Saturday, 3 August 2013

Soul Limbo

Saturday music

Lau

Guitar and vocals, accordion and piano, fiddle. Scottish. They seem to pick up folk-nerd awards for fun. Lightweights and Gentlemen is more as expected, a mix of vocal and instrumental songs, slow ballads and more upbeat numbers. Race the Loser is less typical. There’s a wider range of instruments, the slower songs have a darker feel to them, and I think it’s the stronger of the two albums I’ve listened to.


Wayne Shorter Quartet

Without a Net is almost eighty minutes of spontaneous, improvised, live jazz. I had the album on my earphones while giving the dogs their evening walk. The late, low sun, the woods, and music from a band featuring a man described as the greatest living exponent of improvisation.


Esbjorn Svensson Trio

Morning walk album: From Gagarin’s Point of View is a piano trio set that goes beyond jazz. There’s songs, hooks, every piece takes off and flies.


Nas

Illmatic is absolutely flawless. Amazing for a debut album.


Booker T & the M.G.’s

Soul Limbo opens Test Match Special, and there’s a test match on. What else would you tune the radio in to?


What headphones are for

I want the jabbering masses to shut up. I don’t want to hear another bing bong annoy-tannoy-jockey telling me about today’s special offers down the cake aisle, or what platform I need at Tonbridge in the unlikely event that I want to get off there and go on to Ashford. Why on earth, as long as there’s brilliant music I’ve not heard yet, as long as there’s literature I’ve not read, plays I’ve not yet seen, etc., would I have a microsecond to waste on you and your opinion about the price of beans in Lidl?


I’m not a natural people-watcher or eavesdropper, because people bore me senseless. Given the choice, give me the dogs. People kill animals and other people, pollute the planet to the edge of destruction, vote in ruling gits, or even worse, put up with royal born to power ruling gits. People are the most dangerous, and at the same time the most boring, tedious, self-regarding species. What’s the interest? Where’s the attraction?

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