JOHN VANDERSLICE




Immature, I know, to worship musicians like Gods... But when they are as cute as J. Vanderslice, and pay so much attention to creating lush, orchestrated, well-produced, melodic and sonically detailed music (just the way I like it), well, then the temptation to relapse back to a teenage girl is too great...

BUNCEFIELD OIL DEPOT

It's in the news again today because - two months on - no-one knows quite what sparked the blaze. I remember it happening because I was in South London on the day. I was awake at 6am and felt something odd. I didn't think much of it at the time as it was so momentary. Later, though, when I got up and heard the news, I realised that it had felt like a sudden draft - like the 'whoosh' that accompanies ignition.

The thing that puzzles me, though, is that just a day later, the authorities said the fire hadn't been triggered by anyone on the premises, in the grounds of the depot. How on earth could anyone know that?! The fire was still raging at that time. And if anyone did spark it - with a cigarette lighter or similar - they'd have been reduced to ashes pretty quickly... maybe leaving a very charred and shriven pile of bones somewhere that wouldn't have been discovered until a good few days later, when the flames were fully extinguished and the smoke dispersed. It sounded like too hasty a pronouncement and I wondered (still do) how anyone could reach that conclusion so quickly.

"IT HASN'T GOT A TUNE. I CAN'T TELL WHAT HE'S SAYING"

...as my Grandfather used to say. This week saw the annual Brit Awards (does anyone take it seriously?). It seems to be little more than an excuse for crowd-pulling, student-pleasing "acts" (in reality - little more than PR machines) to have a good night out. And their music is, frankly, a steaming pile of shite. The Kaiser Chiefs? Do me a favour. James Blunt's "Your Beautiful", as a newspaper columnist pointed out, is now like the flu, or weather. Who else is there? I've done a mental edit, can't even remember.

Step forward Richard Hawkins of Sheffield who writes and plays music for grown ups. Here are some reviews of Coles Corner and Low Edges, (although I'd recommend starting with the Coming Home single).

'Music is full of callow young men desperately seeking to make musc on an epic scale: here's how to do it'
Mojo

"Music to make jaws drop"
Mojo

“Richly orchestrated torch song in the style of Scott Walker from one of this country's most distinctive singer-songwriters. Smooth and velvety.” 4/5
The Sun

"...the most brazenly emotional and heart warming pop album made by a Briton this side of the millennium...no hint of post-modern irony here: this is music with it's heart on it's sleeve..."
Daily Telegraph

"Intimate tales packaged for universal appeal"
Q

'If he remains overlooked after a record this heartfelt then, well, perhaps there really isn't a God after all' 4/5
Q

"...like mid 70's Walker Brothers produced by Phil Spector...his songs are an unabashed cry from the heart - in their swoonsome company, you'll find it hard not to surrender yours..."
Mojo

"...it firmly pitches Hawley as one of the most distinctive of contemporary British singers, already a contender for one of the albums of 2003..."
NME

"...another masterstroke of timeless torch & twang...it confirms Hawley as a balladeer of the highest order, if he moved in next door (to you), your lawn might cry..."
Q

"...a haunting air of regret hangs over each country-tinged waltz, as jaded love battles with eternal hope in the quest for love...the shy simplicity and devastating finality are pure Hawley & Hawley alone..."
The Guardian

"...really lifts you from the humdrum of average 2003 indie rock...beautiful, easy going music, peppered with earthy lyrics, evocative and effortless in its ability to please...wonderful..."
Time Out

"...American sourced Yorkshire-based love songs that thrum with a peculiarly domestic wistfulness...wonderfully old sounding songs (that) sprint ahead of most other British singer-songwriters ...lovely..."
The Observer

"...he sings with the same sort of lazy baritone as Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, his sublime arrangements are ripe with moody romanticism...the end result is gorgeously impressionistic..."
The Times

"...sublime countryish balladeering, of a Roy Orbison meets Mark Lanegan kind, sounds both world weary and, simultaneously, aglow with a renewed sense of what's really important in life...kitchen-sink tales for starry eyed romantics..another warm, honest triumph..."
ID Magazine

"...a quiet marvel...starry-eyed balladeering...unafraid of non-ironic crooning or tender romanticism...his voice alone could make itemised phone bills sound like magic realist poetry..."
X-Ray Magazine

" ...he's delivered the assured collection he's always promised...the arrangements are sublime...the whole coheres like one seamless, impressionistic mood piece...(this) should banish all those lazy, grimy Northern journalistic metaphors forever..."
Uncut

VISITORS

SILVER APPLES

Bought a CD by them from a second-hand music store. This is what they're all about:

"Decades after their brief yet influential career first ground to a sudden and mysterious halt, the Silver Apples remain one of pop music's true enigmas: a surreal, almost unprecedented duo, their music explored interstellar drones and hums, pulsing rhythms and electronically-generated melodies years before similar ideas were adopted in the work of acolytes. The Silver Apples formed in New York in 1967 and comprised percussionist Danny Taylor and lead vocalist Simeon, a bizarre figure who played an instrument also dubbed the Simeon, which (according to notes on the duo's self-titled 1968 debut LP) consisted of "nine audio oscillators and eighty-six manual manual controls...The lead and rhythm oscillators are played with the hands, elbows and knees and the bass oscillators are played with the feet." Although the utterly uncommercial record — an ingenious cacophony of beeps, buzzes and beats — sold poorly, the Silver Apples resurfaced a year later with their sophomore effort, Contact, another far-flung outing which fared no better than its predecessor. "

I took the CD to the desk, where the sales assistant guy looked at me with awe and reverence, and launched into effusive praise: "Woooah! Oh right! - Yes! Yes! This is brilliant - you'll love this!".

Well, I don't know if I love it exactly, but it is pretty interesting and I quite like it, in spite of all 12 tracks sounding identical. I'm not sure whether I like it when sales assistants go so OTT, though. If and when I buy another CD from the store and the assistant doesn't go wild, I'll be thinking "Why aren't you enthusing like you were last time? Is this one no good?". Generally speaking, people's confidence is too easily won. Or perhaps that's just me.

Silver Apples, though. Falling off the edge of 'odd'.

"THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY"

True, true, true! But what of the future?

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

…additional census data obtained by the Economic Policy Institute show that only the top 5 percent of households experienced real income gains in 2004. Incomes for the other 95 percent of households were flat or falling.

Income inequality is an economic and social ill, but the administration and the Congressional majority don't seem to recognize that. When Congress returns from its monthlong summer vacation next week, two of the leadership's top priorities include renewing the push to repeal the estate tax, which affects only the wealthiest of families, and extending the tax cuts for investment income, which flow largely to the richest Americans. At the other end of the spectrum, lawmakers have stubbornly refused to raise the minimum wage: $5.15 an hour since 1997. They will also be taking up proposals for deep budget cuts in programs that ameliorate income inequality, like Medicaid, food stamps and federal student loans.

They should be ashamed of themselves.

A NEW ARRIVAL!

A new arrival this weekend to the garden - a solitary, fat little wren. I've seen it a few times but it tends to come alone. I wonder where its mate is?

SOME RELIGIOUS CARTOONS: