Fjieri is an Italian band. It was formed in 1997 by Stefano Panunzi and Nicola Lori. Their music falls at the soft end of prog rock, somewhere between Tim Bowness and King Crimson. They have released two albums: Endless (2009) and Words Are All We Have (2015). Both albums are superb, as you'd expect from…Read more Fjieri
ambient
Silver Pendulum
So, I was thinking about time shifts: from British Summer Time to Greenwich Meantime, or the paradoxes of space-time rifts in Science Fiction stories. And I wondered if I could find some music on that theme. It's not as easy as you might imagine but, eventually, the naïve search algorithm chanced upon a title that…Read more Silver Pendulum
Rain Tree Crow
Occasionally we come across a band, an album and a track that all share the same name. If my memory serves me correctly, the Vinyl Connection blog site gave a technical term for this nominal trinity a few months back, but I have been unable to track it down. So please forgive me if this…Read more Rain Tree Crow
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
Zoom
Things to do, places to go, people to see.¹ Last weekend it was the Humanists UK Convention, this weekend it's the annual village Open Gardens weekend, next Sunday there's the Farmers' Market, all of which require my presence and not a little preparation. So, I shall be wearing my Crotchety Man hat only briefly again today.…Read more Zoom
La Vita
This week I'm inviting you to listen to another song I've chosen for my funeral (which, I trust, is still a long way off but it makes sense to plan well ahead for that particular commemoration service). If you cast your mind back to November 2016 you may remember the Archipelago post in which Flight, an instrumental…Read more La Vita
Bested Bones
Crotchety Man is operating in low power mode today. He picked up a nasty infection earlier in the week and his biochemical batteries are now completely drained. So, while this husk of a man soothes his shattered spirit and rests his weary bones, he invites you to watch this bleak but fascinating video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3bSgz8EXaI Bested…Read more Bested Bones
Parnassius Apollo
Annie Lennox is a singer, right? She's also a songwriter, political activist and philanthropist, but to music fans it's her voice that stirs the emotions and captivates the heart. So an EP by Annie Lennox without her distinctive contralto singing, surely, has to be a disappointment. But she must have known she would be defying…Read more Parnassius Apollo
End VII
Can the ends ever justify the means? Take lying, for example. Are little white lies sometimes the morally correct thing to do or is it always wrong to be untruthful? Should you tell a seriously injured woman that her new-born baby was killed in the car crash that put her broken body in a hospital…Read more End VII
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
