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
rock
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
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
Here Is Everything
As moons go, Earth's is pretty big. Of the hundreds of moons in our solar system, only Ganymede, Titan, Callisto and Io are larger. But the members of The Big Moon band have their eyes on even bigger things - much bigger, in fact. They have brought the whole universe into our backyard, made an…Read more Here Is Everything
Three Recent Likes
❤️❤️❤️ The three tunes here all came through on the airwaves at Crotchety HQ very recently. Each one acquired a green heart 'like' on my Spotify account. Let's start with a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song from a concert that they recorded at the very end of 1969. The Lee Shore was first released…Read more Three Recent Likes
Old Friends
And New Acquaintances My recent Spotify Release Radar playlists have yielded a glut of riches. So, this week, I'm offering around 45 minutes of music covering a range of styles, spread over two playlists. Old Friends The Old Friends collection features artists that have appeared in these pages before: the Canadian acoustic guitarist, Calum Graham…Read more Old Friends
Wild Grey Ocean
If your name is Fender, it would be hard not to be a musician. Fortunately, Sam is a rather good pianist, guitarist, singer and songwriter. In fact, he is one of the biggest stars in the pop/rock/indie style around today. And he deserves to be. This song came up on my Spotify Release Radar last…Read more Wild Grey Ocean
Fractal Sextet
A fractal is a complex geometric shape, but it's difficult to find a precise definition. One well-known example is the 'snowflake' curve, invented by Niels Fabian Helge von Koch in 1904. Start with an equilateral triangle, then add an equilateral triangle one third the size to each of its edges to generate a new, more…Read more Fractal Sextet
Changes
Here in the UK, summer has slipped gently into autumn. It's always a season of change, but recent events have been much more dramatic than usual. We have a new prime minister. We have said a fond farewell to our queen of the last 70 years. And, closer to the Crotchety home, my father has…Read more Changes
Avalanche
It doesn't take much to trigger an avalanche. Sometimes a fresh fall of snow or the warmth of the rising sun on a mountain slope is enough. In this case, though, it was just a brief entry on a social media feed - barely more than a link to this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASjn1Z83g9c Aimee Mann…Read more Avalanche
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