A pop-up office in Hackney Square park. Grace Petrie is a singer-songwriter with deep folk roots. Her songs have a strong left-wing and gay-rights flavour. Her voice is soapbox clear and her guitar work is protest tuned, but it's her lyrics that seize a listener's attention. Here's a song about the music industry. About the…Read more An Office in Hackney
Burnt Belief
The witch will burn for her beliefs People believe all sorts of strange things. Everyone used to believe in witches - some still do. Unfounded rumours have always spread like wildfire. And, of course, fire was often the preferred way to rid the world of that evil wizardry. But fire never seems to expunge belief.…Read more Burnt Belief
Potter’s Daughter
There's something mesmerising about a potter's wheel. In the 1950s, the BBC used a short film of a potter as an interlude (reputedly during breakdowns and when moving cameras from one studio to another). He didn't seem to be making anything in particular. His blob of clay rose from the turnable to become a tall…Read more Potter’s Daughter
The Man In The Garden
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
Crotchety Man 