On my Release Radar this week, there was a track called Secret by an artist with the curious name of Yom. Nothing grabs the attention of Crotchety Man faster than the itch of curiosity and, tout suite, he was trawling the Internet for information on the musician. A Google search for "yom musician" produces an…Read more Songs for the Old Man
Ezra Collective
Last night, the missus and I watched a film that had been languishing on the video recorder, waiting for us to find a free 2½ hour slot in our evening schedules. It was called Hidden Figures, and it was about three African-American women working as 'computers' assigned to NASA's Mercury space program in the early…Read more Ezra Collective
Malice in Wonderland
The malicious Queen of Hearts It seems to me that almost all committees are dysfunctional. As soon as you get more than 3 or 4 people together round a table, opinions fly across the room in all directions, and the substance of the discussion dies in the crossfire. In theory, the meeting comes to a…Read more Malice in Wonderland
Solstein
Viking sunstone 'Solstein' is the Norwegian for 'sunstone', a birefringent form of calcite. It may have been used by the Vikings for navigation in mediaeval times, although that idea is still little more than speculation, as this article on the Wikipedia wiki explains. "It permits the observer to follow the azimuth of the sun, far…Read more Solstein
The Fusion Syndicate
Inside the tokamak There are no prizes for guessing why I have chosen this 2012 album to grace the pages of the Crotchety Man blog. Just look at this partial list of artists: Billy Cobham Mel Collins Larry Coryell Colin Edwin John Etheridge Jerry Goodman Gavin Harrison Percy Jones Theo Travis Rick Wakeman And that's…Read more The Fusion Syndicate
People
Nat Ural and Art I. Ficial The older I get, the more I worry about the human race. We are supposed to be a rational species, but I hear people making absurd statements and claiming they are undeniable truths all the time these days. Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. And…Read more People
Protocol
"The use of the word 'extinction' breaches diplomatic protocol", says dinosaur. protocol[ proh-tuh-kawl, -kol, -kohl ] noun The customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic formality, precedence and etiquette. An original draft, minute or record from which a document, especially a treaty, is prepared. Medicine. The plan for carrying out a scientific study or a patient's…Read more Protocol
Slip Away
Watching the day slip away The forensic archaeologist at the Crotchety Music Institute was asked to find songs on the theme of Position. The search began with the keywords 'position', 'where' and 'place', which turned up a few mostly unremarkable pop and folk songs. Next, he tried 'front', 'back', 'above', 'below', 'left' and 'right'. These…Read more Slip Away
Three Movements
Hop, skip and jump. Three kinds of movement. But probably not what Sonar had in mind when they recorded their Three Movements album. https://open.spotify.com/album/3cnkDweGrKifrvJNZKjUWb?si=8N0zZSIfTtG-Hy8oaZuS2g Sonar is a quartet with a traditional rock band line-up: two guitars (Stephan Thelen, Bernhard Wagner), bass (Christian Kuntner) and drums (Manuel Pasquinelli). Their output, though, is nothing like that of…Read more Three Movements
3-Headed Prog
Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound of Hades. For prog lovers and three-headed dog lovers, I present a trio of prog rock albums by bands new to the Crotchety ears. The first is vintage Italian prog from 1973. The album is called Arbeit Macht Frei and you won't be surprised to know that it takes as its…Read more 3-Headed Prog
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