We all know what symmetry is, don't we? If we take this lovely picture of the dome of the Sheik Lotfollah mosque in Isfahan, Iran and flip it horizontally the resulting pattern will be indistinguishable from the original. There are several other operations we could perform that also leave the pattern unchanged - we might…Read more Symmetry
Album
Prophecy
I have seen the future. A vinyl edition of Solstice's 2013 album, Prophecy, will be released on 2nd July 2021. Or so the Burning Shed oracle tells me. The significance of this revelation, though, was obscure for, although I have seen many summers, no Solstice had ever appeared on the domestic music machines. While the…Read more Prophecy
Spice, Gold and Tales Untold
Undeciphered eyes of amber ... A few days ago an email dropped into my inbox from Ana Patan offering a free download of her recently released album, Spice, Gold and Tales Untold. There was no mention of that artist in the Crotchety Vaults and she offered no description of her music, just the briefest of…Read more Spice, Gold and Tales Untold
Ocelot of Salvation
2021 has started on a high note. This blog has already mentioned three artists who were new to me until this year (Siv Jacobsen, The Staves and Noisy Diners). This week's Release Radar has continued the trend, introducing the Old Man to two more (Lau, Yasmin Williams), while Burning Shed has added Lifesigns to the…Read more Ocelot of Salvation
The Princess of the Allen Keys
The Princess of the allen keys is the title of a newly released album by Noisy Diners. It is subtitled The history of Manto. To the Crotchety Team that presents a four-part puzzle: what, we wonder, is the connection between 'princess', 'Allen keys', 'noisy diners' and 'Manto'? It's a puzzle we have been unable to…Read more The Princess of the Allen Keys
A Temporary Soothing
Siv Jakobsen is a Norwegian mystery. She has no page on Wikipedia. Her Facebook page is uninformative. Even Google struggles to find much information about the singer/songwriter who recorded her latest album, A Temporary Soothing, in the rugged beauty of Devon, UK as 2018 marched on into 2019. But a little perseverance at the Crotchety…Read more A Temporary Soothing
It’ll All Work Out In Boomland
At the Boomland Festival It's a scary time of year. We've just had Halloween, when ghosts roam abroad and witches ride on flying broomsticks. And, in a few days time, there will be cacophonous firework displays in the UK in remembrance of Guy Fawkes' unsuccessful attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.…Read more It’ll All Work Out In Boomland
The Rite of Strings
When we talk about a string trio we usually mean violin, viola and cello: acoustic instruments playing chamber music in a broadly classical style. But substitute a guitar for the viola and a double bass for the cello and you get a stringy creature with a rather different complexion. Then, if you electrify the violin…Read more The Rite of Strings
Versions of the Truth – Reblog
THE PINEAPPLE THIEF, Versions of the Truth (Kscope, 2020)PERSONNELBruce Soord, Vocals and GuitarSteve Skitch, KeyboardsJon Sykes, Bass & Backing vocalsGavin Harrison, Drums and Percussion […]A Third Ear for “Versions of the Truth” — CirdecSongs
Antiphon
Arguing with Antiphon History records Antiphon of Rhamnus as an orator in ancient Greece. He was, in fact, a professional ghostwriter, writing speeches for disputants in the courts, and was regarded as perhaps the finest exponent of rhetoric in Athens at the time. Curiously, though, he only addressed the public directly once, when he was…Read more Antiphon
