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
The Old Man and the Table Saw
Have you any idea how difficult it is to find a good picture of an old man and a table saw? This is a little smaller than I'd like but it's the best I could find on the whole of the Internet. I suppose there aren't that many master craftsmen around these days. Carpentry has…Read more The Old Man and the Table Saw
Yesterday
Two years ago a film by Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis was released in UK cinemas. It was shown for the first time on British TV last night and the Crotchety Couple watched it from the comfort of their sofa. The film is called Yesterday and it tells the story of a bit-part singer/songwriter who…Read more Yesterday
Gnossienne No. 1
gnossiennen. a moment of awareness that someone you’ve known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life, and somewhere in the hallways of their personality is a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you’ve never fully explored—an unfinished attic that will remain maddeningly unknowable to you, because ultimately…Read more Gnossienne No. 1
Rabbit Hole
Cyberspace is full of holes - rabbit holes that lead to wierd and wonderful places. From the familiar safe haven of Spotify I suddenly found myself tumbling through the subterranean halls of pop music, immersed in the stream of a recent release with hardly a sniff of hip hop. How wierd is that? The sounds…Read more Rabbit Hole
Straight Path
Save every tree as if it's the last Let's go travelling today. We'll take the Straight Path all the way to Lahore in Pakistan. There we will meet a band called Jaubi that amalgamates Indian classical music with western jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0K_h1K0T2s This track sounds very much like something by Alice Coltrane. The scales and the…Read more Straight Path
Hania Rani
The video below turned up in my Hubzilla feed last week. It was titled "Hania Rani - Live from Studio S2" and it was tagged #piano and #electronicmusic. There was no other description. The tags I understood but the names of the artist and the studio meant nothing to me, so clicking on the link…Read more Hania Rani
Danger Money
Out of curiosity I looked up the most dangerous occupations in the UK. There are several lists based on fatality statistics. They vary considerably but most include some or all of the following professions: Seafarers, especially fishermenConstruction workersFarmers and other agricultural workersLorry drivers Some of the most dangerous jobs don't employ that many people: oil…Read more Danger Money
Crotchety Man 