The LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden This little ditty dropped into my Spotify Release Radar playlist this week. It's from a new double album release called Little Eden, and it reminded me that The Bevis Frond has not yet featured in these pages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xry1bbx864 The theme of…Read more The Man In The Garden
Awakening
It's been a busy weekend in the Crotchety village. On Saturday there was the Duck Race, normally held in the Spring, and on Sunday the Open Gardens, postponed from the Summer. Mrs. Crotchety was organising the teas for the garden visitors; Mr. Crotchety scurried round with a camera, recording images for the village website. Neither…Read more Awakening
Ebi Soda
Ebi Soda is a curious name. It sounds like a soft drink or a foreigner's pronunciation of 'episode'. But, in fact, it is neither of those things. It is a 5-piece contemporary jazz band based in the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of England. The Crotchety Library contains almost no other information…Read more Ebi Soda
Zopp
Bandcamp came up trumps this week. They published an article with the mesmerising title, "You Can’t Bury Canterbury: A Guide to the Neo-Canterbury Sound". After a brief introduction to remind us that the Canterbury sound emerged in the early seventies with bands like Soft Machine, Caravan, National Health and Hatfield and the North it went…Read more Zopp
Distractions
I have been rather distracted over the last couple of days. When the schedule called for blogging I was reading about quantum theory or wrestling with crosswords. But today I'm determined to be productive. Of course, I'm short of time now, so what better way to salve the conscience than to offer two of the…Read more Distractions
Jon Gomm
No, this isn't a picture of Obi-Wan Kenobi trying to figure out what this alien device can do. Nor is it a hooligan hoodie who has accidentally stuck his fingers to his mate's guitar with superglue. This is Jon Gomm, the British equivalent of Calum Graham. In an earlier post here I said that Calum…Read more Jon Gomm
Half a World Away
The picture here looks like a scene from a fantasy world but, in fact, it's a photograph taken one misty morning in the New Forest in the south of England. It's a far cry from the concrete jungles of our inner cities but it's really only half a world away. And, like the white horse…Read more Half a World Away
Mercury Music Prize 2021
This year's shortlist for the Mercury Music Prize was announced on 22nd July. The prize celebrates albums by artists from the UK and Ireland released in the qualifying year. According to its website it is "the music equivalent to the Booker Prize for literature and the Turner Prize for art". Allowing for some understandable self-promotion…Read more Mercury Music Prize 2021
A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof
The second item in Burning Shed's newsletter this week announced a remastering of one of Djam Karet's albums. That name rang a bell somewhere deep in the bowels of Crotchety Man's memory but the sound had no shape or substance. There was no clue to the band's origin, personnel or style. Obviously, there was a…Read more A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof
Roots
Roots by Vincent Van Gogh Many years ago now there was a regular light entertainment program on the radio†. It included a series of comedy sketches, one of which purported to answer listeners' questions on just about any subject relevant to contemporary living. There might be questions on important issues in art or politics, for…Read more Roots
Crotchety Man 