Track

Sasse

A band called Antiloops appeared on the Crotchety Radar recently. I liked what I heard and added Luna from their 2014 Electroshock album to my list of tracks to feature in these pages. Then, two days ago, I played Luna again to refresh my memory of the music and to think what I might say about it.…Read more Sasse

Laiks

Here's a song for all my Latvian readers. Laiks is a track from the Tavs Stāsts album by the Latvian pop-rock band Sound Poets. Judging by the pictures on the band's Facebook page Sound Poets are huge in Latvia and are building a following elsewhere in Europe, too. Reliable information is hard to come by because almost…Read more Laiks

The Fool On The Hill

"We're going away for a few days", said Mrs Crotchety, "for your birthday". The look of anticipation on my face prompted her to continue. "I'm not telling you where we're going, just that we'll be going on the train", she said, enigmatically. So, for several weeks, I wondered where we would go and what we…Read more The Fool On The Hill

Good Vibrations

I think I remember, presumably around the end of 1966, watching The Beach Boys play Good Vibrations on BBC TV's pop music programme, Top of the Pops. I liked the song partly because it was quite unlike any other pop record I'd heard. This wasn't a beat group with two guitars, bass and drums, nor was…Read more Good Vibrations

No Reason

It's a bright, but frosty morning here in the East Midlands region of the UK - a day in which the rising sun should be welcomed by peeping out from the bedclothes with a sleepy smile and snuggling down for another twenty minutes while the central heating chases away the overnight chill. It's Sunday. There's no reason to get up…Read more No Reason

Rekt

Crotchety Man doesn't make New Year resolutions. But this year I want to write more about recent releases. So, this week I've been sifting through my Release Radar, a playlist automatically created by Spotify every Friday based on my listening history. Only new releases appear on the Radar and although my taste is relatively broad I…Read more Rekt

Jessica

We started the year in quiet contemplation here on the Crotchety Man blog but now it's time to shake off the torpor of the holiday season and get moving. And, you know, nothing says "let's get this show on the road" better than Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TqmGptGZbM Jessica is an instrumental from the Brothers and…Read more Jessica

Peace of Mind

Let's start 2017 with a sweet, gentle instrumental - something to soothe away the excesses of the New Year's Eve party and ease the conflict and bitterness that was the hallmark of the year just gone. This is a track called Peace of Mind from the Natural Elements album by Shakti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FSq8zCZ1hI Shakti was an east-west…Read more Peace of Mind

I Believe in Father Christmas

Christmas songs are always sweet. A few are sugar plum sickly. One yuletide song, though, can be savoured every year with no queasiness at all. It is Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas. Those of you who admired Greg Lake's music will know already, I expect, that he died of cancer on 7th December, so…Read more I Believe in Father Christmas

Soothing

Here's a Track of the Week on the periphery of Crotchety Man's sphere of interest. It's a new song by Laura Marling, a singer/songwriter and musician with a background in contemporary folk music, but Soothing is a long way from conventional folk tunes of any period. The instrumentation is highly unusual. It sounds to me like a…Read more Soothing