Now that the humans are all stuck indoors some of the shyer animals have come out to saunter through our gardens and streets. While they take over outside I have been drawn to those easy-to-listen-to songs that the Indie bands do so well. And, with time on our hands, I thought the Crotchety readership deserved…Read more Indie Interlude
2000s
Winter Is Never
This video appeared on the Proglodytes blog last week. It pleased Crotchety Man greatly and impelled him to pursue Gazpacho across previously uncharted regions of online musicland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okjo3tRZnNY For English speakers 'Gazpacho' is a strange word. It's a Spanish word for a cold vegetable soup. Not the most promising name for a band, you would…Read more Winter Is Never
Some Things Must Last
The Crotchety A.I. Engine™ is not quite sure what to make of the phrase "some things must last". Clearly, some things do last longer than others. Even in this modern age of fleeting sound bites and disposable goods the mother-in-law's visit drags on much longer than any son-in-law can be expected to endure. Diamonds, of…Read more Some Things Must Last
Supersister
This post was prompted by the following product announcement by Burning Shed: All five of Supersister's glorious 1970's releases (Present From Nancy, To The Highest Bidder, Pudding En Gisteren, Iskander and Spiral Staircase) on limited edition coloured vinyls. It's a mystery why old Crotchety Man should have taken any interest in this. The band was unknown…Read more Supersister
Excalibur
A valuable work of art had gone missing. Detective Inspector "Crotchety" Mann was on the trail. His only clue was this track on Spotify from an album called Excalibur II: The Celtic Ring, under the artist name, Excalibur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLJ3aQ6MaeY The thieves should have been more careful to cover their tracks. Although Spotify had no information…Read more Excalibur
Wally
Crotchety Man has been hearing a lot of slowish soft-to-ambient music recently and was looking for something with a bit more bite to spice up his listening hours. But the airwave gods were not paying attention. Although the cuisine was excellent and the menu was varied, each dish they served up had clearly been prepared…Read more Wally
Magnificent Desolation
50 years ago yesterday man first landed on the moon. It was about 9:20 pm by the clock in the Crotchety Family's apartment when Mission Control confirmed that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had landed safely on the lunar surface. We had already been watching live TV pictures for two or three hours and it…Read more Magnificent Desolation
Mathematics
In 1972 the American meteorologist Edward Lorenz was to give a talk at the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As Lorenz had failed to provide a title for his talk, one of the organisers of the meeting concocted this attention grabbing headline: Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings…Read more Mathematics
Mexicola
Spring has arrived in Crotchety Village. The snowdrops have come and gone, the daffodils are blooming, catkins are on the trees ... and when I got up this morning it was snowing. Yes, Spring is a season of contrasts in the UK. After last month's record high temperatures Winter has returned with a vengeance, foisting…Read more Mexicola
Whole Thing
Back in 1991 Peter Gabriel had a problem. His studios had issued a string of block bookings to successful bands like New Order, leaving no time for lesser-known artists on his Real World Records label who only wanted a day or two of studio time. His solution was to set aside one week for those…Read more Whole Thing
