this. I propped my phone against the butter dish.

 
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"Mr Lawrence" was an Estonian band that had a couple of good songs in the early and mid-1990s. Nowadays the band leader Mihkel Raud hosts tv shows, writes books and sometimes songs, too. This song is "Shine On" (1995).
 
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